Where are we now...
A year on from our launch on Substack and the Digital Learning Network is still evolving...
One of the thrilling aspects of working in the cultural sector is the fact that we regularly get the privilege to step beyond the ‘velvet rope’ to get even closer and to see more of the cultural content we love. A year on from our relaunch on Substack, the Digital Learning Network (DLNET) continues to evolve, and to this end we are inviting you behind the scenes here, to understand some of the choices we are making as we move into 2025.
Whilst we are pleased to say that Substack is here to stay, this feels very ‘one-way’ and so we want to look at how we can encourage more dialogue and conversation amongst our network.
DLNET has been running in a variety of forms for a number of years; we have seen digital learning change in that time and have always tried to reflect those changes in what do and how we do it. However we still have the same goals to try and support people to use digital technology to reach, engage, and support learning with a diverse range of audiences and communities.
Substack
When we made the decision to use Substack instead of a more traditional website, this felt like the best place for us to be. This would be somewhere that we could build an audience of subscribers and provide regular content like our case studies, or articles in formats such as ‘top-tips’ or ‘how to’. This platform would also allow us to keep our subscribers in one place and for us to manage all of this with relative ease. It would also mean that DLNET wasn’t just replicating the function of other networks or sector support organisations.
We are pleased with the way our Substack platform has grown and how the audience that follows it has developed over the last year. So, Substack subscribers can expect more of the same from us over the coming months. But we want to do more…
DLNET’s 2024 highlights
Networks and conversations
In the past, one of the things that we think has made the network more valuable to our members have been the conversations and the dialogues that we have enabled. Through the years these have been achieved in a number of ways, but mainly through in-person and virtual events and with social media. However, this is one area where we know we haven’t quite managed to keep up, and we are aware that there are fewer conversations happening around our activity now.
Substack Chat
Substack does have a few ways for people to engage directly, take a look, for example at our ‘Chat’ tab… It’s pretty quiet on there for now, but its ready to go for anybody in the network who wants to network that way…
It is also possible to comment directly on Substack articles and to build conversations there in the comments - take a look below and let us know whether this is the way you’d like to connect.
Social Media - all eyes on LinkedIn
In the past we’ve had some lively conversations using social media. Our monthly #DLNETChat live discussions on a variety of digital learning topics, via Twitter (now ‘X’) would often see ‘reach’ figures in the hundreds. For a number of reasons we have pulled back from both X and also from our presence on Facebook. We also know that many of our network on X have either left the platform or don’t use it in the way they used to. We have never quite got the same sort of engagement through Facebook.
We do have a LinkedIn Group, and for the immediate future we are going to focus on that as our platform to reach professionals and practitioners across the range of sectors that make up our network. So whilst engagement there is minimal, we would like for that to become a place where the network can discuss some of the issues we raise in these Substack articles. If you subscribe to this Substack and you use LinkedIn, please do join us there too.
Ask the audience
So, this year we have plans to cover topics from bilingual digital resources to video editing, and from podcasting to Padlet, but would love to know more about what you want to see.
We would also like to feature content from some guest authors, so if you are working on a digital learning project and have something you want to share, we’d love to hear from you too.
Why not take to LinkedIn, to the comments below, or to our subscriber chat to reach out and let us know your thoughts…