Month: November 2020

First off, I want to say there is so much I have learned about PLNs in this course. I had no idea what a PLN was when I already had my own PLN. I feel like many people can relate to that.

There are a few topics that really resonated with me throughout the course that I would like to share my thoughts on once again: digital identities, the importance of diversity in a PLN, and media literacy. I want to look at these from multiple standpoints as well, those being professional and personal learning networks.

First off, digital identities are something I was definitely aware of but hadn’t put much thought into. Every account we have on the internet is essentially its own identity, though can be connected with other accounts and identities, both intentionally and unintentionally.

As someone who streams live on YouTube for a public audience, me and my audience built up what my identity is based off of my content and how I behave when I stream. I go by “Catherine” on my YouTube channel, along with most of my other public social media accounts. Additionally, because of what my audience knows and doesn’t know about me, along with the fact that they don’t see me (as I currently don’t use a webcam), there are some interesting perceptions my audience has of me. One of these perceptions that is often brought up is that although none of my audience has seen me, they feel like I am probably 5’1, which is not at all true. Assumptions like these are based off of only the things we already know and see about a person. Sometimes the assumptions can be correct, but there have been many times where people incorrectly guessed my age, height, and even hobbies.

So, there are all sorts of things that can make up one digital identity. Some things you might decide for yourself, like how I go by a different name online, and then other things are assumptions that people have collectively made about your online persona.

Although we can create different identities, it’s also important to note that there are ways these identities could be connect. For instance, security breaches, although uncommon in some situations, can happen. I’ve had this happen before with instagram. Even though these identities can represent different parts of ourselves and there are some things we may not share on some accounts but share on other ones we own, it’s important that we be careful about what we post. We have to consider the possibility that our audience on one account might discover our other accounts. Not being careful about this could result in complete strangers finding personal information about you that you didn’t intend to share with that given audience. Additionally, employers may look for your social media accounts, so it’s important to keep that in mind and refrain from saying anything that could be deemed insensitive or offensive, as this could affect your employment.

The second topic I enjoyed hearing about was diversity. Thanks to social media, we are able to connect with people from all around the world, and as a result we can further develop our PLNs. Our online classes at UVic have allowed for more diverse PLNs than what I had experienced previously in my courses in person, since I’ve been able to collaborate with people living in all sorts of different places in the world. Had UVic not switched to online courses (for the most part), there would likely be many people who would choose not to study here because of travel and the fact that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Many of my peers in my classes this semester currently live in different parts of Canada, but there are also many students from China as well.

Having a diverse PLN means we get to hear insights from the point of view of those who have differing backgrounds from us. Without this diversity, we would only get one part of a big picture. For instance, if we had a class where everyone was of the same gender, race, background, and had the same opinions, we would continue to have the same opinions as there is no differing opinion to change that. This is why the more diverse a group is, the more diverse opinions that may be shared, and therefore we would have more insights into things, thus adding more pieces to this bigger picture.

In the context of this course, I believe although we have quite a diverse group, with differing races, backgrounds, and fields of study, we could have a much more diverse group. However, only so many people are going to take a course like this, as depending on the field of study, some students might not find this course beneficial in their learning.

Lastly, my favourite topic we discussed in this class was media literacy. Media literacy is all about delving into what information you’re listening to, seeing, or reading. One common example would be online stores. There are many stores that sell products, but they don’t actually manufacture or have anything to do with the products whatsoever. Once you order something from these websites, they will order the product from elsewhere for a much cheaper price, and then send it to you. This is called drop shipping. Many websites will do this and then buy stuff from websites like AliExpress. In a scenario like this, being media literate would mean you would have to go out of your way to find out where this product is actually from before buying it. That way you can get it for the price that the website you originally looked at was buying it for, which is often significantly cheaper.

Now this is just one example and one of the more obvious times that we can be media literate, but we can be media literate on a daily basis by delving further into information, statements, and claims made by those in our PLNs. One of the difficulties with being media literate is that you might not want to be. Human beings don’t exactly enjoy being incorrect. Because of this, certain media will cater to certain people and opinions. This leads to biased information which might not share all sides of a story or might just be blatantly incorrect. It’s our individual responsibility to figure out if something is true or untrue. In some cases, things might be fact-checked by other parties for us. Twitter has been doing this very frequently with more popular accounts like Donald Trump’s account, where after the election, Donald Trump was still claiming he won. All these false claims were met with a fact-check notice by twitter, that said these statements may be untrue, and then attached links to reliable sources that had the actual election results along with other relevant information. Now it’s not twitter’s job to fact-check things for us, but it was good that they did so. It’s our own job to look into the reliability of a source along with what reasons the source was created, who it was made by, who funded the sources, and other relevant information.

Altogether, there is so much I had learned in this course that I never really thought about before. Yes, all three of these topics were topics I was previously aware of, but I had barely scratched the surface of it. All of these things are incredibly important in all contexts in our personal and professional lives. As I plan on teaching in the future, I also continue to learn. If I make sure to be cautious with my use of online resources, look into the legitimacy and fairness of sources, and continue to grow my own learning network, I can take into account what I learned here and better myself and the way I go about my online life.

I interpreted the questions for this blog post in two different ways. The first being that we are looking at how PLNs in general can assist in professional development post-course, and the second being how my PLN in specific could assist in professional development. With this in mind, I decided to talk about this with the latter interpretation.

My private learning network is made up of many different topics and people and media. That being said, there are two general subjects that is focused on for the most part. Of course one of those subjects is based around my education. Specifically I connect with peers in my classes, those who have the same academic interests like French and teacher education, and choral music on the side as well. The second part is arguably not professional but has some pieces within it that prove to be beneficial in my everyday life as a student. This side focuses on video editing and live-streaming. To be blunt and completely honest, I play video games live on YouTube for an audience and it has gotten to the point where I can earn money from it. There are many things that you end up learning through making video content as you have to learn how to use editing software and open broadcasting software and develop technological understandings that many people would never learn otherwise. That being said, even the most seemingly unprofessional things can become a profession.

• Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course?

My learning network is made up of connections through my current job as a cashier, my classmates and peers who share similar academic interests, and a wide audience of people I interact with online, some of which have great insights into how I can improve many aspects of my life, though mostly focused around my social media.

Now I don’t plan on being a cashier forever, but it has helped me gain an understanding for how to behave in a customer service position and how to converse with complete strangers. This relates to both paths I’ve been looking into: teaching being the realistic career I’m looking to pursue, and live-streaming where I do earn a small amount of money but could potentially make a living off of with enough consistency and activity on my social media.

Now it’s pretty clear that post-secondary education is essential for many career paths, however, it’s unlikely that my connections within my learning network will always be there. For instance, I no longer talk to the people I shared insights with in my first year of university because we were giving each other insights specifically for one course we were all taking. This course, being an earth sciences course, is somewhat useful for teaching as I could end up teaching sciences, but I’m more so looking into teaching French or math at an elementary to secondary school level. These peers didn’t have the same career interests as me, and we stopped talking once we no longer had the course.

The connections I have made with other people who have similar academic interests will surely come in handy. One thing that has proven rather useful is the French Undergrad club, which hosts various social activities that you would do outside of school, with the only difference being that we speak French. My French speaking has never been great, and the French courses necessary for my major don’t focus on pronunciation and instead focus on grammar, reading, and creative writing. Every professor I have had a French course with has recommended we come to one of those club activities as it’ll help us to become more comfortable and fluent in French. The reason why this is so important for me as someone who would like to be a French teacher is simple: if I’m supposed to teach French, I should be able to speak French. From my experience in French immersion from Kindergarten to the time I graduated high school, you also have to learn science, math, and social studies in French up until later in high school where each year one of those academics is no longer done in French. This means if I become a French immersion teacher, there is the possibility that I will be teaching a different subject but in French. That means I would have to broaden my capabilities in speaking French because it’s in the context that we’re not learning French, but instead something else except in French.  With this in mind, the French Undergrad club is an essential part of my PLN and will help me in the future as well. Even though it’s unlikely that I’ll keep those connections after graduation, there are plenty of insights I’ve gotten in how to speak French confidently and fluently which is key when teaching in French.

• Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities and on which platform does your emerging expertise get good exposure?

I almost got a job in tutoring before I had even gone to university, thanks to my PLN. The platform I used to put myself out there professionally is Indeed. This website, much like LinkedIn, allows users to post their resume for employers to look at. Additionally, you can look or the jobs yourself and hand in your resume with ease. Because of this, I almost already got a job in my ideal career path, though I had to decline due to my course schedule overlapping with work hours. I used this website again to find my current job as a cashier where the hours are relatively flexible as I only work on days that I don’t have class.

• With consideration to the reading and video interview, how do you ensure that you expand your PLN via social media platforms into spaces that may be outside of your comfort zone?

Amber Glauser explained in her interview that she hadn’t planned on having a career related to technology as she wanted to work in cardiothoracic surgery but was recruited to work in her local hospital’s i.t. department. This resulted in even more recruitment and changes in her career and she was able to have a larger impact on patients and medical workers. Amber explained the importance of keeping an open mind to things and people so you can connect with more people. Doing so results in more opportunities, as she experienced. She also said if people don’t like her or are critical of her, that helps her understand where she can improve and gain more insights into why these people don’t like her. Criticism can be cruel but it also helps those being critiqued to understand what they can improve in. Sticking with those who like you doesn’t give you as many insights on what you could be improving upon.

References

EDCI 338 (2020, Nov 15). A01 GLAUSER, Amber [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiWaXNfnHAg&feature=youtu.be

This blog focuses on a video interview with Harrison Mooney, a journalist, blogger, and memoirist.

• Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the development of thoughts and ideas in public discourse – especially when addressing our differences?

I believe I mentioned in a previous blog how important it is to have a diverse PLN because of our differing opinions. Everyone has their different beliefs and although as mentioned in my 8th blog post, we can correct one another by pointing out flaws in information they believe in, it’s also important to simply look at and respect one another’s views. We have differing experiences and those can help us understand why people see life the way they do. There are many things we won’t perfectly understand. Harrison Mooney (2020) explains that when people say “I’ll never know what it’s like to be black” but hearing and empathizing with those of differing backgrounds helps people understand what other people mean when they talk about prejudices they’ve experienced.

• How can a PLN be curated to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others?

Having a diverse PLN with people of differing cultures, races, backgrounds, and careers allows us to minimize bias and expand our knowledge of one another as we hear insights from people with differing thoughts and experiences. As a white person, there are things that I don’t experience that those of different races do. On the other hand, as a woman, there are some things I experience like cat calling and other inappropriate behaviour from strangers and coworkers that generally wouldn’t happen if I were a man. Sharing our experiences with one another helps us to empathize and better understand what it’s like to be in those situations and as a result minimizes bias and allows us to see one another as good people instead of cruel stereotypes and prejudices we may have grown up hearing. As we minimize this bias and listen to each other’s stories, we also expand our own knowledge about what it’s like to be in the other person’s shoes.

• How does the identity of who you are, fit into your PLN?

Harrison Mooney explained that he has had experiences where people made racist remarks while talking with him on the phone, and didn’t know he was black until after the fact simply because of his voice. In a similar way. Our identity in our PLN is different from our identity in real life. As we interact with and share information in our PLN, we develop an identity based around those actions. This can definitely be a good representation of who we are, but usually isn’t the big picture of our true identity.

• Do you include professional and personal boundaries?

It’s my personal belief that we should create boundaries before actively sharing information and communicating with PLNs. We have to consider what we are comfortable discussing and what would be acceptable to discuss, with our employment and the safety of those within our PLNs in mind. I’ve mentioned previously that although we can create differing identities on different online social media accounts, these can be linked and people can discover who you are in real life and what your beliefs are. If you say something offensive and this is linked to your professional life somehow, you put your employment status at risk. Additionally, away from our professional lives, although we should be honest within our learning networks in order to properly learn, there are limits to what should and shouldn’t be said online based on what is appropriate and what is acceptable to have online or in your PLN based one who sees and interacts with the information you share.

References:

EDCI 338 (2020, Nov 8). A01 Harrison Mooney [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/elKNQpz0RrI

Before we look into the main questions this post is focused on, what is media literacy? According to Kaiser Moffat, media literacy is “the ability to identify different types of media and the messages they are sending”. Viewers of certain media should be able to decipher messages that are being conveyed in the media they are exposed to. With media literacy, we can determine for ourselves whether something is reliable or not. One way media literacy is used is in determining whether an online store is reliable or not. Without media literacy, we wouldn’t be able to decipher the content of websites and determine their reliability or lack thereof.

• Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict, why does this happen?

With the overwhelming amount of technology and growing media sources, we are discovering new things, connecting with people in new ways, and enjoying new technologies. However, Julie Smith (2020) explains that with the access to so much information, it can sometimes be impossible to figure out what is valid and reliable. With this firehose of information, people don’t like that it’s on us to fact-check things.

During this time where COVID-19 has changed our way of life, we are bombarded by even more information through all sorts of online media. During this time, we see plenty of information and statements made by millions of internet users, with many statements that could be deemed false. This abundance of information makes it difficult to navigate and determine what is truthful.

Although I typically avoid discussing politics, I felt like this would be relevant to the topic. The US election had many people posting information related to the election, real or not. Even the current president of the United States was spouting false information, claiming he won the election before the winner was announced. Twitter kept fact-checking Trump’s twitter posts. Although this is useful, it’s important to know that in most cases we don’t have someone else to fact-check things for us and give us evidence of why something is true or false. That is typically information you need to find for yourself.

Julie Smith explains that one reason for the conflict between media literacy and factual information is a “familiarity backfire” effect (2020).  She explains that we put our shields up and when that occurs, any information we don’t want to hear won’t get through. In the past we were limited in news sources and we didn’t have as much freedom in choosing what news outlets to hear from, but now we have thousands of news sources and we choose which sources to hear from. As humans, we typically don’t like being wrong. We like to find information that justifies our opinions and our knowledge. Because of that, people look at news sources catered towards our beliefs. We don’t want to be told we’re wrong, so we listen to news outlets that justify our thinking and make us seem smart and like we are the better person.

Another note Julie Smith makes is the visual appearance of people and the influence that has. The Fyre festival is a prime example of this that I remember seeing dozens of videos about, where celebrities and people who are just visually appealing and are deemed “influencers” were featured in video ads for the festival, showing a dream vacation. What ended up occurring was people who paid to go to a Coachella-style festival and rent out villas and other wonderful living spaces were met with poorly made tents and cheese sandwiches. Many people were stranded there as well. (And although it’s not necessary for this blog,  I thought I’d mention that the people who paid to go there got something in return as an apology for the mess: free tickets to the next Fyre festival. That’s hilarious.)

• What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

In our PLNs, especially nowadays, these are made up of online sources, online personalities, and people we connect with solely online. All these online connections could easily spout false information, which doesn’t benefit our learning network even if it benefits our opinions. Having a PLN that values media literacy means you and your learning network put in the work to fact-check any information shared amongst one another. Having media literacy as a top priority in your PLN allows for trustworthy connections in which we are safely able to fact-check the information people share and respectfully call out any mistakes in information shared. As long as we are comfortable enough to not only call people out for sharing false information, but also own up to our mistakes and understand why our information is wrong, our PLN grows to be trustworthy and our own media literacy improves. This benefits all parties in the PLN as we know that our PLN is one that generally shares truthful information, and on the off-chance that it doesn’t, we are comfortable learning from our mistakes and correcting one another.

References:

EDCI 338 (2020, Nov 1). A01 Smith, Julie [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_T9RghwJlI&feature=youtu.be

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes and questions below by reflecting on how you would curate your social media with a critical public audience.

Identify the risks and benefits of engaging with a public audience in a media space – what are the risks for a public figure or person in a position of trust (educator, lawyer, government official)?

Sophie Lui explained that from her experience as a journalist for GlobalBC, she believes that without the public audience on social media, the general public wouldn’t see the challenges faced by the journalism business. However, having easier ways to communicate with one another, including public faces, means there is less effort that has to be put into saying something mean to someone else.

Further your thoughts by exploring how employers use social media policy to hire, terminate or suspend individuals who use social media inappropriately or contrary to employer expectations – how would you address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy? Can you provide notable examples?

Sophie Lui shared a story about how someone sent her a comb in the mail, because at the time her hairstyle was one that people either loved or hated. Now it is much more easy to communicate with public faces. Sophie explained that sometimes people will say “idiotic stuff” and that although sometimes she doesn’t care, other times some insults can really be taken to heart.

Also being a public figure means you have to be careful what you post as some things can be controversial, even to the extent of being something you could lose your job for. Sophie said she has had to refrain from saying things because of the way people could react, and she does stop herself before posting certain things on twitter. Having accounts associated with your job, as is common for notable individuals, means there is a limit to what you should and shouldn’t be posting on that account, or even what you should or shouldn’t be posting online in general, since although people can have alternate accounts, there is the possibility they could end up being linked later on in the public eye, and depending on what is posted that the public typically wouldn’t see, this could result in job termination.

Even jokes should be taken seriously to an extent. Although this story doesn’t focus on a public figure, it’s one that I never forget, as it is a joke that shouldn’t have been done, especially on public social media.

A 14-year-old girl once tweeted a post aimed at American Airlines, claiming that she was in fact a man from Afghanistan who was a part of Al Qaida and was “going to do something big”. Although it was evident by the fact that her twitter showed that she was a girl named Sarah, tweets like this should always be taken seriously. With that in mind, American Airlines responded and said they take this very seriously and sent her information to the FBI. She immediately regretted this was arrested for “posting a false or alarming announcement”.

This story is an extreme scenario, but it did happen. With that in mind, it’s always important, no matter what the joke may be, to consider your audience. For public faces, your audience is very broad. Although you can’t please everyone, it’s important that you don’t offend your general audience or say anything that could be seen as a threat or unfair breach of another person’s privacy.

●  How do notable individuals use social media?

Depending on the social media application, notable individuals use it in different ways. In Sophie Lui’s experience, she uses twitter to retweet other’s posts that she agrees with or has something to say about. These posts often express her views on politics or ongoing issues in the world. For instance, she has been frequently retweeting info about the BC elections and does her own posts discussing the importance of voting. She also retweeted a tweet from Kamala Harris, who said she would fight for women’s rights, as there is an ongoing issue in the United States regarding pro-choice and pro-life, a topic which really shouldn’t be up for debate as these are essentially either controlling women’s decisions or giving them the freedom to choose how they live their lives.

Sophie’s instagram has a great contrast from her twitter. She explained in her interview that her audience on instagram is far less critical of her posts there than her audience on twitter is on her tweets. Although she does post about ongoing events in the world, like her occasional posts reminding people to be safe during this pandemic, she also posts pictures of her everyday life, including time with friends and family. One of my favourite posts she made recently was showing off a drawing that a child drew for her.

●  What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN? (career development in the public eye)

Being in the public eye and having a learning network means you have a larger audience, which also means you can connect with people who could benefit your career or give you insights on things you agree with or insights that lead you to change your view on the world. You may even find potential employers through social media.

Sophie Lui said she found many like-minded writers on twitter and follows many people on twitter so she can have more insight on relevant information related to ongoing events in the world. As a journalist, having access to the differing opinions of the public allows for more insights that could either justify your thinking and views on ongoing events, or could have a major impact on your views, which allows you to develop more insights that may be beneficial in journalism.

●  Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how does one build a PLN that can be consistently relied on? How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?

It is the individual user’s responsibility to choose who to trust online. If someone spouts false information, that can be fact-checked by doing your own research on the topic using trusted, unbiased resources.

Hirst (2019) explains that although it has existed in the past, “fake news” has become extremely relevant ever since the term became popularized by Donald Trump (although let it be known that just because he claims anything against him to be fake news, it is entirely possible and has been proven that he makes false statements, as well). Believing in a select few sources without fact-checking statements means you may share false information and therefore lose credibility. There is a chain of credibility when it comes to public figures and sharing information. Let’s say you find a news article spouting false information. Many people may realize that this news is incorrect and therefore that news source is no longer deemed a credible resource. But let’s say you choose to believe it and then share statements that were shared from that source. As a result, the public may either believe false statements that you share, or they may see you as not being credible anymore. With this in mind, public figures should be mindful of what they share and make sure the statements are properly fact-checked.

References:

EDCI 338 (2020, Oct 21). A01 Lui, Sophie [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4jOdKd12I&feature=youtu.be

Hirst, M. (2019). The Political Economy of Fake News. In Navigating social journalism: A handbook for media literacy and citizen journalism (pp. 78-100). New York, NY: Routledge.