FACETS- Find, Assess, Choose, Explain, Tailor, and Share

FACETS- Find, Assess, Choose, Explain, Tailor, and Share

Week 12

November 17, 2014

           

           I have to admit that much of social media and in particular, social media curation, was uncharted water for me prior to this course. On an experimental basis, I decided to go through Listly to find, assess, choose, explain, tailor and share content that was of personal interest to me. For that reason, I began to search for anything related to Sardinia, Italy. This was a useful exercise to give Listly a trial run before trying to find content on mindmapping.

            What I first encountered was a tremendous sum of information out there on the subject of Italy, and more specifically Sardinia. It was initially overwhelming. It brought to the forefront how much effort goes into finding and filtering. Finding quality resources was a challenge. There were many sites, articles, and videos that I sifted through, which were more about promoting a service or product versus education on the region, culture, arts, music, or history. Since I thoroughly love the topic of travel, and more importantly travel to a place I have never been such as Sardinia, it was more of a pleasure than a pain.  This is what Beth’s blog referred to as being one of the biggest challenges in becoming a content curator—getting past the feeling of “content fried” or so much good content with so little time to digest it. For me this was the latter and not so much the former.  She contends that there are techniques to use that can minimize our feeling of being distracted. I’ve yet to acquire the discipline to make it easier and flow.

            In short, this experience of curating content has lead me through the process of finding, assessing, choosing, explaining, tailoring, and at last sharing on both Facebook and Twitter. Now I’m ready to tackle being a Content Curator for Mindmapping.

Click on link to see more…
 Sardinia, Italy

Social Capital: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s How You Know Them

Week 11

Social Capital: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s How You Know Them

November 10, 2014

         In the article, It’s Not Who You Know, It’s How You Know Them, suggests “giving support is strongly associated with getting it” and that this is the key to reciprocation. Reciprocation often comes “in kind but sometimes with other forms of support.” [Plickert et al]. Reciprocity is described as “doing for others if they have done for you- a key way people mobilize resources to deal with daily life and seize the opportunities.” [Plickert et al]. These exchanges are central to obtaining network capital: social capital that is embedded in interpersonal relations that can provide custom-tailored helpful resources that flexible, efficient and effective.” [Lin, 2001, 2005]. Even though, the question to raise here is “where does reciprocity come from, and how much value have I gained by interacting with other learners online?

         First to address is “where does reciprocity come from?” Reciprocity comes from a simple notion of doing to others as I would have them do to me. This is the Golden Rule: “if I give you X, you would give me X back, either because of normative pressure or out of self-interest.” [Plickert et al].

         So what is “X”? In an online course, it of course could be the emotional support and camaraderie that comes from the social interaction in shared projects, or breakout discussions on given topics, or even dialogue that ensues outside the parameters of the online course environment.

         Second, this leads to what I have gained by interacting with other learners online. The value gained derives from a collective sharing and caring. Sharing of one’s ideas, skills in navigating uncharted waters of new technology, empathy and understanding that foster further learning and acceptance of new Web 2.0 tools.

         Over time, I believe social capital is raised through such relationships that can develop into strong ties, which continue to increase the likelihood of reciprocal exchange. In sum, it is the similarities between network members that can foster support. [Plickert et al].

         A final thought.

         In the words of Mikhail Bakunin, “No person can recognize or realize his or her own humanity except by recognizing it in others and so cooperating for its realization by each and all.”  

References

Lin, N., 2001. Building a network theory of social capital. In: Ron, B. (Ed.), Social Capital: Theory and Research.  Aldine de Gruyter Inc., New York.

Lin, N., 2005. A network theory of social capital. In: Wolleb, G. (Ed.), Forthcoming in Handbook on Social Capital.

Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Plickert. G, Wellman, B. & Côté, R. (2007). It’s not who you know, it’s how you know them: Who exchanges what with whom.

Week 10: Mapping Twitter Topic Networks:

From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters

Political conversations on Twitter: The Aftermath of the Elections

By Faith Vietti

November 6, 2014

            While I am not fond of political conversations in any form, I did see how polarized crowds and community clusters formed during and after the November 4^th elections in the U.S. through the use of Twitter. The polarized crowd network structure fell into one dominant archetype, which is best described as polarized crowds of Democrats and Republicans. These “two big and dense groups have little connection between themselves, and engage in highly divisive and heated political subjects.” Even though the heated topics between Democrats and Republicans are many, the main outcome of the November 4, 2014 election was that of the Democrats losing the senate to the Republicans. Twitter and tweets were telling and used by these polarized communities to carry their campaign messages.

           

            Prior to the election, the Democrats tweeted their campaign slogans to motivate constituents with emotive language to move them to action.

“The Democrats tweet: @TheDemocrats Don’t forget what we’re fighting for. Vote for Democrats tomorrow: pollingplaces.democrats.org”

However, what followed the November 4^th election was a sense of defeat among the democrats having lost the senate to the Republicans. In response to the monumental loss, tweets for “hope” emerged.

The Democrats @TheDemocrats  ·  Nov 7  Hope is a better choice. http://bit.ly/1quiJif 

Democratic community cluster

The role of the Democratic community cluster ignored the Republicans and used different web sources with different hashtags. To illustrate, a message from Chair Wasserman Schultz emerged stating that the Democrats “Got to do better. Focus, review, and press forward. The tweets:

 The Democrats @TheDemocrats   No one wants to repeat Tuesday night - @DWStweets wants you to join the conversation on our midterm strategy: http://bit.ly/1zCTPoT 

#grateful MT @TheDemocrats: The fight for progress is never easy, but nothing worth fighting    for ever is. Thank you

  @DWStweets @TheDemocrats they ran a gutless and spineless campaign and refused to       acknowledge the accomplishments of this president

 The US is moving left despite Republican gains— by @saletan via @Slate       http://read.bi/1tNfaau 

Republican community clusters

The Republican community clusters followed in suite as they ignored the Democrats while speaking to their party views on what transpired on November 4^th while using different web sources with different hashtags.

Oana Lungescu

National Interest ‏@TheNatlInterest  

The Midterm Results: "The political momentum in Washington clearly is with a resurgent Republican Party." http://ow.ly/E0PpZ 

CFR follows

Jamilah Nasheed ‏@SenatorNasheed 39m39 minutes ago

We need all hands on deck for 2016.Dear Democratic Party: Make No Mistake About It, Republicans Didn’t Win – You Lost http://www.forwardprogressives.com/dear-democratic-party-make-mistake-republicans-didnt-win-lost/ …

National JournalVerified account ‏@nationaljournal

Here's what a Republican takeover looks like: http://trib.al/1ez6o1M 

NYT Business ‏@nytimesbusiness Nov 5

Republican Election Victory Seen as Positive for Business, but Others Temper Expectations http://nyti.ms/1y4agqc Expand

Education Week ‏@educationweek Nov 5

Republican have gained control over the U.S. Senate. What this means for education: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2014/11/republicans_will_control_senate.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw … #edpolitics

PoliSciUMN ‏@PoliSciUMN Nov 5

According to @dbrauer the highest percentage of votes for Republican @Jeff4Gov (30.6%) in #mpls came from the #UMN's frat row. #Election2014

AssocofCommColleges ‏@Comm_College Nov 5

AACC's SVP of gov relations, David Baime in @insidehighered's What a GOP-Led Congress Means for Higher Ed: http://bit.ly/1wxtWVa Washington Post follows

Learning English ‏@EnglishBlogCom Nov 5

Voice of America - Republican Control of Congress Could Force Changes in US Foreign Policy http://bit.ly/1uwaUit  

 Washington Post ‏@washingtonpost Nov 5

The 2014 electorate wasn't just older and whiter than 2012. It also voted more Republican. http://wapo.st/1y3MSZQ 

            In short, what the political conversations on Twitter showed us in the aftermath of the

elections is as Pew Research indicated, and that is “if a topic is political, it is common to see two separate, polarized crowds take shape.” And of course, we did through the “conversations on Twitter by the Democrats and the Republicans that created networks with identifiable contours as people replied to and mentioned one another in their tweets.” 

TCCfx 2014 Conference: Tweeting of minds--Week Nine

Week Nine

TCCfx 2014 Conference: Tweeting of minds

It was the meeting of minds and the tweeting of minds at the TCCfx 2014 conference. This was a delightfully new experience for me, which lead to exploration on the ramifications of tweeting during an academic conference.

For me it was awkward at first, not knowing what to do or where to jump in to respond to the flow of tweeting of minds. Prior to the start of the conference, Dr. Bert posted tweets on handy tips for using social media during a conference as well as guidance for using Twitter to monitor events. Even though awkward initially, it gave me a sense of hope in doing it right and direction.

Bert Kimura ‏@kimubert Oct 21

Tips for Using Social Media During Conferences http://mashable.com/2014/10/21/using-social-media-events/#:eyJzIjoidCIsImkiOiJfc3BpMWY4bDRtc3N2YXJ0diJ9 … via @mashable #tccfx #642fa

Bert Kimura ‏@kimubert  Oct 22

Guidance for using Twitter to monitor professional events such as #TCCfx. http://etcjournal.com/2012/11/10/twitter-for-professional-use-part-4-participating-in-a-live-event/ … #642fa @Melissa_Venable

My first tweet of the TCCfx 2014 Conference came because I didn’t know how to get to the next room.  

My tweet, “How do I get to the next room? International Research in Educational Technology. #tccfx #642fa.” No response. I felt as no one was listening.  I felt frustrated. So, I tweet again. This time I directed tweets toward two participants “@jgcellist @bigislemom Do you know how to go to the next room after this? #tccfx #642fa.”

James G. @jgcellist tweets:

“James G. ‏@jgcellist Oct 22 @faith_SMi @bigislemom I just quit and switched tracks. Put in the code for which track you wanted. :)”

Terry Saragosa quickly follows. Her tweet: “@faith_SMi @jgcellist—stay in the room if you are going to stay in track 1. Exit and re-enter with tccfx2014_track2 if not#642fa #tccfx.”

Before exiting, I tweet back; “bigislemom @jgcellist Thanks! #tccfx #642fa.”

While my tweeting skills are yet to be honed, the most beneficial meeting of minds and tweeting of minds came by my tweeting exhange with Mark Yap. He tweeted, “Tips by Gavon.” #TCCfx Articulate Storyline is AWESOME.

Mark Yap ‏@markyap501 Oct 22

Tips by Gavon. #TCCfx Articulate Storyline is AWESOME!!

I followed by tweeting “Articulate storyline is incredibly valuable. #tccfx #642fa.”

Mark tweets @faith_smi—agreed!

To which I tweeted, “@markyap501 How do you keep up on the different products that Storyline offers? Now there is Storyline 2. #tccfx #642.”

Mark tweets, “@faith_smi—we’ve purchased maintenance on the software so we get the updates for a much lower cost.” Mark tweets again, “@faith_smi—depends on ur organizations structure. We have a multimedia dev person who does this.” 

What came as a surprise shortly after the “tweeting our minds” was what Articulate Storyline (the company) did and that was re-tweeted my tweet, “Articulate storyline is incredibly valuable. #tccfx #642fa.” I thought that was rather amazing. It all happened so quickly and in real time.  

How would I rate the overall experience? I’d give it an 8/10. This is not because of the conference, it is rather that I felt I could have tweeted more, responded more, re-tweeted more. Tweets move fast while presenters present. TCCfx 2014 was a terrific experience; however, long before the conclusion of the meeting of minds and tweeting of minds,  the balance/imbalance between actively listening and tweeting was a “fait accompli,” because of my lack of “tweeting” skills. 

In the final tweet analysis, 

"@LTEC 642 E-learning community#practice makes perfect@kimubert#next time! ;)"