Tag: social

I admit to being a sucker for new social media services. I explore them to see what they offer so that I can inform others and I also keep looking for useful implementations of services I think have unique value. I am also just opposed to “natural monopolies” described by some as a result of the network effect. I would summarize a network effect as – people go where people are and once there accept the actual services as provided with all existing faults because coordinating a move to something better service does not seem practical. I should probably work on that description, but I assume you get the idea. So, Facebook is a natural monopoly. I liked Google+ and Diaspora better and thought the opportunity to control who you shared what with (circles in Google+ and instances in Diaspora) was a superior way of doing things. Google+ is shutting down soon and Diaspora has never attracted the critical mass I think is needed. I do encourage you to take a look at Diaspora.  

My new fascination is MeWe. MeWe is a collection of services – chat, groups, a personal timeline (like Facebook), and online storage (for files, images, etc.). It is free for basic services with a business model based on selling users extras – space for storage, pages, emojis, etc. If you won’t make money on ads and selling user information, you must have access to other revenue sources. I do not attempt to predict the success of online business models, but I do believe there must be an income stream of some sort to maintain infrastructure and support innovation. I wish MeWe success.

A feature I think should be of great interest to educators is the mechanism for control of access. In some ways, MeWe shares this perspective with Google+ and Diaspora. You make this decision for individual user experiences. For example, you can offer a public group or invite specific participants to a group. You can maintain multiple groups and set access opportunities for each depending on the audience you want to be involved. 

I have decided to create a public group focused on one of my personal interests. I describe this interest as “layering for learning”. This description is my way of identifying online services that allow educators to embellish existing online content to improve the potential of the original content sources as instructional resources. I argue that these services are consistent with the goals of those who want to use open access content rather than textbooks and with approaches that emphasize the role of “educator as instructional designer”. I have written a Kindle Primer on this topic, but I have also written many blog posts and created YouTube tutorials that are freely available. My hope is to seed the group with some this existing free content and invite insights and suggestions from educators who see something of interest in these ideas. I am uncertain how else to get a group started from scratch.

Getting a group started is a challenge. When I am teaching, I can show such resources to students. Now that I am retired, getting educators to take a look is much more of a challenge. This is bucking the network effect in action. I hope you will take a look.

Layering for learning group

Present awareness of the collection of user private data by social media giants has increased public awareness of security concerns and led some to look for alternatives. While I do make some use of Twitter and Facebook, I have been exploring alternative services for several years. I have a mixed reaction to the present concerns. On one hand, I am bothered by my data being used in ways I did not anticipate. On the other hand, I understand that the companies providing these services have expenses and are expected to be profitable. I agreed to the use of my data, but to a lesser degree than I understood.

Simply put, I use the social media giants because this is where people spend their time. This is a present reality. My concession to what I consider the limitations of these services is that I limit my use to specific purposes. I use Facebook mostly to argue my political views. I use Twitter to discover educational resources being promoted by others and I automatically post notices when I add something to one of my blogs.

One of the dark realities of social media is that it seems to encourage a winner take all process. People are attracted by people rather than be superior experiences. Taking this into account, my recommendation is that people cross-post. Encourage innovation by supporting new services while you continue posting to popular existing services. It is your content so put it as many places as you want.

My present recommendations would be Mastodon as an alternative to  Twitter and Diaspora for Facebook. One innovation of these alternatives is that they use an approach called federation. Rather than relying on one source, both services combine access provided by multiple instances. You join an instance, but can also explore content added to all instances in the federation. I am a member of diasp.org and mastodon.social.

Growing alternate social media requires more than adding content. The process of making connections takes some time. I make the effort to star and share content each time I connect. Using hashtags is important with diaspora as the use of hashtags offers a way to identify other users who post on a common interest. Use hashtags and learn how to follow a hashtag (e.g., education).

So, if you are interested in innovative uses of social media I encourage your exploration of alternative social media services. My motivation for my activation is part technological interests, but also the belief that fostering alternatives is a way to encourage companies to be more responsive to consumers.

I understand that I use some sarcasm and humor to address topics of interest to me. I guess that those who take different positions may find some of my comments to be inappropriate. I don’t consider taking a position that opposes yours as being inappropriate unless I do so in a way that most would consider offensive. As a retired academic, I am used to sparring with others over ideas and causes. I do have other outlets for my opinions that rely more heavily on logic, sources, and data (e.g., this one). I know which of my outlets attract the most attention. I see the numbers. Humor and sarcasm must have some appeal.

I realize my blogs mix comments on education and politics. Educators often shy away from such an approach. I cannot be that schizophrenic and I would argue that educators must be willing to express themselves on political matters because public education is controlled by politicians. Educators – separate your outlets if you must, but be willing to offer your opinions on the topics you know best.

Today, Time dedicated much of an issue to the hate present in social media. Here is an online sample. If you are an advocate for the participatory web and are an educator willing to involve your students online, this is an issue you must address. Even if this description does not suit your instructional interests, be aware of what your students are exposed to online.

I have no solutions to offer. I understand that women and minorities willing to participate online are likely to experience greater hatred than I will. Most of my personal insights into this issue come from what I see on Facebook. I do have a Facebook account with a mix of “friends” going back to my high school days. I mostly avoid the service because of what I see. I have already confessed that I can be sarcastic, but at least I generate my own content and do not need to relay the offensive imagery and content generated by others with an ax to grind. At least be willing to make the effort to say what you have to say yourself.

The basic rules of argumentation make a great starting point. Take a position. Offer a reason. Back up your reason with evidence.

Today is the 4 year anniversary of my LastFM membership (I am a subscribe – $4 a month). LastFM has data on nearly 125,000 listens over this period of time. It is interesting to look at the history – what did I listen to last week, month, year, etc.

It might seem that LastFM would have little to do with any insights I might have for the use of “the cloud” or social sites for educational ends. This is not necessarily the case. I think there is always the opportunity to generate insights when you explore tool applications outside of your own area of expertise. Within your area of expertise, your models limit your perspective. There are opportunities to see new things when your models are not in play.

I am fascinated by the amount of time it would take to listen to 125,000 songs. At 3 minutes per song that is 6250 hours. What does 6250 hours exposure to anything, no matter the level of attention involved, do to you. I see that I have listened to “Sweet Child of Mine” (Guns N Roses) 93 times in the past four years. Why?

I enjoy exploring the music of my neighbours. The idea of finding common interests and then exploring the differences (what else I might explore) is a general idea with some carry. I must admit to limiting my social involvement – the idea of a 60+ matching with people in their 20s is a little freaky.