Web 2.0 Journal (EME 6414)

The tools introduced this week were Slack and Trello. I haven’t personally used Trello, but I am slightly familiar with it. A colleague introduced me to Trello, gave a tutorial of how to use it, and then showed us how they use it themselves. Upon introduction, I thought it was a cool tool to have access to; but I haven’t found a way or felt like I’ve needed to use it – yet. On the contrary, Slack is completely new to me. I hadn’t heard of it prior to this week. I didn’t create an account, but I did check out the website and resource pages about how to use it and the different features that it offers. I can actually think of a few scenarios where this tool would be helpful at my job. I may be signing up for it sooner than later... we'll see.  

  I’m sure most of us have started using or have at least heard about the launch of Threads. I've seen many people call it the new Twitter. While Instagram is my primary social media platform of choice, I have not created a Threads account. I don't have the bandwidth for it right now. I avoided Twitter for years, and am currently still trying to learn how to use it. I can do without signing up for another platform that appears to be similar to it.  If you're not familiar with the new platform, you can read about it here:  What is Threads? For the Twitter users in our class, I’m curious about what your initial thoughts are about Threads. Will it become the new Twitter? Will it rival Twitter? Do you like it?

Last week’s respite was a much needed break. I even took a break from personal use of social media. In short, it was refreshing. As I have shared many times before, I am not one who spends a lot of time on social media; so keeping up with all of the new social platforms in this class has been a bit of a task for me. Thanks to the respite week, I am feeling excited about (and like I have the energy for) wrapping things up over the next few weeks.  In the last week, I was much more focused, relaxed, and much more productive in all areas of life. Not engaging in social media for personal reasons or for class saved me a lot of time. I'm kind of happy to get back to using my personal socials; but also have a fresh sense and reminder of the time that I waste mindlessly scrolling. I may not engage in chunks of time - but a few minutes here and a few minutes there, add up to quite a bit of time. What did the respite do for you?

Elon Musk has consistently been in the news since he announced his intention to purchase Twitter. Here he is, gracing the news headlines with his presence once again:  Elon Musk Issues Temporary Limit on Number of Twitter Posts Users can View I received a notification on my phone for a news story about Elon Musk issuing limits on the number of Twitter posts that users can view. According to the article, the limit differs based on the users account. Verified users are allowed to view the most posts, then unverified users, and then new unverified users get to view the least amount of posts in a day. As someone who is new to the Twitter community, and also doesn't spend much time on social media, the limits blew my mind! I could not believe that people actually read 300 tweets in a day, for that to even be a limit. Elon Musk has since increased those limits. For the real Twitter users, what do these limits even mean? Will having these limits in place actually affect the majority of Tw...

Another week... another set of tools. I was introduced to a lot of new tools this week. In fact, the only tool that I had even heard of prior to this week was Padlet. Interestingly enough, I was just introduced to Padlet maybe a semester or two ago. I have only used Padlet as a student. I've never used it on the opposite end as an instructor or facilitator. My wheels are turning now, as I try to think of ways to use Padlet at work with our staff. I think I have an idea... but I'll come back to that.

About a month ago, I made a blog post related to an article we’d read about enriching professional learning n etworks. At that time, I was developing plans for using a social media platform to provide informal learning opportunities and professional development to the staff across our network. Well... it’s time! The first post will be live in the morning (7/3/23), and something new will be posted in the discussion forum every month. Based on the responses I’ve gotten from staff; they are just as excited as I am about this. I’m looking forward to asking staff in a few months if   they find this platform to be beneficial in he lping build their skillsets and knowledge base. The social media platform that we’re using is very similar to Facebook, with a space for discussions and forums similar to Reddit.  

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 , ...

  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 giv...

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 i...

Although we were only tasked with reading one of the chapters in section 2, I read the chapters about networked relationships and networked families. I was interested in seeing how the behaviors overlapped. In the Networked families chapter they shared that North American families have dinner together more. In my mother’s house and in my father’s house, we always ate dinner together. However, as cell phones developed and we all had individual phones, my Dad noticed that we were glued to our phones when we were supposed to be using dinner time to bond and spend time together. So then came the rule: no electronics at the table. No cell phones, iPads, laptops – nothing. The purpose of that was to ensure that we were intentional about our time together. We often see and hear about children (and adults) who are constantly glued to their phones. We have moments when we're all together and simply enforce a no-phone policy. We also try to let the children in our family choose the games or ...

This week’s tools were much less of a “shock to the system” in comparison to me signing up for Twitter last week. I am still feeling out Twitter and am unsure of how I will use it. However, I am familiar with Instagram and use it quite often. It is my primary social media space. Registering and then following the class blogs on Feedly was also an easy process – thanks to the opml file. Feedly has made it extremely easy for me to see and read my classmates’ blogs. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned at first about being able to keep up with the class blogs. Thanks to Feedly for clearing that worry! I am looking forward to approaching and experiencing all of the tools that we’ll use throughout the semester with an open and curious mind.

       Up until about middle school, if someone wanted to speak to me, they had to call the house phone – and most of the time I wasn’t available because I was outside playing with the other neighborhood kids. Once I received a cell phone- around 8 th grade – My “minutes” weren’t free until after 9pm and there was a limited amount of text messages I could send in a month. So my angst for constant and consistent communication didn’t develop until I was in early college. The ability of a person to respond immediately to a text message, or to know a person’s location at all times may have some consequences that weren’t considered before. While these things allow peace of mind for many people, in terms of knowing that their loved ones are safe; it can also be the source of anxiety and angst. This made me think of my own family and the way that instant and constant communication has affected us.      After homework and chores were completed, I spent the ...