Web 2.0 Journal (EME 6414)

As someone who primarily uses one social media platform consistently, but in a very passive manner, the digital detox was exactly what I needed. In the first few weeks of the class, there were so many tools introduced. Despite the warning to not to try to do everything, I wanted to at least check out all of the tools. Unfortunately, for most, that’s as far as I got – checking them out and using them in a very passive manner. Attempting to keep up with them all, was very overwhelming.  I chose to do the digital detox Friday – Sunday. I had some travel and family events going on during that time and it felt great to not engage in any social media. Although, I spent my time on the various platforms as a consumer, even that was draining for me. That detox almost felt like a Spring break for me, lol. I’m refreshed and ready to jump back in for next week!

 

All of the tools this week were brand new to me. I hadn’t heard of any of them before. I signed up for a TinyLetter account today. I’m really excited to use it for work. I’m working on a project and I think TinyLetter will be the perfect tool for summarizing and dispersing the discussions that take place each month. My new project rolls out in a couple of weeks and I’m thinking I’ll try to send out my first newsletter at the beginning of August.  Has anyone used any of the tools that were introduced this week in their work contexts before?  

 At the end of Week 4 I gave an update on my tool involvement. Well... not much has changed since then. I proposed that my lack of involvement with new tools may have been due to my involvement for our community observation assignment. The last two weeks have been extremely busy for me (so much so that I had to be extra intentional about being involved in the communities for the assignment), so I can't say for sure that the community assignment is the reason that I haven't been involved with the other tools. The next two weeks are slower for me. My goals for the week are to revisit LinkedIn, participate in some of the challenges this week (at least two), and check out Diigo a bit more. Let's see what happens...

This assignment was... interesting for me. I will say, I'm glad that it is over! For the community in which I was an active participant, the first post was extremely anxiety-inducing - but I was okay. The second post however, the responses were so overwhelming that I really just wanted to leave the group altogether. The amount of energy and mental space it takes for me to actively navigate social media, I simply don't have right now. I believe that that will change once I'm done with school or work - whichever comes first, lol.  I did come across a recommendation for a restaurant that I am looking forward to trying. I also enjoyed seeing people make connections with complete strangers over similar interests in food. Most of my time spent on social media, has been in a very passive capacity.

I was pretty late to the Twitter challenges this week, because I hadn't been on Twitter since last week. When I got on Twitter today, I saw all of the Throwback Thursday challenges and omg - so much nostalgia! I didn't participate in the challenge, but I enjoyed reading them all. Someone posted about Yahoo messenger, and it took me back to my childhood Summers. My dad lives in Seattle, so I spent holidays and summers there; while my friends were back home in Daytona Beach. My friends and I used Yahoo Messenger to stay in contact. The trip down memory lane reminded me of how much technology and the way that we communicate has changed so much.

Most of this week’s tools were pretty familiar to me. I’ve come across Wikipedia, Wikihow, and Quora when googling different things. When reading the article about information sharing on social media sites, it made me think of Wikipedia. The article talked about the dual information credibility problem. I remember being told in high school that Wikipedia wasn’t a reliable source because you couldn’t always verify that the information or the contributor was credible. I used to live on Pinterest! I’m not on it as much these days, but if I need inspiration for an idea it’s the second place I look – after Tiktok lol. I’ve never created anything on Flickr, but I’ve seen others use Flickr. I don’t think I’m going to engage with Flickr – not right now at least. Now Diigo – I had heard of it but had never used it. I think it’s going to be super helpful to me even beyond this class. I’m really looking forward to using it ongoing. In comparison to last week, the tools this week didn’t feel

We are in week 4 and about to begin week 5 (time is really flying!). I noticed that I have not been an active contributor in any of the platforms that I’ve signed up for in this class - with the exception of Blogger of course. I do a lot of “lurking” and reading the posts and comments of others on Twitter. I haven’t visited Reddit or LinkedIn since I signed up. I have been on Youtube once in the last week. Instagram is my preferred social media account, so I’ve been on there daily, but primarily out of habit. I tend to post things to my story, but I haven’t done that in a week or two. I wonder if it has anything to do with me being more focused on the community groups for our assignment. I do recognize that my social media involvement tends to ebb and flow in general – even in the spaces that I’m comfortable with. So, I’m going to attempt to be more intentional about being more of a contributor in at least one space that is new to me. How is everyone else doing with contributing to n

I found the article  entitled Enriching Professional Learning Networks: A Framework for Identification, Reflection , and Intention very interesting and reassuring . In my current employment, we have traditionally offer ed professional development opportunities to our home visitors via in-person and online trainings, conferences, and workshops. I am currently preparing to use a social media platform (we call it the HFA Community), to provide informal learning opportunities and professional development.  I was pretty excited to see that my plans for enriching our PLN, has elements of the framework described in the article.   This new learning space will facilitat e conversations amongst the home visitors, and between the home visitors and the central administration team (my office). Staff will have the opportunity to strategize with other employees  from different part s of the state to solve problems, reflect on their work, offer their own expertis e , and suggest topics or su

  So many new tools for me this wee k! I signed up for three new things this week – Reddit, LinkedIn, and Badger – and signing up for all of those things was a bit overwhelmi ng. I did n’t heed the warning to not try and do everything. I summed up each of my thoughts about each of the tools I engaged with this week:   YouTube – I am very  familiar with Youtube . I’ve learned so much from Youtube and use it quite often. YouTube hel p ed me successfully pass two courses in the doctoral program . I have a really hard time with Research Statistics , so I need ed additional assistance and step-by-step explanations to get concepts. YouTube is one of my staple learning platforms.   Reddit – I’ve googled things and a response or similar question on Reddit has popped up, but I’m not really familiar with the platform . Initially, I decided not to engage in it; but I changed my mind. Why not try it out? I’m not obligated to continue use; so I can at least give it a chance. Aft

There is a private community on Facebook that I have been a member of since 2020. I decided to use that group as one of my social media-based communities for the Community Norms assignment. I have never posted in this group (until yesterday ), but I have learned so much from this particula r group and I th ink that it is extremely valuable.   As for me turning into a contributor in the group... the anxiety! I don’t often comment (or post) things on Facebook at all. I tend to feel the need to respond to everyone’s comment that responds to my post; and simul taneously get extremely annoyed by all of the notifications from the comments, so I just don’t post on Facebook, lol. Somehow, I don’t feel this need on Instagram , and I wonder if that has anything to do with it being my preferred choice of social media platform.   Anyway... going from a lurker to an active contributor has given me a slight rush of different feelings. I wonder if I’ll feel any differently about it by the