Month: October 2021

With the people-centric public media model we are experiencing, the social platforms we use are catered to the needs of the individual (Clark and Aufderheide 58). This means that you get to use your platforms in whichever way best fits you! However, this can get tricky when people don’t take stock of what it is they actually want to do with their social platforms. Often I will be sucked down the social media sink hole and spend too much time aimlessly browsing content I care nothing about. So, this model centered around the individual is great, but it also means it is the responsibility of the individual to check in with themselves and their usage of media platforms in order to best use the resources available to them.

Community engagement is a great way to use your social media platforms. “Social networks are increasingly common platforms for distribution” (Clark and Aufderheide 58). Being able to share good things happening in your community, as well as raise awareness for impactful causes, can be done so much more efficiently when you reach out to your PLN. And I think it is important to note that these two things don’t need to be mutually exclusive. You can talk about good things while also discussing ways to further improve. Too often awareness for social issues is painted in panic and blame, as opposed to the concern and hope I think it usually stems from. Markiel Simpson talked about how instead of yelling at everyone, it’s meeting people where they are at and trying to make productive change. These words really resonated with me, and think it’s something that needs to be put in practice more often.

Another aspect of sharing messages through social media is displayed in Figure 4.2 of the Clark and Aufderheide article. Not every message will appeal (or even be applicable) to every person on the web. But there are different groupings of people that are connected by region, interest, profession, education, common goal, and other categories. Simpson mentions that different posts deal with different subjects, which mean they will appeal to different people. He mentions this in reference to himself as an example, meaning even within his PLN a message he shares may be more applicable to some of his followers than others. But Simpson emphasizes that this is totally normal. It just means to utilize the variation within your PLN you need to amplify your message within its niche. Not all messages will have the same reach, and that’s okay.

Social platforms are a great way to share messages within your many communities and PLN. Users of these platforms will have the greatest success when they remain aware of the intentions behind their usage. Then, users can spread messages they believe are important for their community and share those messages in productive way.

Works Cited

Clark, Jessica, and Patricia Aufderheide. “A New Vision for Public Media.” Media and Social Justice, 2011, pp. 55–67. Crossref, doi:10.1057/9780230119796_5.

MILLER. “EDCI – 338 MARKIEL SIMPSON.” YouTube, uploaded by EDCI – 338 MARKIEL SIMPSON, 2 June 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsoDHGaXNNs.

Restrictions and Benefits of Online Tools

Using online tools in the workplace can be really beneficial in terms of expanding your PLN. Interacting with coworkers via social platforms makes it really easy to share contacts and expand networks. Interaction via online platforms also brings with it a level of inclusivity, since you are no longer limited to the people in your physical office. Being able to include voices from remote locations allows for more opinions and perspectives to be considered.

However, like Jody Vance mentions in her interview, it can be really difficult to create meaningful connections without face to face interaction. I think that while online tools can be extremely beneficial, the work that comes out of them won’t be comparable unless they are interwoven with in-person collaboration.

Public Eye Benefits

Social media is an extremely beneficial tool for public figures. Social media platforms have the economic favourability of being able to promote one’s brand. Every like, comment, and share generates free publicity. The larger your followers, the more free promotion you can get every time you share a new idea/project/product. In addition to the free advertising, public figures have a wonderful platform to create awareness and raise money for causes that are important to them. While I see this a fair bit, I think more people with blue checkmarks should be using their platforms to create social change and make a difference in ways that are important to them.

Misinformation and Social Media

Before you share anything on social media, you should take a minute to check both the information and the source. Check what other information the source has shared and what their background is. Then, see if you can find the same information from a different source, ideally one you already know and trust.

For veteran storytellers, or anyone wanting to publish original content on a topic, it is important to have people from your network you trust who can peer-edit and fact-check your work. Find others whose opinions you trust and who are close enough to you that they won’t be afraid to correct or contradict you.

Notable individuals and public figures often have an easier time with weeding out misinformation, since many of them have a team who works on their social media platforms. This means that they can pay someone to make sure information being posted/shared is accurate and comes from a reputable source. Of course, not all notable individuals have access to this kind of outsourcing, but that doesn’t negate their impact. Although anyone interacting on social media platforms is technically in the public eye, the more popular you become the more you need to be careful that what your posting is accurate and appropriate.

Works Cited

Hirst, Martin. Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism. 1st ed., Routledge, 2018.

“Jody Vance – Media Voices.” YouTube, uploaded by MILLER, 6 June 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-NnpQJdl0A.

Due to the pandemic, the last year and a half has shown a large shift for many working professionals to working from home. Everyone who has had to work from home, whether it be for 2 months or 18 months, has an opinion on the benefits and downsides. I would create a social media campaign encouraging companies to start giving the option to its’ employees: where employees can choose to work from home or in the office. As Rossotto states in his article, there are numerous benefits to working from home. While this environment helps the creativity of some, it can be really damaging to others.

Prior to creating this campaign, I would start reading other articles similar to Rossotto’s. I also would start looking into social media groups of working professionals working from home, and create forums and polls asking their opinions and preferences. I also would look into companies that are currently giving the option of either at-home or in-office work, and look at the models they are using to apply this to their companies.

Works Cited

Rossotto, Alberto. “Working from home is just different.” Medium, Oct 15, 2021. https://medium.com/@albertorossotto/working-from-home-is-just-different-4817f15df86c

DIVERSIFYING YOUR PLN

This week’s material has made me reflect on my PLN and ways I can diversify it. I would say my existing PLN consists mainly of school, work, and podcasts. I am very active on social media, but I use it almost uniquely for personal/social interaction. I think I need to be more actively searching for new opinions/perspectives to expose myself to, because I genuinely think that the more variety of ideas you are exposed to the more you can form your own educated opinions. Diversity and inclusion in your PLN come from engaging with your network: ask for recommendations on platforms where other people are getting information; ask questions to your community and then actually listen and engage with the answers you hear. But also, I think it’s important to broaden your network – diversify it. Google searches, youtube videos, ‘for you’ pages are great places to start, as long as you are being purposeful like Moore says in the interview. She mentioned algorithms, and I learned a lot about this from a podcast with Tristan Harris. You can’t let the computer do all the thinking for you, because that’s how we get into the loop where “the things that we see are our own perspective” (Moore interview 18:16).  

HOW TO HEAR MORE VOICES

The notion “don’t be the loudest in the room” is a difficult one for me, and I have thought a lot about it this week. I totally agree with the concept, and as I stated I really believe the more perspectives you are exposed to, the better it will serve you. However, I also think (especially in a classroom setting) we must be careful how we are presenting this idea. We are all “an other” as Moore states, and each student comes in with mindsets framed by social constructions and personal experiences (Moore 9).

For example, I am currently in a 400 level French lecture on Monday afternoons that consists of 28 students (22 female and 6 male). After class one day, my friend who I sit next to told me she got bored in class, so she started tallying every time someone spoke in class based on their gender. She showed me her notebook, and the male column had more than double the number of tics compared to the female column. This really got me thinking, and I have started noticing who speaks up in class and when. I totally understand that some people naturally talk more in class than others, and I could write a list of both the men and women in that class that are more likely to speak without being prompted. Yet between the women open to speaking up and the men open to speaking up, often the men will speak first and more often.

I should clarify that I really like this concept regarding listening and inclusion, but perhaps it could be framed in a different way. Maybe we can say “don’t be the loudest in the room, but when you find something that resonates with you, or doesn’t sit well with you, share your opinion on it”.
Because the girls in that class already have reservations about sharing unprompted, and when they do, they try to be aware of when they share and how often so as not to overstep. So, if you tell one of them “don’t be the loudest in the room”, chances are they won’t speak at all.

Works Cited

“EDCI 338 – 20 Minutes Moore.” Youtube, uploaded by MILLER, May 30 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeSV0rUl1bA

Moore, Shelley. One Without the Other : Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion, Portage & Main Press, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=4832579

Shephard, Dax. “Armchair Expert.” November 19, 2020. https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/tristan-harris

Based on Prompts

Any time we interact on any social media platform, we are adding to our digital identity. I think people need to be very aware when using social media sites. Often people tend to react to situations online quicker than in person, because the illusion of anonymity provided by our screen gives us a semblance of protection. But as we are learning in this class, the internet’s memory is a lot better than ours, and once we put something out into the void it can be there forever.

Interactions

I responded to @kylapattie ‘s blog post (which I have linked down below). One thing I found difficult with the prompted questions for our responses was the part about suggesting a new social platform. The digital platforms you use in developing your professional learning network is very dependent on what type of profession/field you are in. I tried to suggest a couple of platforms I thought might be helpful to Kyla based on her VR Map and the introduction on her website. However, I fully understand that my suggestions may not work for her and how she uses media platforms, and that is totally fine.