How to Craft Social Media for Graduate Study. "Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media" "Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media" danah boyd Web2.0 Expo New York, NY 17 November 2009 [This is a rough unedited crib of the actual talk] Citation: boyd, danah. 2009. "Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media.
" Web2.0 Expo. New York, NY: November 17. In his seminal pop-book, Csikszentmihalyi argued that people are happiest when they can reach a state of "flow. " Consider what it means to be "in flow" in an information landscape defined by networked media and you will see where Web2.0 is taking us. As of late, we've been talking a lot about content streams, streams of information. Those who are most enamored with services like Twitter talk passionately about feeling as though they are living and breathing with the world around them, peripherally aware and in-tune, adding content to the stream and grabbing it when appropriate. To many of you, this seems like old news. 1) Democratization. 4) Power. Head. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the Internet and library resources for research.
Using student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey, our results suggest students may not be as reliant on public Internet sites as previous research has reported. Instead, students in our study used a hybrid approach for conducting course–related research. A majority of students leveraged both online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting, and evaluating resources and gauging professors’ expectations for quality research.
Contents IntroductionMethodsResultsDiscussionConclusions Introduction The growing buzz about the omnipotence of Google left us wondering, what do students think about conducting research for course assignments today? Last spring, a team of faculty and campus librarians conducted an insider’s view of the student’s research process. Personal.stevens.edu/~ysakamot/730/paper/simple writing.pdf. Professors Consider Classroom Uses for Google Plus - Wired Campus. Google Plus, the social-networking platform, is so new that most Internet users are not yet able to see it—an invitation is required while the service is in its test phase. But some professors who have tried it say they already see possible uses for teaching and research if the service catches on. The new Google service, announced last week, is similar in many ways to Facebook. It provides a way to share updates, photos, and recommendations with friends and colleagues.
One key difference is that Google Plus makes it easier to share information with isolated subgroups of contacts, rather than sending all updates to every online “friend.” Facebook’s default approach—sharing with everyone in your personal network—has created a dilemma for professors whose students want to be their online friends. Facebook does allow some selective sharing, but doing so is difficult to master. In Google Plus, users can assign each new contact to a “circle” and can create as many circles as they like.
B.J. Twitter for Organizations. Twitter for Organizations Right now you're probably thinking, "Oh, no, not ANOTHER Twitter® tutorial! " Well, yes, this IS a Twitter® tutorial, but we're going to dig a little deeper. We'll cover the basics, then move on to organizational uses and searching. I'm hoping to impart some ideas and enthusiasm to friends in the library community as well as anyone else who might benefit. This tutorial takes for granted that the reader is already familiar with Twitter® and has a user account. Why use Twitter® at all? Twitter® creates a constant stream of updates from important sources. Organizational communication is fast changing due to social media. Twitter® Cheat Sheet Twitter® is what is known as a microblogging service.
Tweet: a 140-character or less post to a user account. To follow: a user follows others, which means that they see the tweets (status updates) of those individuals whom they have added to their Twitter® stream. Reply: to respond to a user's tweet. Outreach/PR Fun! Ease of use. Technology, or Lack Thereof, at the Podium. I do a lot of public speaking. My usual format is to speak off the cuff, without notes or script, and use a Keynote or PowerPoint slide show to guide me. (No, not bullet points — ugh! — but videos, funny visuals or other scenic elements.) I like to have the laptop on the podium with me, for two reasons. The Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter.Sign up | See Sample Second, it means that I can see notes and cues that my audience can’t see.
When I’m giving a talk I give often, I can get away without those notes and slide previews; I’ve had enough practice. At every auditorium, I show up early for the technical setup. It’s hilarious, at this point, to see the look of panic on their faces when I pull out the MacBook laptop I use for these presentations. At the really big expensive fancy hotels and theaters, these guys have every dongle in stock. Anyway, every now and then, though, this system goes off the tracks.
Why Are We Still Consuming News Like It’s 1899? | benhuh!com. We’ve witness a torrent of nature- and man-made news in 2011. And if I were a betting man, the range and impact of the events to come will make news even more essential to all of us. But reading all this news started to bother me, not only because of what was happening in the world, but because the experience of consuming news sucks.
For the past new months, I’ve been thinking about this problem (unconnected to Cheezburger). As my friend Dan Sinker said: “We’re still delivering the news in the same way since the Civil War.” News Sites Are Limiting Themselves Currently, news sites have many problems. The traditional methods of news-writing, such as the reverse pyramid, the various “editions” of news pose big limitation on how news is reported and consumed.
The Problem With News I’ll take on just three of the major issues I see with the way news is presented today: 2) News, Not Front Pages The front-page of a newspaper is an iconic symbol. The web can do much than this. Unsure But Curious? Internet rules and laws: the top 10, from Godwin to Poe. Can We Teach Creative and Critical Thinking? - Education. When a teacher gives a test, he or she is trying to measure students' ability to recall and apply information learned over a particular period of time. The exams make it relatively straightforward: Did the student get an answer right or wrong? Was mastery of skills demonstrated? But how is creative or critical thought defined and taught?
And by what assessment can we measure it, if at all? Critical thinking is, among many things, the ability to understand and apply the abstract, the ability to infer and to meaningfully investigate. Teaching critical and creative thought, however, is challenging: First, critical thinking may mean different things to different instructors, principals, and/or districts. There are ways to navigate through these obstacles: Cultivating critical thinking may be accomplished with modeling. So, if it is possible to teach this type of thinking, how then can we measure if students are developing these skills? Illustration by Will Etling. Economics - "Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures & What We Can Do About It.
12 — When it comes to technology, you definitely “act your age”. Let’s start with full disclosure: I’m a baby boomer. Ok, I’ve gotten that out of the way. I do have two millenial children (now young adults), and most of the people I work with are Gen Xers. How did people get together before cell phones? — My son (age 20) recently asked me how people ever got together when I was growing up. “There weren’t cell phones, so how did you ever arrange to get together to hang out?”
, he asked. Generational definitions — I’ve done some of my own exploratory research on generational differences in the last few years. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What do you think? Did you find this post interesting? Digital Literacies for Writing in Social Media. The following is a shortened version of a talk I gave at the "Engaging the Public" symposium held at Washington & Jefferson College on Oct. 1.
According to Cathy Davidson's Now You See It, 65 percent of students entering school today will have careers in fields that haven't been invented yet. While #IDontHaveFactsToBackThisUp, I'm willing to make the following prediction about writing: a full 100% of these students, at some point in their lives, will be required to use writing technologies that haven't been invented yet. Consider this: as recently as four years ago, who would have imagined that major companies would have employees whose jobs were to interact with customers on Twitter, or that someone could make a career out of writing for Facebook? Four years before that, not only did those jobs not exist, Twitter and Facebook didn't exist, and the types of writing that they represent were only in their nascent form.
Kairos of Digital Media * accessibility* searchability* persistence. Dean Shareski: How To Make Better Teachers. Want to create better teachers? I know how. One word. Blogging. Now before you roll your eyes or accuse me of oversimplifying the very complex issue of teacher evaluation and monitoring, hear me out. I began teaching in 1988. It was a tough job and thinking about getting better was superseded by survival instincts. When I discovered blogs almost five years ago, I soon figured out what that term meant. Dan Meyer, a Mathematics teacher in California writes: ... blogging was the cheapest, most risk-free investment I could have made of my personal time into my job. Thousands of other blogging educators could echo similar words. There's a natural transparency that emerges.
Teachers have for years had to fill in a plethora of reports and forms which in essence are accountability papers. So here's my plan. Try that. PS. It’s NEVER Too Late. Why Cyberbullying Rhetoric Misses the Mark. Why Writing Skills are More Important Than Ever. Digital technology makes a lot of things simpler. It's also causing some cherished forms of communication, like letter writing, to become almost obsolete. But a surprising paradox of digital technology is the emphasis it places on writing skills. By Sarah Wright Why Are Writing Skills So Important? Though we live in an era where print media is faltering, and people hand write and mail letters out of novelty rather than necessity, writing skills are still important. The reasons for that are many, but the two main forces in play are the Internet and a highly competitive job market.
Technology Makes Your Writing Visible We use written communication more regularly now than ever before. Some people might not care, or think it's important, but the ability to communicate effectively in writing can actually save some headaches. Career Communication On top of personal communications, career communications of all kinds are increasingly being handled online and in text. The Social Media Assessment. If you’re a member of the team, or perhaps the person who handles your organization’s social media profiles, I’d bet that your morning looks a little something like so: Check in with all the social platforms, scan through comments, @’s, retweets, likes, etc. and begin the task of crafting on-point, brand related responses.
In doing so, you’re most probably also evaluating the previous day’s/week’s postings, shares, tweets, retweets, and overall spread and reach of your message. “How many RT’s did ‘bla bla bla’ receive?” , “That photo of the new office dog is off the charts!” , etc. These mini-assessments are without a doubt important and necessary, but in doing so, are you focusing on the micro and failing to see the macro?
Manager or employee, we’ve all been through the annual and quarterly review process. Before you even get started reviewing your performance, it’s important to gather the appropriate data. What do you want to get out of each channel? What’s performing well? Top 10 Ways to Wake-up Students in Class. The following is a guest post from Michelle Doman, a 7th and 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Brandon Middle School in Wisconsin.
Top 10 Ways to Wake-up Students in Class Many people get a little squeamish, wiggly, and offer a scrunched expression when I respond to the question, “What grades do you teach?” I teach middle school, and with heart and honesty, I find great joys (and challenges) in teaching the group referred to as “tweens” and adolescents. So, I invite you into the quirky world of middle school. Here are the Top 10 Ways to Wake-up Students in Class... 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
If anyone has more ideas to capture the wondering, daydreaming, (hormonal) minds of middle school students, I would love to read about them. Related Articles 10 MORE Ways to Wake-up Students in Class About the Author Michelle Doman is a 7th and 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Brandon Middle School in Wisconsin's Rosendale-Brandon School District. P.S.
Students using Facebook in your class? Better try a bit harder. By now, the idea that university students would spend much of their time in class on their laptops and tablets, browsing Facebook or the web, hardly seems surprising — and a recent editorial in the Harvard Crimson student newspaper confirms that this is the case. But the writer also makes an interesting argument, which is that the amount of time students spend online in class (which he calls the “Facebook Index”) is directly related to the quality of their professor. Since the web provides such easy access not just to social media but information of all kinds, he argues, teachers need to try harder than they have in the past to add value. This might seem like a bit of a stretch for some, and in fact I got some substantial pushback from a number of people when I posted a link to the Crimson editorial on Twitter — including many who felt that it was unfair to expect even the most engaging professor to compete with Facebook or Twitter or text messaging.
17 Tips to Improve Your Online Presence. Looking for ways to make yourself stand out amidst the millions of online profiles and portfolios in the information world? Here are a few tips to amp up your profiles and suggestions for how to make stellar status updates: Profile Tips Here are some quick recommendations to improve your profiles on social networking sites. Cross-Link Profiles: Make it easy for people to find you everywhere by linking to all your other profiles on each new social network you join.
Link to all your social profiles as well as your blog, your website, etc.Highlight Your Job: You’ll want to list your current and past positions so that others in your field can identify you. Status Update Tips Need some ideas for what to post about on your professional social profiles? "Myths and Mismatches", Oh My! Screencasting Tips and Best Practices. Blogosphere | Mountain Beltway | Words matter. The Teacher’s Guide To Using YouTube In The Classroom. Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything. RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms.
Ten skills every student should learn.