Co-Designing Digital Research Paths for Open Knowledge Projects is an initiative aimed at tackling the decline in academic participation within open knowledge platforms. These platforms are essential repositories of collective knowledge, but they face challenges due to diminishing contributions and questions about their academic credibility.
This project seeks to address these issues by increasing the involvement of academic researchers in open knowledge projects. It does so through the development of the Ideator, a digital research portal designed to help academics navigate the vast array of information available on open knowledge platforms. The tool provides researchers with a structured path for engaging in open knowledge projects, reducing confusion and improving accessibility.
Key Features:
The Ideator not only supports researchers involved in open knowledge platforms but also holds the potential to extend its utility to digital research in general.
The project employs a participatory design (PD) approach, ensuring that the development of the Ideator is guided by the needs and insights of its target users. Despite the constraints of a limited timeframe, PD methodologies were adapted to deliver a practical and functional prototype.
Development Methodology:
The Co-Designing Digital Research Paths project has resulted in:
The project contributes to increasing academic participation in open knowledge platforms by providing a structured and accessible tool for researchers, fostering collaboration, and promoting academic credibility.
This project highlights the value of participatory design methodologies in creating tools tailored to user needs. Despite time constraints, the project successfully leveraged online semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to inform the development of the Ideator, resulting in a prototype with significant potential for both open knowledge projects and broader digital research applications.