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Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course? If yes, how? If no, what limitations exist? Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

This week’s interview with Mo Amir is focused much about how Twitter could be used as a platform to expand PLN and help inidviduals’ professional development. In fact, Twitter reminds me of Weibo (微博), which was discussed in this week’s reading as well. Weibo is a microblogging weibsite which was mostly used by Young users. In “From Information Society to Network Society”, the author outlined some issues with Chinese internet censorship, and I experience this personally because I cannot join in Mattermost for this course using my personal network, I had to buy a VPN to get in, and I am still facing the risk of being fined if the government finds out. So when I hear the Mo Amir was saying how he regrets to get into Twitter battles, I am actually envy the opportunity for joining a conversation, even though that conversation might not benefit me personally, but it is the acceccebility opportunity that I am envy about.

PLN is really a new concept and new experience for internet users in developing country, if we consider the government policy around internet usage, I wish I could have the opportunity to use my PLN to help professional development post-course, but I think I am limited geographically, if I choose to stay in China, then my access to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is limited. Weibo is also highly censored, we cannot post unfiltered thoughts or politic sensitive statement, again, I am envious when Mo Amir said that his interviewers are politicians and they woud bring multiple perspectives in interviews and the Twitter can further attract the publics’ opinions about these perspectives.

– What is media literacy?

According to this week’s reading, the authors define media literacy as “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” (Trilling & Fadel, Chapter 4). From the V&R activity, I learned that in order to become an internet resident, we need to make contributions to the net, we need to be that content creator. So media literacy is the message that we produce by using the online tools, for example, Wikipedia editing. 

– Why is it important?

The discussion of information society & media literacy in this week’s readings makes me to think of an article called “Changing literacy” by Brandt (2003). Brandt (2003) says that “ The United States has become a so-called knowledge economy or informational economy, in which mental labor has replaced physical labor and making information and ideas has replaced making things as our main economic pursuit. Human capital is now regarded as more valuable than land or even money, so literacy has become a hot commodity” (Brandt, 2003, p. 48). For me, the reason why media literacy is so important in today’s world is because it is an essential work skill that people should have. Nevertheless, not enough attention was paid to teaching digital literacy in our K-12 schools, and I think this there’s a need for us to do so. In this week’s interview with Julia Smith, I learned that people fail to see media as a literacy, we still think of media as something that entertain us, but in reality, especially through this course, we recognize this is not true. 

– Why is it dismissed?

From our guest speaker’s discussion, I learned that media literacy is often get dismissed because people are treating media as in the old days, they didn’t connect media to literacy. If we can rephrase it as the language of media, maybe that will get more attention. Generally speaking, people have the misconception that media would make people more distracted and it is unhelpful for learning. The famous article “Is Google Making us Stupid” is a prove. It is the continuum of biases and prejudice that make media dismissed.

– Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

I would never aimed at factual consensus in my PLN because I think part of the meaning to have a PLN is to listen to people’s diverse opinions, otherwise, the meaning to have a PLN is minimum. 

Source Used  

Media Literacy – Facts Matter – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/57r3-aEnci0
 21st Century Skills – Learning for Life In Our Times Trilling, B & Fadel, C – Digital Literacy Skills – Media Literacy pp.66 https://go.exlibris.link/B5rkkLw7

Brandt, D. (2003). Changing literacy. Teachers College Record, 105(2), 245-260.

o Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

Brad Baker said that he found professional community is not only one’s supportive system, it also makes us grow and become active members that contribute our authentic voice. For example, in the video, Baker shared how he move from sharing individual’s survival stories of Residential school to sharing a collective response towards Residential school because his professional community empower him to do so. Hence in that sense, social media platforms were used as a way that we continue to raise our voices and support each other, rather than just focusing on our individual issues (Brad Baker, Community Communication interview-2021).

o Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

I would probably recommend Twitter and Facebook. Last week’s guest, Markiel Simpson also use Twitter as his platform to engage in anti-racism conversations and eliminate racism in B.C schools. I think one good thing about Twitter is that it could repost other people’s posts so that you can see how the conversation started and where that lead to. If Twitter can be used in education, I think it would be great. Open teaching is about ” the facilitation of learning experiences that are open, transparent, collaborative, and social. Open teachers are advocates of a free and open knowledge society and support their students in the critical consumption, production, connection, and synthesis of knowledge through the shared development of learning network” (Veletsianos, 2010, p. 129). If Twitter is used in education, then everyone can join the conversation, and build new knowledge based on others’ posts. It is like forming a new conversation, that anyone is allowed to join in. Contemporary learning theory such as constructivism would encourage the use of social media in education because it believes that knowledge generation cannot be without collaboration. Which I think is true. In traditional classrooms, we might have little space to freely discuss our opinions, but if we use social media, our voice, other people’s voice, or voices in the past, will all have a record, and we can respond to these voices at any time, anywhere.

o Consider the equality that exists when all have the same platform to engage community dialogues.

I think social media platforms are bringing more equality. When talking about equality, one cannot leave out the conversation of access. Social media platforms are highly accessible, and with this characteristic, everyone can engage in community dialogues.

Source used:

WATCH: Community Communications – Course YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/rsoDHGaXNNs

– READ: Media & Social Justice
http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=http://www.palgraveconnect.com/doifinder/10.1057/9780230119796
CHAPTER 4 A New Vision for Public Media Open, Dynamic, and Participatory Jessica Clark and Patricia Aufderheide

1. Building something that engages and requires time and energy. Having a PLN that is public and engaging requires risk assessment and policy understanding, consider the following:

– How does social media engage communications?

Social media engage communications because of the nature of public media 2.0. According to Jansen et al. (2011)’s chapter 4, the core function of public media 2.0 is: “People come in as participants and leave recognizing themselves as members of a public–a group of people commonly affected by an issue, whatever their differences about how to resolve it. These projects have provided a platform for people to meet, learn, exchange information, and discuss solutions. They have found each other and exchanged information on an issue in which they all see themselves as having a stake” (Jansen et al., 2011, p. 59). Unlike public media 1.0, which not only limits information sources but also public participation on social issues, public media 2.0 created an ideal public discourse in which all people could have equal access to discuss public matters only if they have the access to the internet.

– How does social media challenge communications?

One of the problems about social media that Jensen et al. (2011) pointed about is that: “We now have the digital tools to facilitate participatory public media, but we do not yet have the policies, nor do we have the public will. In fact, we are now barely seeing the glimmers of what is possible. And yet, now is the time to act to secure public media 2.0 future generations” (Jensen et al., 2011, p. 62). That is, although we have the access to public discourse using social media, the conversation that takes place in this new public discourse might not be meaningful. Without policies and regulations, we could be using social media carelessly and thoughtlessly.

– Is it inclusive?
As Jensen et al. (2011) say: “Inclusion is not just a side issue in public media. In order to function well, public media projects and platforms designed to engage stakeholders around issues must be both accessible to and representative of the entire population” (Jensen et al., 2011, p. 62). In my perspective, inclusion is not about “all or none”, inclusion should be measured as “levels of inclusivity” rather than termed as “whether it is inclusive or not”. Social media certainly increased levels of inclusivity compared to public 1.0, but it also excludes some minorities, for example, people who are short-sighted, or people that are non-digital natives, or people who have no access to the internet.

– Does your PLN amplify the views of others?

I certainly think my PLN amplifies the views of others. We use social media platforms to learn from each other rather than express our ideas mindlessly. For example, we utilize file sharing link function on Mattermost to facilitate collaborations which helps us to learn better.

2. What are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that impacts the community?

The benefit of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing is that we get different perspectives on the same matter. Professional community and collaboration are how we get things done, and it is almost always beneficial than harmful to have multiple perspectives when we are working on something. For example, last semester, my PLN did complex research on the 2019 Hong Kong protest. We need to collect data using Facebook and Twitter, then organize and code the data into tables. It is a fascinating assignment because not only we are studying how messages of protests, and messages for protests spread on social media, we are also using social media to analyze social media. In completing the assignment, members in my PLN offered their opinions on the protest, some defend the protesters, some think that police brutality was evoked by the protesters. As a result, we did not take a side, and we expressed all of our opinions in that assignment. The high grade of the assignment lets me see how important is to have multiple perspectives on social issues like that. In the end, the assignment is more than just an assignment, it is more like a conversation that did not suppress anyone’s voices on a serious public issue.

3. Research our guests and see how they leveraged their network into a campaign. Reflect in your blog on this effort.

I looked into Markiel Simpson’s Twitter and his Twitter posts reflected his identity as a community organizer and a public speaker who committed to improving the lives of the Black community and eliminating racism in B.C schools. But more importantly, his Twitter posts demonstrated that he is just a person, like any of us, who cares about our own community and tries to speak up. On Sept 27, he said: “Regardless of a political party, I will always commit myself to make space for the voices and leadership of the most marginalized who are fighting for a better world, because their presence makes us all better” (@MarkielSimpson, Sept 27).

Source used:

Media & Social Justice
http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=http://www.palgraveconnect.com/doifinder/10.1057/9780230119796
CHAPTER 4 A New Vision for Public Media Open, Dynamic, and Participatory Jessica Clark and Patricia Aufderheide

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space – what are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?

After reading “Social Journalism and the News Establishment” by Martin Hirst (2018), I think we should re-think the public discourses that social media form. Social media was understood as “a series of networked platforms on the internet and applications on our mobile devices, through which we connect with friends, family, colleagues, associates and random strangers” (Hirst, 2018, p. 125). It has many functions, and the news industry certainly knows how to use it well. However, Hirst (2018)’s chapter is not about celebrating how social media platforms helped journalists to be more engaged with the mass, in fact, he was proposing the opposite. Engagement, in his perspective, is more than just to connect with the audience, but to listen and act upon the public’s opinions. Social media nowadays is not a neutral medium, it can be controlled by those who want to make money out of these platforms, or who control the platforms, therefore, misinformation is prevalent on the internet. Internet users are getting more rational when they see stuff online, they would not take the information seriously unless they are validated by the authorities, and in fact, most news is not worthy of validation, therefore, the credibility of this information was often questioned by the mass. Hirst (2018) also comments that: ” my experience of journalists on Twitter—with a handful of exceptions—is that they are ‘engaged’ with their audience, but not listening to them. Furthermore, I would also argue that for many journalists, being on Twitter is of no more use than as a platform to bicker among themselves and insult each other, usually over ideological differences” (Hirst, 2018, p. 129). Even I don’t believe the news on Twitter, the comments there are chaotic and less convincing, it seems that the journalists were keener to speak their biased opinions rather than stating the facts. Donald Trump uses Twitter as a diary, and there’s not much credible information that can be found in the ex-U.S president’s Twitter account, hence, the trust issue is not limited to the journalism profession, but to other professions as well.

In this sense, notable individuals should use social media in a more careful way. On the one hand, engaging in social media allows notable individuals to expand their PLN, for example, in Jody Vance’s interview, I see how important it is to have a network community in a place that can offer support in a professional context. Accessing social media platforms allow the more supportive person in one’s PLN, and that’s a great thing. But as Vance said, there are pluses and minuses of using social media, the risks might be, as identified above, you allowing yourself into a public discourse that is full of untrust. A public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official), should consider this risk very seriously before engaging in social media. They should be able to handle the critics and know how to build trust between themselves and the audience.

How to best address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy?

This is a hard question to address, normally I would just not allow employers to enter my own social space because I think work and life are separate things, but if I was invited into a PLN full of my colleagues, and we use the same social media platform, I wouldn’t use that platform to share my personal values or my thoughts. For example, if I use Twitter and my boss knows my Twitter account, I would just delete everything personal in my account, because I am a pretty private person, I don’t like to mix work and life. I am certainly happy to receive comments on my work, whether they are negative critiques or accomplishments, I wouldn’t feel too sad or happy. I think every comment is worth listening to, if I have confidence in myself, I would know which critique is true or not, and I will not take any false critique too seriously. I guess people are making social media platforms too big of a deal, if we did something unsatisfying in work, the thing we should do is to address it by working, not explaining to the critiques why you are wrong.

Source used:

In the Public-Eye – Social Media and Broadcasting – Course YouTube Channel

 Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism by Martin Hirst
Chapter 6. Social Journalism and the Gig Economy pp.142.

I am a comic person, I think a lot of comics have educational purposes, and they should not be considered as learning resources that are secondary compared to the academic articles, for example, there are a lot of great comics that discuss gender relations, exclusion, and robots&humans. These can all start a conversation that is about serious topics. I am in a comic club in B.C, and I can also draw a little, I consider drawing comics as my second job, and it feels great that I am turning my hobbies into a profession. In my PLN, we communicate through the use of Wechat, but if I am going to select a social media platform for our communication, I would choose Instagram, because Instagram can upload sections of pictures, and we can utlize the organization of the Instagram page to tell a coherent story. The comments section allows more ideas to be heard.

In “One without the other: stories of unity Through Diversity and Inclusion” by Shelley Moore and Leyton Schenllert, inclusivity and diversity were treated as more than supporting students with special needs. In other words, there’s no “special needs”, there are just “needs”. Or, everyone’s needs are special, and should be treated equally. I myself is a student with special needs, I can lable myself as a good listener rather than a good reader, I can also lable myself as an international student who have language barriers. I have many learning obstacles, but I don’t think myself as not equal to other students. My “disabilities” in learning does not make my learning purposeless. Moore and Shenllert’s chapter expressed how I view diversity and inclusivity.

I agree with the statement that: “Inclusion is not about integrating students by housing them into (or out of) forced containers of classrooms and schools. Inclusive education is about providing opportunities with supports for all students to have access to, and contribute to, an education rich in content and experience with their peers. Period” (19). To be honest, I feel more engaged in online courses than in-person courses because there’s more time for off-line discussions with diverse groups of people, and with multimedia being widely used in the classroom, and with social media helping establishing close connections, inclusivity and diversity were being more celeberated before. For example, with MOOC, students can re-watch videos on course content if the Zoom meeting does not provide them with enough understanding. With social media, students regardless of their location could come together and discuss materials that they don’t understand. Collaberation is not limited to time and location, which helps individual learner to learn from a variety of diverse voices. I believe creativity was build on expanding old views or emerging different old views to a new one, and technology such as multimedia defintely makes this process much easier.

Source:

“One without the other: stories of unity Through Diversity and Inclusion” by Shelley Moore and Leyton Schenllert, Introduction & part 1. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/lib/uvic/reader.action?docID=4832579&ppg=11

Digital Identity 

In the World Economic Forum’s talk, one phrase enlightens my understanding of “digital identity”. The speaker says that women have more barriers when it comes to having/own digital identity; further to this,  the quality of digital identity also matters. which means that this identity must allow people to access public services in order to be considered a valuable digital identity. Hence, the value behind digital identity might be equity, access to public resources, and global opportunities (World Economic Forum, 2019). 

  How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

Personal approaches to digital identity might be simple things such as open a bank account, but professional approaches to digital identity empower individuals when one uses it (World Economic Forum, 2019). 

How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?

Digital identities converge in networked publics in a way that allows individuals to control their data and protect their privacy (World Economic Forum, 2019). 

Source used:

World Economic Forum (2019).Davos 2019 – Press Conference The Value of Digital Identity for the Global Economy and Society.  https://youtu.be/1-V7lyxrOmw 

Question # 1: What does it mean to the network using social media?

Network using social media really depends on people’s intention or attitude according to the third article in this week’s reading. If the intention is to engage in more professional activities, then social media platforms are great tools to build a network that consists of people who have similar interests and goals, or people who are already the expertise in their field. Once the connection is built, according to the personal learning networking model, users can further use the platform to maintain and activate (Kamakshi Rajagopal, Desirée Joosten–ten Brinke, Jan Van Bruggen, and Peter B. Sloep, 2012). 

Question#2: How are we motivated to participate in networked publics? 

One motivation to participate in networked publics is to have an identity in this digital world. We want to share, post, and communicate with others about our success or failure. During interactions, we establish who we are, and see ourselves in other’s reflections (University of Derby, 2016).

Question #3: What are the risks & rewards of public communications?

I learned from the “Networked Privacy” that not only privacy is a risk of public communications, but the machine might also control our likes and dislikes. The big data generated by machines do not represent who we are (Boyd, 2012). This article reminds me of the “Cultural Industry” theory, which suggests that cultural industry creates false needs and desires for us, instead of letting us choose our preferences. Under such context, our connections with others online might also be false, which means that the benefits of public communications are based on false connections. 

Source Used: 

Boyd, d. 2012. Networked Privacy. Surveillance & Society 10(3/4):   348-350.http://www.surveillance-and-society.org | ISSN: 1477-7487

University of Derby (2016). Eric Stoller – What is Digital Identity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0

Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them

by Kamakshi Rajagopal, Desirée Joosten–ten Brinke, Jan Van Bruggen, and Peter B. Sloep.

First Monday, Volume 17, Number 1 – 2 January 2012

doi:10.5210/fm.v17i1.3559

Hello, My name is Ziwang. I am from Suzhou, China. My home town is located in the South part of China, full of cultural legacies, such as the traditional buildings that once belonged to famous poets and writers. My parents are also very traditional but in a good way. They would take me to different places in China and allows me to learn valuable cultural things when traveling. Now I still love traveling, which is why I chose to study abroad. I believe that in order to love one’s culture, we also need to experience new things and see new places in order to have a more critical perspective toward our culture. In my spare time, I love reading science fiction/books/reports, I also own a lovely cat.