The rise in social computing (based on social production and mass collaboration) has facilitated a shift from consumer cultures grounded in an industrialized information economy (specialized in producing finished goods to be consumed passively) to cultures of participation in a networked information economy (in which all people are provided with the means to participate actively in personally meaningful problems). These developments represent unique and fundamental opportunities and challenges for rethinking and reinventing learning and education.

Our research in the Center for LifeLong Learning & Design (L3D) explores theoretical foundations and designs, develops, and assesses socio-technical environments for this transformation. We have explored several major themes over the last decade including:

• Meta-design, focused on "design for designers", and aimed at defining and creating social and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative learning can take place by allowing learners to become co-designers and co-developers; and
• Social creativity, focused on transcending the individual human mind by exploiting transdisciplinary collaboration, and aimed at capturing, negotiating, and sharing a significant portion of the knowledge generated by work done within communities.

The presentation will illustrate these objectives and themes with specific examples and articulate their relevance for understanding and fostering cultures of participation.