Month: November 2020

Reflect on your experience in the course, your development of PLN, your use of social media platforms and networked publics, share any changes in your perspective of social media in professional settings, and personal use. 

Do you continue with your created content and your network, how do you use your skills in professional practice?

The EDCI 338 course gave me a new understanding of various social media platforms. I originally thought that the biggest role of social media platforms is to socialize. It was not until I got on EDCI 338 that I realized that building PLN through these social media platforms is the most meaningful way. I not only learned how to create my own PLN, but I also learned how to develop my PLN to attract more audiences, how to create, manage, and develop my digital identity. Most importantly, I know what kind of PLN is a successful PLN. PLN should be full of inclusiveness, diversity, fairness, and discussion. I learned how to better protect my privacy and the security of media platforms in the online world. I admit that at first I knew almost nothing about PLN. But the weekly courses, articles, and video conversations with guests made me very interested in PLN. They helped me solve a lot of problems and gave me a lot of new insights. I understand how to speak better in an online world full of different skin colors, backgrounds, cultures, and education. We can learn together, discuss together, and make progress together. After the course is over, I will continue to develop my PLN. These are valuable experiences for me. I will definitely use them in my future work. I believe they can provide great help for my future development. Thanks to the course of EDCI 338, my two team members, and Jessie, they have given me a lot of help and knowledge. Thank you  everyone, cheers! 🍺🍺🍺

• If your PLN can be used to help professional development post-course?
• Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities and on which platform does your emerging expertise get good exposure?
• Can you leverage your PLN in future endeavours?
• With consideration to the reading and video interview, how do you ensure that you expand your PLN via social media platforms into spaces that may be outside of your comfort zone?

I think PLN is a tool that is very in line with the development of modern technology. We can meet many people in the same field or the same hobby in PLN. Everyone can exchange ideas and learn from each other. We can build our own digital image in PLN. PLN can completely help professional development after the course. As long as we continue to use PLN and maintain a certain frequency, we can always keep in touch with other users and carry out more in-depth communication and development.

Yes, PLN can help us open up professional opportunities in many places. Different platforms are suitable for different types of PLN. Like YouTube can help us get good exposure in the field of video shooting and production. LinkedIn can be used as a platform for many job seekers to show their professional knowledge and work experience. And Twitter is like a platform for people who like to share life details and have social needs.

I can use PLN in my future work. I think PLN is a good tool that can help us keep sharing and learning. We can look for people with the same field or work nature as ours in future work. PLN is the best tool for us to communicate with each other. Many work problems, professional field problems, and work experience can be well communicated and used. Professionals of different cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds can be connected by PLN. We should establish a good personal digital image in PLN to attract more “similars”.

After establishing a personal PLN, there will definitely be many different voices. If there are people who like us, there will be people who hate us. The expansion of PLN beyond the comfort zone through social media platforms faces many unknowns. For example, we don’t know whether we will be attacked by others’ words. What is our purpose? And what is the meaning of doing so, etc. It is this kind of unknown that makes us scared. But as Glauser mentioned, we don’t know how others will think of us. But in any case, PLN is helpful to us. Maybe we should learn to cover our ears at some point. Amber is right. We must insist on doing something right, even if it is “imperious” in the eyes of others (2020).

Resources:

A Global PLN – Supporting One Another – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/RiWaXNfnHAg
Social Media and Emerging Economies Technological, Cultural and Economic Implications – Chapter 5 – From Information Society to Network Society:  The Challenge https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-02490-5_5

• Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in public discourse – especially when addressing our differences?
• How can a PLN be curated to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others?
• How does the identity of who you are, fit into your PLN?
• Do you include professional and personal boundaries?

Just like Harrison Mooney’s example, his first blog was about hockey. As a very white sport, people want to hear the voice of a black hockey fan. But he is not liked by others. There are even many whites who argue with him based on their skin color  (Mooney 2020). Connecting personal identities to social media platforms will trigger communication and collisions between different backgrounds and cultures. But PLN is indeed promoting the development of ideas and concepts in public discourse. More and more people with different cultures and backgrounds are beginning to communicate and learn from each other. When differences arise, there will be different voices arguing with each other. Only by maintaining an inclusive and unbiased attitude can differences be resolved properly.

First of all, the way PLN minimizes prejudice lies in its tolerance. To learn more about people from different cultures and backgrounds, try to listen to their ideas and insights to learn and develop (Meikle 2016).  Don’t worry too much about unnecessary disputes. As long as a person speaks his thoughts and understanding about something, there will be different voices. What we need to do at this time is to think about divergent opinions. Through the understanding of the lives of others, to interpret and understand those different voices.

My identity is more like a listener in PLN. I will collect and think about the opinions of others, and after summing up, I will gradually form a complete view of a matter. But many times, I will also put forward my opinions. I tend to discuss my professional issues with others, such as economics. If I know very little about certain aspects, I think I will be a good listener. My own identity can help me find people in the same field in PLN. We can share each other’s thoughts and insights to gain new knowledge.

I will definitely distinguish between my personal and professional boundaries. Because many personal information and data appearing on social media platforms is threatening. I will try to use two accounts, one as a personal account and the other as a professional account. In this way, there will be a good separation between daily life and professional content.

Resources：

Reporting in a Connected Culture with Harrison Mooney – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/elKNQpz0RrI

Social Media: Communication, Sharing and Visibility Meikle, G – Chapter 4https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315884172/chapters/10.4324/9781315884172-10

1. What is media literacy?
2. Why is it important?
3. Why is it dismissed?
4. Why should you aim for varied views but factual consensus in your PLN?

Media literacy refers to “the medium of delivering messages (print, graphics, animation, audio, video, Web sites, and so on), the crafting of the message for a particular medium—the graphic ‘look and feel’ of a Web site, for example, and the impacts the media message has on audiences” (Charles and Trilling, 2009).

Media literacy is important because, “In the 21st century, everyone’s level of information literacy and fluency will need to rise. Whether at work, in school, at home, or in the community, there will be increasing demands on our ability to access information efficiently and effectively, evaluate information critically and competently, and use information accurately and creatively” (Charles and Trilling, 2009).

Media literacy is important because, As humans, we like to be affirmed and to be told that you are right. So we will choose the news media that can meet our needs. We rarely listen to news that we disagree with (Smith, 2020). We need to enable people to listen to different perspectives and understand very complex (and in many ways incredible) information patterns. We cannot simply assume that information intermediaries can solve problems for us, whether they are traditional news media or social media.

Because in PLN, different perspectives can trigger some new ideas and ideas. If we have richer and more diverse views in our PLN, our audience will be greatly improved. And when we have accepted some new viewpoints and reached a consensus, we will be recognized by the audience. This means that we can have more learning opportunities in different fields and perspectives, and we can also cooperate. Society is full of people with different backgrounds and different viewpoints, and the consensus that everyone has on different viewpoints can attract each other, thus having more audiences.

• Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict, why does this happen?
• What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

Public dialogue between media literacy and factual information can create conflicts. Because many people have not received media literacy education, they may not understand its importance in our daily lives. They always want to be affirmed and considered to be correct. They only choose news media that can meet their needs and refuse to listen to news they disagree with (Smith, 2020).

The advantages of having a PLN that values media literacy are:

• It taught me how to verify the information and identify other points of view.
• It encourages critical thinking.
• It encourages me to share other media sources in a responsible way.
• It tells readers how the media affects our culture.
• It taught me how to create my own content.
• It encourages me to actively participate in public affairs as a citizen.

Resources：

21st Century Skills – Learning for Life In Our Times Trilling, B & Fadel, C – Digital Literacy Skills – Media Literacy pp.66 https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/21st+Century+Skills:+Learning+for+Life+in+Our+times/9780470475386/fade_9780470475386_oeb_c04_r1.html#h2

Media Literacy – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/Z_T9RghwJlI

A public figure or person in a position of trust engaging with a public audience in a media space has many benefits and threats. First of all, these people have a certain influence on society. In other words, what they say and do have an impact on the public. These people will undoubtedly convey a lot of useful information when interacting with the public in the media space, which may be positive or negative. When more positive information is conveyed by them, it will definitely be the best for the public and themselves. These positive messages can have a positive impact on the audience and even change their lives. The audience will also be more interested and pay more attention to podcasts because of this positive information. This will bring more audience and attention to podcasts. This is a good result. But at the same time, if some bad information comes out from the media space of public figures, they may be subject to serious cyber violence and threats. Even many extreme audiences will do impulsive things. This is undesirable for both podcasters and audiences. Therefore, when public figures interact with audiences in the media space, they must grasp the communication of information. This affects everyone.

When using social media, certified people should be cautious. Especially for a lot of information that has not been officially announced, or information that is being interviewed but not yet released, in many cases it may not be a good thing to release it in advance. From the perspective of dissemination, exclusive and advance information will always get a lot of attention, and publishers are also easy to get attention and gain fame. However, in reality, many people may go too extreme on this road and there are already lessons to be learned. Being popular with the public and owning a PLN is obviously a good thing for many people. It can effectively bring more attention and audience so that its content can be recognized and feedback by more people. But the direct correlation between social media and employment may not be a good thing. Because sharing the same account for life and work may bring a lot of unnecessary trouble. The best solution is to separate personal accounts from professional accounts. To build a PLN that one can always rely on, all resources must have a clear source. In other words, all resources must be real and effective and allow the audience to follow. Those experienced storytellers are trying their best to minimize the risk of sharing misinformation. The specific method is probably absolute caution in words and deeds. They must review all shared information to ensure that each piece of information has an accurate source and credibility. At the same time, they should avoid publishing unconfirmed information in advance.

Resources：

Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism by Martin Hirst Chapter 4. The Political Economy of Fake News – pp.78 http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315401263