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As Current Issues in Education enters its third year of publication, the journal continues to seek innovative uses of the medium. The power of web technologies (technology) lies in the ability to redefine research reporting and transform the nature of scholarly communication in ways not feasible in traditional print media. Increasingly, the Internet provides enhanced opportunities for visual, audio and video interactivity. The potential to incorporate features that advance or surpass those traditionally used in print journals is yet to be realized by authors and publishers of ejournals. In this article, we underscore transformative characteristics of media use as they relate to communication and begin an ongoing discussion that will focus on this changed character of research reports.
Web technology frees scholarly publications from size limitations imposed by the high cost of print. Additionally, the Internet delivers research data in a multiplicity of new formats. Glass (1997), for example, in an analysis of Autonomy in Public and Private Schools, presents the entire data corpus comprising the full-text of thirty-seven interviews, providing verifiability of assertions and confirmation of analytic integrity between researcher and reader. This mode of delivery, by making the record of data public to skeptical examination, fundamentally alters our mechanisms for establishing validity of reported research. The existence of the interview transcripts in their entirety allows the reader to function as a co-analyst with the researcher better and more critically than if he or she had to take the word of the author without ready access to the data. McLean (1997) utilized this public record to re-analyze Glass's data, using strict interpretations of rules of qualitative research.
Similarly, limitations inherent in the use of summary statistics in research reports are an unavoidable reality due to space limitations imposed by the print medium. Dugan and Behrens' (1998) use of embedded frames affords the reader interactivity and, as with McLean (1997), allows the reader to assess criteria for establishing validity of the analyses by avoiding data reduction, and offers extensive detail afforded through the use of hypertext and frames. The employment of hypertext in this exemplar facilitates instant and simultaneous access to multiple sources of information. The employment of frames allows access to the raw data, and the reader access to a variety of alternative models of data analysis without interruption to reading.
In the field of education research, these inroads are rare. It is useful, therefore, to examine how other fields have taken advantage of the multiple modes of data representation and information sharing afforded by web-based technologies. The Journal of Seventeenth Century Music, for example, provides early, albeit promising, use of Internet technology to analyze audio. Silbiger (1996), compared the music genres Passacaglia and Ciaccona with text accompanying the written music and actual audio samples of the music (MIDI files). The audio feature is unique to electronic journals and is an indispensable element in certain fields of study such as music. It provides readers with insights to the author's arguments and allows one to make evaluations of the music. We speculate that the comprehension of interviews and conversations in classroom research may be augmented by actual audio passages with accompanying commentary and analysis. Moreover, if transcripts are also included, the reader can assess the quality of the transcription and analytic method.
The challenge of using multimedia appropriately, powerfully, and not for its own sake, is demonstrated by Leshowitz (1999) who provided video clips to furnish readers a glimpse into the practices of a college classroom. The opportunity to witness the actual active-learning teaching methodology, student reactions, and changes in students' critical thinking skills that occurred during the course of the research study is afforded by providing a visual and auditory window into the reality of the classroom. While the choice of clips, and even the choice of what to video in the first place is arbitrary to some extent, judicious use of video has proven to be meaningful in this reporting context. Yet, these technologies imply that ejournals have to face the dilemma of making innovative use while also ensuring equity and access to the visual and hearing impaired. Publishers of ejournals themselves must be capable of applying modern technology and must facilitate these opportunities.
Web technologies have advanced to provide full-text search capabilities. Print journals also provide search aids; none, however, matches the capabilities of ejournal search engines that facilitate searching with Boolean logic. Full-text searching of ejournals as they continue their growth will soon be a universal feature.
While most ejournals, including Current Issues in Education, differ little from print publication, an exploration of why this new technology has yet to change the fundamental nature of scholarly reporting is necessary. Scholars may not have access to the power the medium offers and expertise in use of cutting edge technology may rest with a few.
The opportunity to create free access to scholarship via the Internet is unparalleled. Previously, researchers' access to scholarship was limited to those that could afford subscriptions to print publications. The relative affordability of publishing an ejournal opens access to all and allows for wider dissemination of knowledge. This represents the fundamental premise of ejournals -democratization of access to scholarship and promotion of a global community of researchers.
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Authors
Aisling Leavy is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in the College of Education at Arizona State University. Her academic background consists of a Bachelors of Science Degree in Psychology and Mathematics from University College Dublin, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary) and teaching certification from St. Patrick's Teacher Training College in Dublin, and a Masters of Arts in Education from California State University Chico. Her research interest is mathematics education. She has experience of teaching at both elementary and high school levels and has taught mathematics at the Center for Academic Precocity at Arizona State University. Aisling may be reached at aisling.leavy@asu.edu.
Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. program in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education at Arizona State University. He has consulted with Arizona school districts on several demographic studies with the College's Bureau of Educational Research and Services. His academic preparation includes a B.E. (Bachelor of Engineering) in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Mysore, India, and an M.C.S. (Master of Computer Science) from Arizona State University. His research interests include using technology in K-12 teaching for understanding, mathematics and science education, and scholarly communication of research. Tirupalavanam may be reached at ganesh.tg@asu.edu.
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References
Glass, S.R.. (1997, January 6). Markets and Myths: Autonomy in Public and Private Schools.Education Policy Analysis Archives [Online], 5(1). Available: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v5n1.html
McLean, L., Myers, M., Smillie, C., & Vaillancourt, D. (1997, June 10). Qualitative Research Methods: An essay review. Education Policy Analysis Archives [Online], 5(13). Available: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v5n13/
Dugan, J.G. & Behrens, J.T. (1998, November). A Hypermedia Exploration of the Classification Problem in Special Education. Current Issues in Education [Online], 1(6). Available:http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume1/number6/
Leshowitz, B., DiCerbo, K. E., & Symington, S. (1999, September 30). Effective Thinking: An Active-Learning Course in Critical Thinking. Current Issues in Education [On-line], 2(5). Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume2/number5/
Silbiger, A. (1996). Passacaglia and Ciaccona: Genre Pairing and Ambiguity from Frescobaldi to Couperin. Journal of Seventeenth Century Music [On-line], 2(1). [Online]. Available: http://www.sscm.harvard.edu/jscm/v2/no1/Silbiger.html
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