Networked relationship

In any epoch, people have been skeptical about the new, emerging technologies. It is because people do not like changes. According to Roger’s technology adoption curve, not everyone will immediately adopt a disruptive technology despite obvious benefits. The old generations always try to find some negative impacts related to a new technology in the beginning. It was also true for railroad, Telephone, and TV before the Internet. Therefore, people blamed ICTs (information and communication technologies) as suspects for making Americans more isolated. However, in ‘Networked’, Rainie and Wellman provided readers with much evidence against this blame. They said ICTs had two roles: a bridge for a new network and a supplementary channel for communication.

A bridge for a new network

Some people first get to know each other online then meet offline. Today, my son sent me an Instagram message about a new travel ball team. The message was a kind of announcement to recruit new players through the Internet. Players will register online first, then they will meet for a tryout at Orlando in early August. Gamers also meet in the cyberplace first and sometimes they meet offline. One more good example is Facebook ‘Tally Mom’ community. Though most members are cyber friends, they live in Tallahassee and are all connected through the online community. People help each other by asking and answering questions, exchanging information, and sharing each other’s joys, concerns, and grieves.

A supplementary channel for communication

The internet is not only for information but also for communication. With the Internet, we can connect with people more easily and frequently. We are not isolated but more connected through a new way of communication. We gather at online chatting room, update each other, and arrange our get-togethers. When we come back home after the get-together, we ask each other if all get home safely. Then we say good night. This is just like phone chatting without audio. And this is why teenagers consider texting on social media as “conversation” rather than writing (Pew Internet Study). Though I am here in the U.S., I still can socialize with my friends in different communities in Korea. Yes, we use the Internet to keep up with each other and enhance our weaker ties. It intensifies close relationships rather than isolates us.

Rainie and Wellman (Networked, 2012)

Reddit vs. Google+

I have not known much about Reddit before and had some prejudice about this social media. It seemed pretty messy and unfiltered to me. I've recently created Reddit account and was very overwhelmed with the massive posts. However, I could feel the energy and vitality of people. When I visited Google+ for observations, I was very disappointed with the silence in every community. Only one or two updates were made every day. I know many of my classmates do not have a positive feeling about Reddit, but I decide to try this new social media and find some positive things for education.

A legitimate peripheral participant or an active lurker

A community of Practice or CoP is an interesting theory I cherish. I just put several books of Wenger in my Amazon book carts. It’s expensive…but worthwhile I believe. In terms of CoP I am a legitimate peripheral participant in many communities. I usually read and hit ‘like’ button but rarely post my own postings. So, am I just gleaning any values created by others? Well, not all people speak or shout… Only at the time when they feel comfortable and confident with their thinking. In our real world, some are just good listeners and others are good speakers. I define myself as an active lurker or good listener. I actively read and reshare information and knowledge. I am not confident in my own knowledge or opinion yet. Additionally, I am not comfortable with posting something publicly under my real name. I may need to use a pseudonym for sharing something online.  

What is community?

What is a community? Well, I compared a network with a community last week. I thought I knew what community meant. But, now that I try to explain it, it is just hard…

Google shows the following two definitions.

1.      a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

"Rhode Island's Japanese community"

2.      a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. "the sense of community that organized religion can provide"

Yes, a community can be defined as a group of people who share common interests, norms, and goals…Additionally, a sense of trust, belonging, safety, and caring for each other (https://ssir.org/articles/entry/what_is_community_anyway). So, if we use the same hashtag on Twitter or Instagram, are we in the same community? Hmm…We may have the same interests and share the same norms (somewhat vague, though) related to social media. But, do we have the same goal? A sense of trust and belonging? Maybe not yet…but someday when it is the right time…Yes, it is a latent community until then…

Well, I decided to join two existing communities inside Google+ for 2 weeks. One for violin and the other for Educational Technology. Let’s see if I can find some characteristics of community within these two communities. 

User-led contents, User-led education, and veracity

In the past, when we had a question, we looked up the dictionary, read some books, or asked people who had authority. Now, we ask Google, Netizens, or power bloggers who seem to be experts in a certain area on the Internet. The power bloggers act as the online journalists (or one-person operating media) and they produce a lot of contents - both information and personal opinion. However, not all bloggers are real experts or true journalists. 

We often encounter some fake news or wrong thoughts on the Internet but believe those without any doubt. Well, that is also the case in some major newspapers. We have four major newspapers in Korea, and some of them have been notorious for their political connection. They hide some important news or provide some biased opinion to support certain party or government. Anyway, many problems and issues have been happening related to some power bloggers who were intoxicated and began to sway their swords at their disposal. They might want to dominate people’s thinking. Or some are just greedy and want to make some money out of their power. 

Currently, in Korea, an investigation about a power blogger is going on. The blogger posted much fake news and information regarding the presidential election and threatened the candidate with those fake information. Now people started to think that the fake news is not fake but is somehow related to the candidate. So, the investigation started to see if there’s a real connection between the news and the candidate. The victim became the suspect. 

Therefore, I am really careful about my kids’ postings online and their information consumption through the Internet. My older one often delivers some news or opinions from social media, and I am really concerned about it. I keep telling my sons that they should look at them with a critical view and do not trust all information from the Internet. They are just one piece of information or perspective. I really think we should provide our children with some literacy education about the veracity of online information and knowledge. For an user-led education, they need to learn about this first.

Online learning and Web 2.0 : What is the right form of Web-Based Instruction?

When I started the discussion about Web 2.0 and its definition in my first EME 6414 class, I automatically reminded of the early Internet era when I studied Web-Based Instruction (WBI) in graduate school.

In late 1990, the ongoing agenda was what is the right WBI or WBT. Many IDers believed that a well-designed web-based instruction with as many as intercave components was the right one. The instructional material was mainly self-paced and supplemented by a course tutor using a bulletin board or email. The instructor was web-based material itself. However, it was expensive to develop and not so fun because there were no instructor and classmates to work together. Then, blended learning and collaborative learning were introduced, but educators still cared about the quality of instructional materials and they believed it was based on the level of interactivity.

However, in a corporate side, HR managers wanted a cost-effective solution, and the companies with a good video compressing technology started to introduce an e-learning solution enabling both video-instructor and virtual whiteboard. It could be synchronous or asynchronous. But, due to the slow network, only asynchronous VOD was prevalent. Many IDers blamed the video-instructor format saying that it was just an educational TV on the web. Who won? The cheaper and easier one (VOD format) remained in the market.

Now, the main focus as to the right WBI or online learning is on how we can make students engaged with whatever materials or technology students are using. It is not the material or technology but the person who is the focus as Rainie and Wellman mentioned in their book.  Overall course design rather than the instructional materials is important, and the more important thing is how people involved in the online learning effectively communicate with and learn from each other through interaction. Our online learning materials still look like Web 1.0 with very static, one-directional materials. However, with the Web 2.0 technology, students will not be isolated anymore and motivated to interact more in the cyberspace. It is still not so popular or broadly exercised even in a higher education, and there’s no standard way to do so. I want to find various ways to employ Web 2.0 philosophy and technologies into online learning and also want to move the discussion over the right online learning one step further from our 1990s discussion.      

Social Media in Education and Privacy Issue

I have the same privacy issue as Victoria as an instructor. How can we use our social media wisely? When I designed a social interaction through Instagram for my online course, I was looking for a way how to create a closed group first. However, if I want to create a somewhat closed group, the best way was to let classmates share their usernames and follow each other after searching each student on Instagram. What if there are more than 100 students in a class? The best way is to use hashtag. Then, we should set our account public instead of private to use hashtag. 

If we only think about networks or relationship among our classmates, we’d better create a closed network within LMS. However, if we want to extend our class discussion using web 2.0 philosophy and technology, we’d better go public with multiple hashtags. Then, should only talk about the serious, academic topics on our social media website? Should we just socialize in a very superficial level filtering all the sensitive information? If we meet f2f, it is just fine, but if we are all online students, we hope to be closer to our classmates using the web 2.0 technology without thinking about privacy. 

This is the big problem for me to solve. I want to study how to motivate online students to interact more and know each other better through web 2.0 technologies without or fewer privacy issues.