Week Four - Reflect activity

Week Four - Reflect activity (18/08/13)

I have put together an audio recording for the Week Four reflect activity answering the questions:

"Can you see a role for libraries in curating content from around the web? Do you think the curation tools we’ve been looking at this week could be used by libraries? How? Why?"

Week Four - Play activity

Curation tools - developing online collections

This week we were tasked to explore curation tools in regards to online content and how these curated items (that bare similarities) can be assembled into a type of "online collection". I chose to look at the curation tool Bundlr and look for items relating to Cyclone Yasi and the impact the disaster had on the local area of Townsville. The reason I selected this topic is because in a previous assignment we were tasked with putting together a digital collection and I wanted to see if Bundlr offered a simple way for aggregating resources.

This is the collection I ended up putting together. It's small at this stage but showcases the variety of online materials relating to the topic that can be found.

A challenge of the curation process was deciding whether to curate individual posts or entire feeds, single videos or complete channels. I settled on putting together individual items allowing for visitors to carry out further investigation if they desire. 

I found Bundlr to be easy to navigate, particularly as there is an option to add a browser button that allows you to simply click to add items to your collection. One area that I would've liked included in the Bundlr tool is the option to group items of a similar format. For e.g. videos in one section and news articles in another.

Week Three - Play/ Reflect

This week, for the Play component, we had to set up a twitter account and carry out several twitter-related tasks. These included:

- "following" course lecturers

- "addressing" a tweet to a lecturer requesting to join the class twitter list (shown below)

- following the QUT information studies group

- following QUT library 
- adding your twitter handle to your blog either through a widget or a link on your blog (shown below) and

- following other information/ library organisations. As library studies is my major I am following a number of LISprofs and information hubs including the Association for Information Science and Technology, the  Library of Congress and the  National Library of Australia.

For the Reflect task I chose to comment on the following statement:

What role do you think blogging and tweeting will have in your learning, both in this unit and beyond it? Can you see yourself continuing to use either a blog or Twitter after this semester?  

Blogging and tweeting originally seemed like activities that would serve more as distractions than learning tools. Admittedly, I have played around with the blog template on multiple occasions and haven’t always tweeted the most academic of posts. However, I feel that this is all part of getting to know a new tool, learning new technologies and allows you to better use the tool in a constructive way. For example, using hashtags in twitter has allowed me to link up with students in the same course and follow interesting posts related to the LIS field. Not only this, but quick assignment queries can be posted, answered and read by the cohort through using the hashtag feature – an invaluable trait of twitter. This connectivity is a perk of both blogging and tweeting; you’re able to create a name for yourself within your chosen field, network with likeminded people and get noticed by other industry professionals (hopefully, and hopefully positively). This also means, if people are paying attention to your online movements that there is some level of accountability. Posting diary-like entries on blogger is one way I have found to keep up the internal pact with myself and the imaginary one I have with readers of my blog: to work consistently and be a meaningful contributor to the LIS field.

Both tools have pros and cons and these would have to be weighed up against their value as a learning tool if I were to continue using them. So far I’ve managed not to get too wrapped up in the rapid fire delivery of information via twitter and through the course expectations, have managed not to leave my blog posts too sporadic (says me). I have found that:

-          blogging hasn’t provided the best start to networking with LISprofs (though this may be down to the content I produce)

-           it has been challenging to keep up a consistent commentary for all units through the blog and

-          I’m following a lot of people unrelated to my field of learning on twitter.

These are issues that may need reviewing if I plan to make long-term use of these tools.

My expectation is that I will continue to use twitter as a way to stay abreast of topical issues relating to the LIS field (due to the number of key commentators/ organisations using this tool) and my contributions to this area will be less centred around blog posts and have a focus on both tweets and portfolio updates. I will be interested to see if this view changes and whether I will have to set up a new way to maintain consistency.

Week Two - Play/ Reflect

Week Two - Play activity

For the play activity this week, we had to set up our blog. In doing so, we had to meet the following requirements (as listed on Blackboard):

• Your blog must be public (although you can choose settings that indicate to search engines that you don't want your site to be indexed)

• You must allow comments. You can moderate your comments if you are really nervous about this, but you must be committed to moderating them quickly. We recommend choosing a setting that allows you to moderate a comment the first time someone posts, but after that, there comments get posted automatically. There are tools available to help manage comment spam - just check the help information on your chosen platform.

• You must have an 'about' page that provides information about you - just the basics!

• You must delete sample posts, pages and comments.

• You must categorise your posts. Categories are like the table of contents for your blog - broad topics. We recommend using a category for your Play activities and another for your Reflect activities.

• You must tag your posts with keywords. Keywords are like the index at the back of a book - narrow topics.

All these aspects were carried out. Over the semester I will be constantly reviewing the 'tags' for each post to ensure that all keywords are identified and listed accordingly. When doing so, I'll be mindful not too include too many identifiers as this may limit the findability and take the content into unrelated areas.

Week Two - Reflect activity

Write a reflection about your online identity. Write about any aspect you choose: what it looks like now, what you want it to look like; what you're willing to share, what you're not willing to share.

My online identity is a mix of censored/ uncensored opinion and public/ private information. This blog was originally going to be a say-exactly-how-I-feel-when-I-feel-it type domain but I was and am too fearful that earlier posts (since deleted) and future posts may do more harm than good. In her advisory video regarding blogs, Kate Davis talks about being the "real you" when you blog content - she said something along the lines of people not believing what you write about if you aren't being yourself. This is probably true, but I feel like some self censoring can be beneficial in the public realm, particularly if your work has the possibility of being read by future employers. 

Despite this fear, there have been times when I haven't made the best decisions when posting on social media sites like, facebook for example - this is highly rare though, as I'm extremely paranoid about the possible impact poor decisions could have on me and others. 

Admittedly, I think my online presence would be minimal if I wasn't enrolled in this course. There are several online platforms where we're encouraged to "put ourselves out there" and interact with people. So far the services that I've been encouraged to use in my studies include:

- LinkedIn: for industry networking
- Facebook: to communicate with classmates and lecturers
- Twitter: to share ideas with industry professionals and peers
- YouTube: to document assignment related content
- A blogging service: to document course activities, share ideas with peers and industry professionals

While each service is beneficial to my studies in some way, my work and personality are put into the public domain so I manage my online identity in several ways:
- Use LinkedIn to initially connect with people I know. Establish a professional looking profile before adding industry people (including a tidy resume - omit references to protect identities).
- On Facebook, keep content posted to class groups relevant to the discussion and polite in tone. Be appreciative of assistance received using this tool. Don't add people just because they're in my class.
- Use Twitter to post a mixture of what I'm interested in and what is relevant to the industry. Use hashtags appropriately and to target attention to certain posts.
- Opt to post videos as "Unlisted" until you find out whether the content is constructive to industry-related discussion.
- When blogging, watch the tone doesn't become too relaxed, arguments can be supported and tags used effectively.

It is hoped that through self-moderating, my online identity will be viewed as being a worthwhile and pleasant presence within various online communities.

Week One - Play/ Reflect

This week there was no formal post required but I thought I'd recap on what tasks we had to carry out.

We were encouraged to familiarise ourselves with the unit through checking out the resources on blackboard and reading the study guide. It was also compulsory to set up a Facebook account and join the Facebook group set up for this class. I thought it was interesting that it was a requirement of the course and was keen to see how people would react to this.

As part of signing up to facebook we had to introduce ourselves to our peers through answering the questions outlined below:

• who you are
• what degree and major you're in
• where you're up to with your studies
• what you're hoping to get out of the unit
• one thing about yourself that no body in the class knows

Below is a print screen of my introductory Facebook post. 

The idea of personal learning networks (PLNs) was also introduced. I touched on this briefly in my general thoughts this week and I definitely think that I'll be able to develop as both a student and information professional through harnessing a network with my peers. I think Facebook will make this process easier to some degree though I think it will depend on the level and quality of interactions that take place.