Assignment #1 - First Entry

a.     define what social networking is in own words

Social networking creates communities and enhances relationships through online interaction and collaboration of communities with shared interests. Social media provides an avenue for social networking by the creation and sharing of content.

b.     list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work, study)

Facebook

I am a user of and contributor to Facebook. I upload photos and content, share content, comment on others’ content, inbox message as well as instant message friends. I mainly use Facebook for personal reasons, but have recently used it for study purposes through closed groups.

Pinterest

I am a user of and contributor to Pinterest. I search through other contributors’ Pinterest boards and repin to my own boards. I use Pinterest mainly personally. http://www.pinterest.com/rowbyrne/

Blogging

As part of my study for Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship) I had to create a blog of my learning journey through the course.

http://librarylearnings.wordpress.com/

I am also a user and occasionally contribute to others’ blogs by way of commenting on posts. I follow ‘Mummy bloggers’ such as The Organised Housewife for personal use. http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/

YouTube

I am a user of YouTube and have never contributed to it. I have used YouTube both personally and professionally.

c.      describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506

By completing INF506 I expect to learn how I can use social networking more professionally as currently I use it mainly for personal use.

I want to learn how to create a professional social media profile so my personal social networking does not blur with my professional life. I am planning on re-entering the workplace in 2015 and I want a professional online profile to follow me.

I am expecting to learn how to interact with students in a way in which they want to interact. I expect to learn how to bring the library to students through social networking as a way to encourage them to bring themselves in to the physical space of the library as well as the online world of the school library.

I would also expect to learn further applications of social networking tools I already use. I am expecting to learn how to be more of a contributor and not just a user of social networking tools. I have seen already through the Facebook page that one student uses Pinterest for suggested books and links to the library’s OPAC. This is an example of learning more applications of tools I already use.

OCLC Report (2007)

How do the concepts and findings in these sections (introduction, sections 1 & 2) of the OCLC report reflect your view of the socially networked world in 2013?  

The OCLC report discussed the point of internet users becoming information producers rather than information consumers. Taking in to account this report was published six years ago my anecdotal evidence would be this is even more so. 

News and current affairs programs now call for the public to upload video and news stories to social media which they incorporate in their news bulletins on television. Live feeds on programs such as Q and A include tweets from viewers live on the show, encouraging more banter to be tweeted in response.

The increase of reality television programs with viewer polls, tweets, and  Facebook comments creates social networking opportunities between users with shared interests. 

The report mentions MySpace which no longer seems to be used much anymore. And the omission of Twitter and Instagram are a sign the report is somewhat dated. This led me to ask where would twitter and Instagram fit between the defined social networking and social media. I believe they are aligned with social media as users primary purpose is to publish and share content.

De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Havens, A., Hawk, J. & Jenkins, L. (2007). Sharing privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC.

Creating the online Learning Journal

My first attempt of using blogger was last week when I set up the Online Learning Journal (OLJ) for INF506. I have used wordpress previously in the creation of my blog for the Master of Education (Teacher Librarian).

I have found blogger a more involved tool to use than wordpress. I believe this is because it appears blogger is a hub for myself where a number of different blogs can be created and with a homepage as the hub. I typed in all the blogs and websites that were suggested to follow from the subject outline. I believed I was adding these to my OLJ blogspot, however it appears they are listed on my homepage (the 'hub'). Will try and figure how to move these to the OLJ later.