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Tampere Research Center for Information and Media (TRIM)

Projects

RIME – Research Group on Information and Media Practices

ONGOING PROJECTS

  • ENNCODE – Extremist Networks, Narcotics and Criminality in Online Darknet Environments

COMPLETED PROJECTS

  • AKTIIVI – Active Citizen of the Open Learning Environment
  • ARONI – Argumentative online inquiry in building students’ knowledge work competences
  • AVO – Avoimet Verkostot Oppimiseen (Open Networks for Learning
  • AVO2 –Avoimuudesta voimaa oppimisverkostoihin
  • EIPS – Everyday information practices
  • FINNONTO 2 – Semantic web technologies and records management
  • iFuCo – Enhancing learning and teaching for future competences of online inquiry in multiple domains
  • INFO ERGO 2
  • INTACT – Industrial Interaction through Open Service Platforms
  • Know-Id – Informed Learning and Social Media in School and beyond
  • LEAD – Learning Design – Designing for Learning
  • LeGaResearch – Learning and Games Research
  • OpenInno – Learning network of Open Innovation
  • OSCOMM – Building Open Source Communities
  • TILTU – Situation awareness in digital product process
  • TTS – Spaces and contents of the Information Society
  • Web-Seal (See Know-Id -> homepages)

 

ARONI – Argumentative online inquiry in building students’ knowledge work competences

The project will develop a new instructional model for teaching online inquiry competences (OICs) for upper secondary education. To achieve this objective, the proposed research aims to

  1. build a deeper understanding of students’ online inquiry competences and related everyday information and media practices,
  2. outline a solid theoretical perspective for the design of instructional models for OICs, and
  3. develop systematic methods for assessing students’ OICs and pedagogical practices in teaching OICs.

The ultimate goal is to show the effectiveness of the instructional model in a quasi-experimental teaching intervention study. Diverse methods are used to collect data about the process and its outcomes. This includes pre-and post-tests of learning outcomes in OICs; teachers’ interviews; observation memos; survey data on students’ information and media practices, and epistemic beliefs. The project serves both the goals of basic research and the development of pedagogical practices.

Consortium:

  1. Professor Eero Sormunen, University of Tampere (UTA), School of Information Sciences
  2. Professor Miika Marttunen, University of Jyväskylä (JYU), Department of Education
  3. Adjunct Professor Auli Toom, Helsinki University (HU), Faculty of Behavioural Sciences

Duration: 2015-2019

Funding: Academy of Finland

More information:

Home pages: https://blogs.sis.uta.fi/aroni/
Consortium&project leader: Eero Sormunen (eero.sormunen@uta.fi)

AVO – Avoimet Verkostot Oppimiseen (Open Networks for Learning)

  • ­AVO is part of an ESF-funded development program entitled Fostering active citizenship through open learning environments. The program is administrated by the Finnish Ministry of Education and the State Provincial Office of Lapland, and coordinated by AKTIIVI (Active Citizen of the Open Learning Environment) project network.
  • ­The aim of AVO is to pilot and support pedagogical and critical implementation of new modes of action in education and civic activity using networked model of action.
  • ­A research project is included in AVO to support the accomplishment of the project goals with systematic development activities and to create new, practical knowledge about open content production, use of social media and networked model of action.
  • ­The main research tasks are to ascertain how open content production and social media will affect on our thinking, action and learning – and on this basis:
    • To strengthen open content production and use of social media by developing new operations models.
    • To find to overcome the obstacles to open content production and the use of social media.
    • To develop networked action model in co-operation with AKTIIVI.
  • ­The method will be action research with special reference to the perspective of Activity Theory.
  • ­Activity Theory will be used as an analysis tool – Activity System will be the the unit of analysis.
  • ­Research material will be collected through observations, surveys and interviews. Materials in the web-based project environments will also be used in the analysis.
  • ­­Project duration: 2008-2011
  • More information:

AVO2 – Avoimuudesta voimaa oppimisverkostoihin

  • ­AVO2 is part of an ESF-funded development program entitled Fostering active citizenship through open learning environments. The program is administrated by the Finnish Ministry of Education and the State Provincial Office of Lapland, and coordinated by AKTIIVI (Active Citizen of the Open Learning Environment) project network.
  • ­The aim of AVO2 is to enhance and strengthen communal, involving and networked culture of action in educational institutions, other organizations and their interest groups who participate the project.
  • ­TRIM coordinates and participates in a subproject called Kolmiulotteiset ja mobiilit oppimis- ja osallistumisympäristöt (3DM), which concentrates on three-dimensional and mobile learning and participation environments. The main interest of TRIM is on Augmented Reality (AR), especially on issues such as how AR can be successfully used as a part of learning and different activities. During the project span 2-3 pilots will be carried out, events and training organized and publications produced.
  • ­TRIM is also responsible for carrying out the project research which is included in AVO2 to support the accomplishment of the project goals with systematic development activities and to create new, practical knowledge about the content of the project.
  • ­­Project duration: 2012-2013
  • More information:

Spaces and contents of the Information Society (TTS)

  • The aim of the project is to strengthen and deepen the contentual information society skills of libraries and other actors using collaborative models of action.
  • New library work practices and forms of co-operation are created and established in the project.
  • The aim of the research is to study how public libraries are developing their own services, particularly in the context of social media.
  • The research questions are:
    • What issues affect concepting and productization of public library services?
    • How public libraries conduct the concepting of their services?
    • What kind of process is the developing of public library services?
  • The research data can be also used later on the project as University of Oulu will carry out the effectiveness evaluation research of the services.

Nina Hynnä nina.hynna@uta.fi

Active Citizen of the Open Learning Environment – AKTIIVI

  • AKTIIVI – coordinates and supports the network of participatory projects (incl. AVO & TTS).
  • 8 projects at the moment
  • Main goals of the research:
    • How the actors of different participatory projets are dealing information in network (CoP etc.)?
    • What are the practices and tools to support network activity?
  • Theoretical background
    • Project actors as learners in learning process
    • WEB 2.0 concept and new way of thinking about information sharing
    • Models: Innovative Knowledge Communities, CoP, Sosial Networks
  • Other goals:
    • Exploring good practices and spreading them
    • Practices and tools for projects’s self-evaluation
  • Time period: Dec 2008 – Dec 2011
  • More info: http://www.aktiivi.info

Mika Sihvonen mika.sihvonen@uta.fi

EIPs – Everyday information practices

Everyday information practices refer to socio-culturally constituted and relatively established (habitualized) ways to seek, use and share information in mundane contexts. EIPs is a long-time project that was launched in 2005 by examining information practices among diverse populations such as environmental activists, unemployed people and prospective home buyers. More recently, the project has concentrated on the role of social media. Studies conduced in this field have investigated the ways in which people seek and share information in blogs, internet discussion forums and Question & Answer (Q&A) services. The issues analyzed in this context include, for example,  argumentation patterns used in internet discussion and Q&A forums, affective factors of information sharing, and perceived credibility and quality of the nerworked sources.

A detailed list of the EIPs studies can be found at Reijo Savolainen´s website.

Contact person: Reijo Savolainen, Reijo.Savolainen@uta.fi

iFuCo – Emhancing learning and teaching for future competences of online inquiry in multiple domains

iFuCo is an interdisciplinary, international project to increase our understanding of students’ Online Inquiry Competences (OICs) in the Web dominated information and media environment. The Finnish-Chilean consortium representing psychology, education, and information sciences aims to develop a novel, culturally relevant pedagogical model and practices for online inquiry in two different educational and cultural contexts.

Consortium:

  • University of Turku (coordinator) – Prof. Marja Vauras & Prof. Mirjamaija Mikkilä-Erdmann
  • University of Jyväskylä – Prof. Paavo Leppänen
  • University of Tampere – Prof. Eero Sormunen

Duration: 2016-2018

Funding: Academy of Finland

For more information: Contact Eero Sormunen (eero.sormunen@uta.fi)

INFO ERGO 2 – Productivity, high quality customer experience and wellbeing at work through information ergonomics

The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has a substantial impact on how people work. The use of the ICTs affects the rhythm of work and increases the amount of information processing. Info Ergo 2 project focuses on the development of perceived customer value brought about by the enhancement of information ergonomics. Information ergonomics is an evolving part of work ergonomics, and it aims at enhancing wellbeing at work and productivity by keeping the information load at a manageable level.  The development of customer value is dependent on the ways in which people working in customer service are able utilize the potential of ICTs at daily work. Drawing on action research, the project aims at enhancing the quality of customer service and through it, the perceived customer value.

Consortium:

  • The Research and Education Centre Synergos at the School of Management, University of Tampere
  • Tampere Research Center for Information and Media (TRIM), University of Tampere
  • Tampere Unit for Computer-Human Interaction (TAUCHI), University of Tampere

Project duration: 2015-2016

Funding: Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation

Further information:

Kirsi Heikkilä-Tammi (Synergos), e-mail: Kirsi.Heikkila-Tammi@staff.uta.fi

Reijo Savolainen (TRIM), e-mail: Reijo.Savolainen@uta.fi

Markku Turunen (TAUCHI), e-mail: Markku.Turunen@uta.fi

INTACT – Industrial Interaction through Open Service Platforms

  • Researcher: Heljä Franssila
  • Research questions:
    • What is distributed, community-driven industrial interaction?
    • How distributed, community-driven industrial interaction is supported by
      1. Technology – open platforms, supporting applications;
      2. Organisation – mechanism for community building and development; and
      3. integration of service development and content creation?
    • Are investments into distributed, community-driven industrial interaction worthwhile?
    • Funding: TEKES and participating companies: Eniro Finland, Yara Finland, Metso Automation, TeliaSonera
  • Timetable: 8/2006 – 10/2009
  • Research partner: Helsinki University of Technology

TILTU – Situation awareness in digital product process

  • Researcher: Heljä Franssila
  • Research questions:
    • What are the new situation aware product process management models applicable in production networks and are they feasible among small and middle sized industrial enterprises?
    • How to integrate formal and informal product information to support situation awareness in user-centred way, and what are the possibilities of social media and Web 2.0 technologies in the integration of formal and informal product information
    • How can virtual modelling support user-cenrted interfaces to digital product information
  • Funding: TEKES and participating companies: Metso Automation, Metso Minerals, Metso Paper, TVO, TechWilla, InnoSteel Factory, M-Components, Visual Components, Mediamaisteri
  • Timetable: 3/2009 – 2/2012
  • Research partners: Tampere University of Technology, HAMK University of Applied Sciences and Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences

Semantic web technologies and records management (FINNONTO 2) 2008–2009

  • Pekka Henttonen (Kimmo Kettunen, Marjo Valtonen)
  • Funded by
    • Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), Valtion IT- toiminnan johtamisyksikkö ValtIT (Government ICT Management Unit) and Arkistolaitos (National Archives Service)
  • Goal
    • making electronic records management systems easier to use
  • Focus
    • possibilities for contextual reasoning based on user recognition and knowledge of organizational context
  • Extra information
    • For research purposes we have actual records and records metadata of a government agency (first time in the world!)

OSCOMM – Building Open Source Communities

  • Researchers: (Tere Vadén &) Teemu Mikkonen
  • How to initiate and build sustainable OS communities?
    • (community typology, bottlenecks of sustainability)?
  • Funded by TEKES
  • 2009 (+ 2010)?
  • Partners: TUT Software systems , TY SoberIT, yrityskumppanit Nokia, Sesca, IT Mill
  • http://tutopen.cs.tut.fi/oscomm/

OpenInno – Learning network of Open Innovation

  • Tere Vadén & Teemu Mikkonen (& Mikko Ahonen)
  • Open innovation networks facilitating co-operation between (business) institutions
    • (wikis in business use, not-for-profit open innovation projects)
  • TYKES
  • 2009
  • VTT
  • http://openinno.fi/

Know-Id – Informed Learning and Social Media in School and beyond

The main objective of the sub-project was to develop and study practices of informed learning in schools by using social media tools for collaborative knowledge construction. The study consisted of three cases.  Case 2.1 focused on collaborative knowledge construction by studying students’ social media practices in and outside the school. Case 2.2 illuminated collaborative knowledge construction by studying information practices and information literacy instruction. Case 2.3 expanded the research beyond the school by investigating the maturity of students’ information practices and independent learning skills in academic language studies. Together the cases outlined a multifaceted picture of the challenges and opportunities of teaching and learning in the rich information and media environment.

Researchers: Eero Sormunen UTA/INFIM (Head)

Case 1: Social media practices of knowledge creation in and outside the classroom

  • Eero Sormunen, Leeni Lehtiö, Mikko Tanni, Tuulikki Alamettälä; ÅA/INF/Jannica Heinström

Case 2: Informed learning and collaborative knowledge construction in schools

  • Teemu Mikkonen, Tere Vaden

Case 3: Learning task design for complex skills development in language teaching

  • JyU/Peppi Taalas, Ulla Bergroth, Riina Seppälä

Funding: Academy of Finland 2010-2013

Homepage (publications etc.): https://blogs.sis.uta.fi/know-id/

LEAD – Learning Design – Designing for Learning

LEAD aims to (1) bring design thinking to learning design and to (2) bring design expertise to the development process of technological learning solutions. In this project we understand learning situations widely, from traditional classroom situations to more informal learning settings. One thing common to all these situations is that the learning situation should be planned and prepared. This planning and preparing is closely analogous to design process. This means that design methodology and thinking can be applied in the planning and preparing for education situation. Design thinking can significantly improve teachers and event organizers capabilities to engage learners and audiences, deliver the message, and successfully achieve the goals.

The TRIM team of LEAD focuses on the question: What Factors are Behind the Active and Non-active Use of ICT in Finnish Preliminary Schools?
As teacher has become more of a  guide-on-the-side their role is defined as being a learning designer setting the stage for students activities. This underlines the importance of active and student-focused use of ICT in schools. This study explores factors on teachers’ capability to function as a designer for educational use of ICT. We draw findings from a mixed method study comprising of an online 34-item Opeka questionnaire on ICT usage issues in teaching and interviews of 9 schools representing 1 national top school in pedagogical ICT usage, 4 local higher and 4 lower ICT-usage achieving schools from 2 municipalities in Finland. In each school the principal, ICT-support teacher and classroom/subject teacher were interviewed on personal, community and resource issues affecting pedagogical ICT usage. These themes were also found from Opeka teacher questionnaire (n=2390, summer 2013) with explorative factor analysis.

Researchers: Eero Sormunen (Head), Teemu Mikkonen, Antti Syvänen, Jarmo Viteli

Funding: Tekes 2012-14

Cooperation: Aalto University, HIIT

Consortium home page: http://lead.aalto.fi/

 

LeGaResearch – Learning and Games Research

  • University Alliance Finland Research Cluster of Excellence on Future Learning and Games Research (LeGaResearch)
    • social software and mobile media –based personal learning and gaming culture environments
    • R & D microblogging, context-awareness, adaptive services, virtual environments
  • Personal interests
    • Teacher response to the ”invasion” of gaming-based youth cultures in schools (pelitieto.net)
    • Continuing presently somewhat extra-curricular activies (Antti´s PhD thesis on mobile blogging-enabled portfolios in teacher training)