Reflection on social media learning - Assessment Post 1

Reflection on social media learning - Assessment Post 1

Exploring web 2.0 tools, practices, literacies and associated issues offered a greater challenge than expected. Although partly familiar with blog, wikis, RSS, video and photo sharing tools, I had not used Facebook, bookmarking or slideshare tools and certainly had no familiarity with micro-blogging or creating resources for the public domain (Rainie, 2010), other than substantially upgrading an article on ‘Turramurra’ for wikipedia.

In just over three months I have developed basic technical expertise, gained confidence to experiment, established learning networks and habits of regular use. Individual characteristics of flexibility and tenacity as well as good organisational abilities have been essential to start making sense of multiple new resources, consistently large volumes of information and new ways of working (blog March 17). Following Andretta’s (2009) lead it seemed appropriate to immerse myself in virtual learning, reading multi-layered documents, following up links and taking notes entirely online. This proved a very difficult decision. I was interested to observe resulting poor concentration habits, distracted reading, ‘satisficing’ (Webber, 2010; post March 25), inability to focus and remember source material. I had interrupted ingrained habits of scanning print as well as physical cues to memory and concentration such as physical page location. Different skills and different memory prompts are required for virtual study. Transliteracy (John, 2010) may not present problems for millennials, but my expertise is still developing.

Bookmarking and managing RSS feeds is vital for organising the wealth of resources encountered in collaborative learning environments. Articles and links must be readily accessible. I already had a number of professional and general interest feeds into my blog; I have added to those considerably, archived links with Delicious, and set up TweetDeck for real time access and ready identification of interesting items. Experimental use of Yammer has left me with pop-up notification of cataloguing work feeds, although some have been duplicated from my blog. I have failed so far in my intention to organise blog feeds into a more reader friendly environment, such as Pageflakes (blog March 25). An alternative is now required, but is increasingly necessary. I routinely scan blog feeds and Twitter links, but certainly need to archive more efficiently and selectively. Professional judgement is a critical literacy that develops with time and exposure to the subject matter. Filtering and establishing authority for incoming information can be facilitated by limiting sources (both individuals and resources), but as more and more resources are dependent on the crowd for dispersal, it can be hard to separate expert opinion from popular writing, particularly where the subject matter is unfamiliar. As much as filter (Farkas, 2007; O’Reilly, 2005; Rheingold, 2009) the crowd can mislead (Pew Research, 2010; blog March 16). I am still refining my list ‘followed’ on Twitter, ‘unfollowing’ those who spend more time on inconsequential grabs than professionally useful leads.

Studying web 2.0 has provided an interesting combination of immersive learning of new tools and academic writing about those tools. It has been very time consuming to follow both paths (March 12) and as evidenced in the blog, more time has been spent reflecting on tools and applications (blog March 23, April 11), new literacies (March 15, April 8), acculturation (for example April 16), planning (March 18, 19, March 29, April 24) and project management (March 23, April 16, 21) than critiquing academic opinion. This is a project with a lot of follow-up work outstanding. I am satisfied that basic understanding of functionality, creative use, workplace implementation and associated issues and debate is secure.

A well developed knowledge of web 2.0 is important in the workplace (Brown, 2009; Stephens, 2010). Class members have gained new jobs or employment opportunities. Through choosing a workplace project for my first assignment I have gained professional standing and have aligned my efforts with organisational values of innovative practice. Exploring emerging technologies is a workplace priority underpinning current business process re-engineering. My assessment and pilot implemention of Yammer as a team communications tool, has been positively received and has been added to discussion of reformatting the intranet and instituting more effective cross divisional communication strategies.

In a broader professional sense I find I am now in a position to contribute to informed debate about ongoing web 2.0 issues for individuals and the information industry; issues of privacy, security, collaboration, access, authority (Melenson, 2010), archiving and the digital divide. Tagging (blog March 7), digital newspaper correction (TROVE) and treatment of metadata are regularly discussed in my current work area of cataloguing. Recognising the example described by Bartlett-Bragg (2010), I intend to offer assistance to ALIA to promote mentoring opportunities currently lacking for colleagues, and continue to assist with implementation of 2.0 related services to clients. Web 2.0 study has coalesced learning from management and information literacy studies and utilised skills developed by strategic management thinking and simulated project management. Introduction to web 3.0 has been valuable as the industry turns more towards technical intervention and electronic information packaging. The concern is not that the role of the information professional is constantly evolving, but that maintaining technical knowledge to remain engaged and able to advocate requires constant effort and awareness. Farkas’ inspirational blog states “Information wants to be free”, but we will have to make it so.

References

Andretta, S.,(2009). Take a walk on the wild side. IFLA 2009, Paper 94. http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla75/94-andretta-en.pdf

Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2010). Mentornet -A case study: reframing practice, creating social learning networks. For Headshift, March 11, 2010. http://e20cases.de/files/CasesHeadshift/Headshift_Mentornet.pdf

Brown, A. (2009).Top 10 social networking in libraries trends for 2010. Social networking in libraries, Dec. 26, 2009. http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2009/12/26/top-10-social-networking-in-libraries-trends-for-2010/

Farkas, M. (2007). Social software in libraries. Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Glazer, H. (2009). CRL News Jan 2009 (v. 70, no. 1, p. 11-14,19)

John. (2010). Discovering transliteracy. Ink and Vellum. http://inkandvellum.com/blog/2010/03/discovering-transliteracy/

Melenson, M. (2010). Why Wikipedia should be trusted as a breaking news source. ReadWriteWeb, March 15, 2010. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_wikipedia_should_be_trusted_or_how_to_consume.php

O’Reilly, T. (2005). What is web 2.0: Blogging and the wisdom of the crowds. http://oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html?page=3

Pew research. (2010). New media, old media: how blogs and social media agendas differ from traditional press. PewResearchCenterPublications, May 23, 2010. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1602/new-media-review-differences-from-traditional-press

Rainie, L. (2010). Networked creators: how users of social media have changed the ecology of information. Paper delivered Feb. 11, 2010 for VALA 2010 Conference, Melbourne, Australia. http://www.vala.org.au/vala2010-proceedings/vala2010-plenary-5-rainie

Rheingold, H. (2009). Crap detection 101. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/rheingold/detail?entry_id=42805

Stephens, M. (2010). The impact and benefits of learning 2.0 programs in Australian libraries. Paper delivered Feb. 11, 2010 for VALA 2010 Conference, Melbourne, Australia. http://www.vala.org.au/vala2010-proceedings/vala2010-session-13-stephens

Webber, S. (2010). Skimming and reading online. Information Literacy Weblog. http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2010/03/skimming-and-reading-online-material.html