¶ … DB Post Social Web and You

Explain how social media/web is changing or has changed the ways you, your family, and colleagues find information. Also, how has social media/web changed the ways you interact in your personal and professional life as well as within academic spheres? What functionalities do you think will be invented in the future? Make sure you support your argument with facts, figures, and intelligent analysis. Also, consider any opposing arguments. (One page).

When social networking was just getting started, critiques were concerned that it would lead to isolation -- that people would only connect online and would increasingly neglect their real time friends and family (Putnam, 2000). The Pew Foundation has been conducting a longitudinal study called the Internet & American Life Project that examines how people use the Internet and how that use is changing communication, social interactions, and political activism, among other dynamics. As part of the Internet & American Life Project, Pew researchers surveyed social networking people to learn about their overall social networks and how use of technology relates to "trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement" ("Pew SNS," 2011).

People who use Facebook and Twitter tend to access the site on a daily basis, while only 7% of those who use LinkedIn access that platform daily ("Pew SNS," 2011). Clearly casual communication and networking is dominates most Internet use on social network sites ("Pew SNS," 2011). According to the Pew study, Facebook users tend to be more trusting of people than non-Facebook users ("Pew SNS," 2011). Facebook users tend to have more close social relationships and get more social support than non-Facebook users ("Pew SNS," 2011). In 2008, the average American had 1.93 core ties or discussion confidents ("Pew SNS," 2011). By 2011, that number had increased to 2.16 discussion confidents, which is a significant -- if modest -- increase ("Pew SNS," 2011). Indeed, Facebook users who access the platform several times per day average 9% more close, core times within their social network than other Internet users ("Pew SNS," 2011). Measures of total support, emotional support, companionship, and instrumental aid (or actual real-time support) indicate that Facebook users score higher in every category of support ("Pew SNS," 2011). Users of Facebook score about half of the total support derived from being married or from cohabiting with a partner for average Americans ("Pew SNS," 2011). Moreover, Facebook is often used to renew dormant relationships, which can be important source of information for users ("Pew SNS," 2011). Facebook users seek information about politics on social networking sites, and they are more likely to attend a political rally, and 57% of Facebook users said they were likely to persuade someone to vote in a particular way (Smith, et al., 2010).

About one in five people in America still do not use the Internet -- most reported that they do not find it relevant, but they have the skills to use the Internet if they wish to do so ("Pew SNS," 2011). Of the people in groups that do not use the Internet (elderly people, in household with less than $30,000 income, people with disabilities), access to the Internet is shifting to mobile devices and away from computers ("Pew SNS," 2011). Most of the people I know who have research to accomplish go first to the Internet and then later may access printed material ("Pew SNS," 2011). Also, for information gathering, professional networking sites like LinkedIn are frequented ("Pew SNS," 2011). I believe the best example of how the Web is being used is the recent viral video to make Kony famous. In the words of the founder of the non-profit that filmed the video, "Today, people all over the world can actually see each other, and leads to caring about each other and the lives people are leading far away from you" (paraphrased).

Sources:

Hamptom, K., Goulet, L.S., Rainie, L, and Purcell, K. (2011, June 16). Social networking sites and our lives. Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Center.

Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Smith, A., Lehman, K. Verba, S. And Brady, H. (2010). The Internet and Civic Engagement. Pew Internet & American Life Project, The Pew Institute. Retrieved http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/The%20Internet%20and%20Civic%20Engagement.pdf

2. (DB) Slide Show Presentation Critiques

THIS WILL NEED TO BE DONE LATER

Post your research paper slide show presentation to this discussion forum (PowerPoint, optional PowerPoint with Jing or optional Prezi). Analyze and provide constructive critiques for at least two of your classmates' slide shows. You will use...

color, links, background?
Do the slides show creativity - (any combination of these) transitions, use of bullets, custom template, master slide, sound, object linking/embedding, animation, without overload of special effects?

Isak I am not sure what this all means and dad will be with mom for the next 10 days, I believe he has to answer these questions by some kind of graphics? I am hoping you can help me because I have no idea what I need to tell him. I also think this slide show is supposed to be part of his research papers? (Three pages) AFTER THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION IS COMPLETED, YOU WILL NEED TO POST IT. THEN YOU OR I WILL NEED TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATIONS OF CLASSMATES AND CRITIQUE THEM.

Short Critical Reflection Paper

Presnky, in his infamous article "Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants," coined the notion that the youth are digital natives and the older generation digital immigrants. But I am not sure I agree. I know many teenagers who can download movies, post to Facebook, find a YouTube video and more, but the minute they need to learn something there is a lack of knowledge. Am I wrong here? What would the author of the textbook say? Explain.

This seems to me to be an issue of digital literacy -- what is commonly referred to as the new literacy in the literature. The definitions of what constitutes new literacy changes in concert with technology, creating tremendous tensions for stakeholders engaged in the education of youth. Practitioners and scholars in education, communication, technology, business, and government are made to construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct visions of literacy in a race to articulate a model that will endure beyond the next wave of disruptive technologies.

The example provided of young people who are facile with the technological aspects of the digital world are an example of students who, as digital natives, embed innovations in the daily fabric of their lives. Here the emphasis is textual, stressing mastery of the processes of creative production -- using the technological tools. While the capacity to critically analyze media texts -- which is one of the most important versions of new literacy -- may not be addressed, or addressed well. This would account for some of the disparity between being great with the handling of the technology but not being so great with the content -- or, more to the point, not being great with content that is not presented via digital technology and is what Presnky calls "legacy" learning. And an even far less common focus of a new literacy model is the critical analysis that takes a contextual approach to the systems and institutions producing and disseminating media texts. In other words, this model fights against the myopia and complacency that is part of the uptake of disruptive technology. People tend to quickly find ways to use the new technology in their lives -- in small and imminently practical ways -- without really thinking about what the adoption of the new tools means, and how it came about. According to Presnky, this is particularly true for digital natives, which deepens the concern about how well digital literacy is being taught.

Regardless of whether the technology tool user is a digital native or a digital immigrant, the primary objective of a new literacy model is providing educational opportunities that enable students to critically analyze digital media content from both textual and contextual frames. The approaches, processes, and steps to achieving these two predominant aims are associated with deep variations in philosophy. Moreover, as Presnky would have us understand, it is not only the philosophical differences that need to be overcome, but the different cognition practiced by digital natives and digital immigrants.

Sources:

Lewis, J. And Jhally, S. (1998). The struggle over media literacy, Journal of Communication, 48(1), 109-120.

Prensky, M. (2001, October 5). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

On the Horizon, MCB University Press, 9 (5)

Metzger, Miriam J.…