Sixth rung - INF506 - Social Networking

I perceive social networking as a catalyst where ‘like’ minded people can interact with each other, individually or within groups to discus point of interest through forums, participate in shared activities such as gaming and allowing us to keep in contact with others through sites such as Facebook. Each of these is a promoter of communication, both for private or business use allowing us to contact others and exchange viewpoints and ideas.

Humans have always participated in social networking, long before the keyboard and screen; it was called ‘talking to people’. The Internet and the growth of social media sites have now globalized my access to social assembles, where I can exchange ideas with any like-minded individuals or group in the world, regarding whatever we are interested in.

However I believe that the social media, which are the communal instruments of this two-way interaction, can be the ‘poisoned chalice’ as well as the ‘holy grail’ of being able to be in contact with, and being contactable by others.

 I identify social networking as the sharing of information and ideas, by personally ‘connecting’ to the world regardless of distance.While I’m not a luddite, ‘use’ is too strong a word to describe the dabbling that take place between me and the following networking tools:

Blogger – for reflection during the Masters course

Facebook – for personal use to keep ‘connected’ with established friends and to connect to new ones

LinkedIn – used to link the following

Twitter – applied for work

Yammer – utilized through work and study

 By embarking on the journey that is INF506 I hope to enthusiastically raise my participation in social media sites from being a lurker to confidently engaging and contributing with my fellow students when sharing online.

I expect to learn a lot more about the technologies I already use and to discover and use technologies I’ve been aware of and others that I have never considered.

Because social networking supports learning and development through teacher and student interaction, I also expect to increase my digital literacy skills in order to support my Teacher Librarian goals through the use of these tools.