Reflections Week 11 & 12

Reflections for Week 11 & 12

Preservation of Data & Social Media in Education

http://www.happymarketer.com/social-media-education

 

 

Reportedly by Brown, S. A. (2012) the perception by students in higher education is that social media is helpful in some contexts. The perception seems to be that some valuable skills are acquired by learning how to interact with Web 2.0 tools. Such as student centered learning. To me in some ways that translates into students taking courses now especially online are self-taught and need to be extremely self-disciplined and self-motivated. These skills  no doubt are transferable into any sector of ones life especially for employment. Brown suggests there is a certain amount of experimentation going on with social media and education. 

 

With regards to teacher/students relationships and grade scores being higher by use of Facebook instead of teachers traditional websites housed inside traditional school website, I was honestly SHOCKED to read that (Mazer, et. al, 2007). This is so surprising to me but I suppose it shouldn't be as social media is creeping into all areas of life. I am not comfortable  with sharing my facebook page with my professors nor do I ask for theirs. I feel like it perverts the roles between teacher and student. Now, I will say that I did friend request one of my undergrad professors after I graduated to share literary finds. But, generally speaking I don't appreciate that practice.

 

Generally, I am not a huge fan of online learning. I know that it is all the rage these days, but given a chance to take courses in person vs online, in person wins hands down every time. The whole belief that online courses are creating good feelings and communities, well sorry but I don't buy that at all. It seems like from all the online courses I have taken (a lot) both undergrad and graduate, the amount of interaction that took place is minimal. There is also a huge factor, the time delay factor. Trying to get answers to questions online is sometimes like pulling teeth, painful and slow.

 

On a positive note though, one of the social mediums I do enjoy is blogging. I like blogging because it's fun to write and share what I have written. I like blogging because it is less formal than research writing but still can include many informative and useful resources. I especially like blogging because it appeals to my sense of artistry. With blogging one has the opportunity to insert some type of artistic creativity. The creativity and collaboration aspects of social media are attractive to me.

I really got a kick out of the videos posted this past week. One on YouTube Web 2.0 was touting the benefits of incorporating Web 2.0 in education all the way down to younger children. The other a documentary on PBS was basically giving the opposite view, that those people (very high IQ students from Stanford and MIT believed themselves to be effective multi-taskers, but the research proved other wise. In my opinion, the use of technology can be a blessing and be used as a tool BUT I would think it common sense that giving 2, 3, 4, 5 or up to six things one's attention (basically at the same time) renders ones focus less than effective. Students in the PBS documentary said they believed they were effective multi-taskers and believed they were staying connected. The connections that are taking place might as suggested by the the professors and scientists "dumbing us down" for real intellectual thinking/reasoning.

Thoughts? I can't help but ask the question, Where is all this going? Are computers taking over? They certainly seem to be in MLIS programs. The concept that one is able to earn a masters degree completely online, in my thinking is absurd...So, how are those professors building relationships with their students, and vice versa...I don't think they are...online education, in my opinion, is a poor substitute for teacher student interaction... The 'privilige' of being able to work whenever or wherever sells/markets educational programs. But is this privilege really equipping students for real life work experiences? Real life practical interactions (especially library students) with working with patrons? Most all courses for USF MLIS, except the field work experience were theory courses. I am grateful that I have had some hands on experience in this course with exploration of different popular interactive social sites.

So, what is the big pull for going 'on-line' with educational programs? Could it be related to money?? Do professors who teach online students earn less/more pay than teaching in person? Who is benefiting from all this on-line education? The universities?

I wonder what Rudolf Steiner would say about learning via technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner Steiner was the initiator behind Waldorf Education. He believed that children should learn by doing and was interested in development of the whole person.  His approach to education was holistic as our cultures approach to education is fragmented and instant..But is our method lasting? We won't know the effects of all the 'net' involvement for some time. Will it be too late by then? Remember when smoking was hyped and we didn't know how harmful cigarettes were? I wonder what research will reveal about the effects of technology on the human brain and what about the human spirit? View a video about the Waldorf way of teaching and learning for children:  http://www.edutopia.org/waldorf-public-school-morse-video.

This past week I also had the oppotrtunity to try using foursquare and yelp. I liked using both apps and learned that yesterday if I check in 4 more times at Geckos in S'sota, I will get a $5 discount. That might just be the incentive I need to motivate me to use the app. Generally, speaking, I find there is a disconnect from the people I am with to engage in a phone app and I like to be fully present with where I am at and with who I am with. I suppose I am still stuck in the dark ages when it comes to the issue of human interaction.

References

Brown, S. A. (2012). Seeing Web 2.0 in context: A study of academic perceptions. The Internet in Higher Education, 15 (1), 50-57. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/science/article/pii/S109675161100025X

 

Mazer, J. P., Murphy, R. E., Simonds, C. J. (2007). I'll see you on "Facebook": The effects of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, active learning, and classroom climate. Communication Education, 57 (1), 1-17.

Videos:
Web 2.0 in education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVr5pokOVG0

Digital nation. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/

Waldorf-Inspired Curriculum Materials, http://www.edutopia.org/waldorf-public-school-morse-resources





Week 10 Reflections

Week 10 Reflection

Is the Internet Replacing Everything We Read?

 

Courtesy from Google Images:http://genevalunch.com/category/techmedia/

Patrick Chappatte cartoon that appeared on GenevaLunch.com in 2009 (©2013 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.)

 

 

After reading Books and other Fetish Objects I have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, it is not so much that digital content holds less value than "paper and glue;" but, rather it loses some of its actual presence/substance. By actual presence/substance I mean, if reading a Circa 896 manuscript even with its notes in the margins online is certainly not the same experience as holding the actual created object in hands.  There is a completely different dynamic and energy transpiring between reading an online book than holding the original in your hands. I think in part it has a lot to do with the sensory experience, feeling, touching, smelling and possibly even hearing as you turn the pages. These sensory sensations are lost with digital content. My son told me recently that he, who grew up in the E-Age, cannot read with out a background light. What he means is that he prefers to read his news, books, all content on an electronic device, not the paper. What does this mean, well, I think a lot of what is happening with electronic media is part of an evoling culture: the old is fasing out and the new is become digitized. So, for many young people (those under 30) getting thier news, books, any information is now being facilitated through the Net and or some sort of e-device. As part of those e-devices, cell phones seem to be topping the list. I find it interesting and bit condounding as well, when I see people in third world countries on news programs, living in abject poverty but they have their cell phones. This makes me think, that cell phones especially are becoming one of the most coveted and used e-devices on the market. I wish I had bought stock in electronics years ago! ha ha


Those sensory experiences I mentioned were once deemed valuable (or maybe they were just the norm for the times) but now, sadly in my opinion are being replaced with electronic versions of everything. For the sake of technology itself, I can attest that there are benefits to electronic publishing for the consumer, mostly speed and access being the primary ones; but again, in my opinion “There Ain't Nothing like the real thing baby!”  Any one want to hear some good R&B?? Yes? click  on this link for a little auditory treat! http://youtu.be/fg8pRCt-0N4

Of course, what is normal? Well, when I was growing up, they didn't have personal computers, so for me reading a newspaper or book was very normal. What about listening to music? How many people even buy CD's anymore? My guess is not too many, everyone downloads their selections and add to their e-collections via Itunes.  The link I posted above is actually a you tube video of a 'record' . Yes, records/vinyl was normal in its day. I am personally a fan of still putting an album on my turntable, yes even with some background stratches. It's another one of those things that gives me fuller sensory expereince; looking at the album cover, touching the vinyl album, cueing up the the needle, watching the record spin on the turn table are all parts of the sensory experience. Sure I can download the music to an Ipod or my computer, but it lacks substance for me.
 

Another thought I have about print vs. digital is from the point of view of the author. As a writer myself, there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be had by crafting my words with pen and paper. Again, this might be from my early school days when penmanship was practiced. No not a stone tablet! ha ha.   I am not sure if students even practice cursive writing today. Along with the actual writing with pen and paper one has the luxury to doodle and draw next to ones notes, I am a big doodler, it helps stimulate my brain and foster creativity. Perhaps there are actually some software programs that allow for this type of creativity. Do you know?

 
I do however; applaud those who for the sake of preservation that digitize originals lest they be lost for all time that truly is a blessing such as great ancient scrolls or famous books. What of this e-platforms and e-publishing scene through social media? Morrison from the UK in this article says that the new way for authors to get their books marketed is by devoting 20% of their time to writing and 80% marketing online. I recently approached a publisher for a children's book I had written about 5 years ago, and she basically told me the same thing: If I wanted to do the self-marketing via the internet and live appearances great; if not, it was probably not going to fly off any book stores shelves. This is sad and upsetting to me but shows me that in today’s world, we all have to wear sOOOOOOO many hats! One cannot just be a writer anymore nor are librarians just librarians, we are community center organizers, tax consultants, mental health advocates, children's specialists, digital wizard, eye vie! When's it gunna end??

  

References:

Gleick, J. (July 16, 2011). Books and other fetish objects. New York Times.

Morrison, E. (July 30, 2012). Why social media isn't the magic bullet for self-epublished authors. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/30/tweet-about-cats-just-write

 

Week 9 Reflection

Week 9 Reflections

Social Media :  Smart Phones

Smart Phones have sure come a long way since Maxwell Smart's shoe phone was on the scene. Perhaps some of you remember this?  Any way Pew Research for Global Attitudes Projects cites smart phones as primarily taking over with portable apps. Smart phones (Moerdyck, 2012) are being utilized all around the globe. The smart phone has some advantages over traditional online social media services, mobile phones don't have all the ads on them (Kno, 2010).

Some social networking companies such as Twitter are missing the boat on broadcasting  in other languages. There are according to Arno (2010) many availble tools for companies to get on the band wagon to market their services to non English speaking citizens such as Google's Global Market Finder.

To date the most popular social media sites are Facbook, Twitter and Linkedin but not all over the world. Users in Northern Europe prefer Xing over Linkedin (Arno, 2012).

Van Belleghen (2012) reports as of October of 2012, 1.5 million social networking sites are in existence and of those countries that have increased social media activity it has been a result of smart phone use.  Users of these smart phnones are using social media sites to 'brand' companies and services. Moerdyck (2012) says that "8 out of 10 internet users want to help brands." As people use social media companies have a great opportunity to gain or continue to build a customer base.

This past week I learned about a social media geographic site called Foursquare. Foursquare is fun for people to check in at thier present location and share that information with thier net work friends. But, as of 1/2103, 1 million companies are using this new application to get customers to user their services. Foursquare allows its users to share the good, the bad and the ugly about places.  But, mostly companies use it by giving incentives to thier customers for frequent check in or mention of thier business. My youtube video tutorial can be seen by clicking this link > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41hE6M009fA



References



Arno, C. (January 4, 2012). Secrets to social media success in foreign languages. Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/christian-arno/421521/secrets-social-media-success-foreign-languages 

Kno. (September 8, 2012). 2012-the end of the social media world (as we know it)? Retrieved from http://blog.kno.at/tech/2012-the-end-of-the-social-media-world-as-we-know-it/

Moerdyck, A. (October 4, 2012). 8 out of 10 U.S. Internet users want to help brands. Retrieved from http://blog.insites.eu/2012/10/04/8-out-of-10-u-s-internet-users-want-to-help-brands/

Pew Research Center. (December 20, 2011). Global digital communication: Texting, social networking popular worldwide. Pew Global Attitudes Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/12/20/global-digital-communication-texting-social-networking-popular-worldwide/

Van Bellegham, S. (October 3, 2012). 10 striking conclusions of the study "Social media around the world 2012." Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/stevenvanbelleghem/867766/10-striking-conclusions-study-social-media-around-world-2012

 

 

Week 8: Traditional vs. Non Traditional Media

 

Traditional vs. Non Traditional Media

Week 8 Reflections

 

Borrowed from Google Images: www.cartoonstock.com -

 

 

Well, this past week I read a lot about the differences between old (traditional) media and new (virtual/social media).  Like all things, the social media has pros and cons. I think it’s safe to say that that one pro about social media is the speed at which it hits the virtual press is faster and appeals to a larger population than traditional media.  The readings this past week show that the trend for getting news via newspaper is taking a back seat to social media news flashes posted on Twitter as one example. People are tuning in and surfing a multitude of online news related information and they are doing it much faster than by picking up the paper or waiting to watch the 6 or 11 pm news to get the latest stories. According to Mitchell & Rosenstiel (March 19, 2012) social media offers a “larger pool sources” for journalists to collaborate offering a “stronger and wider connection with the community both locally and globally.­­”

                                                                                                            

Social media is giving traditional journalists a run for their money. It has been reported that journalists need to “adjust their ideology” (Mitchell & Rosenstiel, 2012) that they are the only news finders and news sharers.  Social media is affording the average Joe/Jill the opportunity to get the news out and often these breaking news stories are done with the use of cell phones complete with photos and videos.   Some journalists are in favor of using these “average Joe/Jill sources as supplemental sources others are not. On the other hand, the wide spread use of social media is a bit like journalists having a large staff working behind the scenes for them, one that they don’t have to pay!

 

The con of getting sources through the ‘average Joe/Jill’ can have some negative outcomes, aka, misinformation…or partial coverage of a story. For this reason, journalists, all the more need to get the ‘whole’ story and present it with the professional ethics they hold with no evidence of bias or favoritism.

This week I also re-visited my Delicious and Diigo Accounts., two social bookmarking tools.

I had previously obtained accounts for these two sites for a previous course.  Here is my Diigo url: Roseanne's Diigo and here is my Delicious url: Roseanne's Delicious.


As this was my second time using these two social booking marking sites, I was not totally unaware of what they offered. Both collect bookmarks; but, what differs among them is how the information is presented.  Both have the feature to add tags. Outside of the class, I don’t use either of these. I used the USF library online data base to look for articles that were related to Facebook, Social Media, and public libraries. I used the bookmark link on the left hand side of the page of the journal articles. After you click on the tool, one is able to chose where to send the bookmark to by choosing one of the many bookmarks listed. This tool made it much easier to add new bookmarks. I liked that feature.:)

References

Mitchell, A. & Rosenstiel, T. (March 19, 2012). State of the news media 2012: An annual report

 



 



Week 7 Image Is Everything

Week 7 Reflections

Image and Reputations

Borrowed from Google Images: shaaark.com

 

This past week was learning about privacy and reputation. To start what I really appreciated was the link for Department of Defense Social Media site. What a fantastic resource. It would be a great link to include on all social media sites. Security of privacy continues to be a prominent issue in the virtual world and having a set of clear guidelines to ensure that protection is vital.

This week also included some important factors about behaviors of virtual users. After reviewing Randy Farmers Web Reputation Systems video, I learned quite about those behaviors. It was interesting to learn about the myths associated with online social media interactions. He seemed to be saying that one’s online behavior/conduct and visual presentation of one’s site sways the other’s opinions. In other words, depending on what one says or what pictures are posted on one’s site, determines one’s reputation as either positive or negative. 

D’Aquin, Rowe & Motta (2011) make some interesting points about the behavior of online users as well. They claim that online users have a false belief of their own online habits. This discrepancy in user activity has led to the development of data gathering tools such as Attention Recorder as a means to actually track their own use on the Web both personally and professional. Self-tracking involves monitoring what information is visible on the Web. Some companies monitor their reputation of their reputation from social media sites by extracting the references of person’s who bad mouth them.

According to Chesire & Antin (2010) the internet does have the benefit of people being able to connect with others all around the world from their own vicinity; but, warns online users to wield caution on they conduct or present themselves on line.  By carefully choosing trusted sites to participate in users might protect themselves from online abuses. A really good point that was made was how users are often violating their own privacy by not realizing that “digital identifiers” (e.g., e-mail addresses, user names, and uniform resource locators (URL’s) are stored used by others.

By participating in some social networking sites, for example Facebook, users might not realized that their information what they post is being evaluated and used shared with advertisers. So, what appears to be a free service has price attached to it.

References

Cheshire, C. & Judd, A. (2010). Behaviors, adverse events, and dispositions: An empirical study of online discretion and information control. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61 (7), 1487-1501.

D'Aquin, M., Rowe, M. & Motta, E. (2011). Self-tracking on the Web: Why and how. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/2011/track-privacy/papers/aquin.pdf

Randy Farmer's Building Web reputation systems. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn7e0J9m6rE

Borrowed from Google Images:www.webseo.com

 

 

    

       

Week 6 Reflections

Image borrowed from google images: kylelockwood.efoliomn.com

Week 6 Reflections

 

               I  am actually posting this week's reflection during week 7, as I was focused on taking COMPS last week. You may have noticed that I am fan of comics. I felt the above comic reflects at least in part some of the topics represented in week 6's readings. With reference to  Abbas & Agosto's (2010) article about high school teenagers interaction with social media. I was not surprised to read that teens might not be of issue and online privacy issues. Which to me is a bit ironic, as most teens I know, (my kids included) covet their privacy. But, it think with any new medium, (not that it is that new) such as online social media sites, users and especially younger ones need to learn it's challenges and how to best navigate through that virtual world. As one male high school senior said, he thinks there will always be new types of technology available for communication; but, as another student who was female pointed out, interacting online takes away from time available to hang out with friends. What I have observed is that teens are great multi-taskers and it is not uncommon to see teens hanging out with one bunch of friends while engaging with others on line, usually via thier cell phones.

       What I took away from Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe's article was in spite of privacy abuses, teens using Facebook viewed its use as gaing a larger social connetion and that the young people are staying connected and maintaing relationships longer.
  

       With regards to use and benefits of using socail media for business, it is clear that most business are engaged with one type of social media tool for promoting their business; and, (reputation) is a big part of that online presence (week 8).  These 20 free tools as mentioned by Bercovits, (2012) help companies track their growth.

References:
Abbas, J. & Agosto, D. E. (2010). High school seniors' social network and other ICT use preferences and concerns. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 47 (1), 1-10.

Bercovitz, L. (September 5, 2012). 20 free social media monitoring tools you should be using. Small Business Trends. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/20-free-social-media-monitoring-tools.html

Ellison, N., Steinfield, C. & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12 (4), 1143-1168. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x/pdf

Week 5 Reflections

This past week I learned more about Library 2.0, adding Delicious data to library websites, RSS feeds, Google News RSS feeds and lastly the impact of new technologies on current awareness tools in academic libraries.

I'd like to talk a little bit about Mu's article, "The Impact of New Technologies on Current Awareness Tools in Academic Libraries." Her article stressed using RSS feeds and using social bookmarking tools.

She like the other articles I read this week stated that using social media tools are in fact helping patrons to connect and have positive experiences (Mu, 2011).  RSS feeds actually bring information to the user instead of user having to hunt it down. This process can be accomplished by using a reader, of which there are several types of feed readers: Web based readers, such as Google reader (which I have used before); Email readers, such as Microsoft Outlook; and Browser readers, such as Firefox. Basically the main reason to use a reader is for saving time.

Social bookmarking tools are very popular and there are many available for users. They include but are not limited to ones such as Delicious, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, StumbelUpon, Tweettime, Mixx, Diigo and Slashdot.

Librarian Carla Redden stated that "Social bookmarking,  called tagging might have the most potential as a Web 2.0 tool that can be utilized in academic libraries to benefit their users (Mu, 2011).

It was interesting to learn that Delicious and Diigo are considered the world's largest social bookmarking sites.

The cute boy and girl are holding pictures of what the symbol for RSS feeds looks like.

This weeks reading also included specific articles that actually explained how what RSS feeds are and how to go about using them. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Google Feed Burner's article stated that "the biggest names on the web offer content feeds including USA Today.com, BBC News, ABC news and Amazon.com. 

It was shocking to learn that, "there are over 2,000 different feed reading applications, also know as news aggregators" (Google Feedburner).

Finally, Easton (2011) refers to RSS feed are the "glue of Web 2.0 technologies and millions of people rely on RSS feeds to pull web content from their computers and drop it into one of thier feeders. There are many applications that are dependant on RSS feeds such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts.