Social Networks December 3, 2007

One of the activities for this course was to write a post about the implications of social networking on academic research and writing. I have included a brief reflection on the above implications, focusing more on what social networks are and finding your place in one.

I have to admit that I am a huge advocate of sharing, collaborating, and of developing new skills within 21^st Century challenges. I am constantly amazed by the potential of new online tools. When I think of social networking, I think of programs like MySpace, Friendster and Facebook. The digital immigrant, digital native scenario kicks in here as I am not really interested in sharing my personal life and pictures to this extent. The idea that my friends can share me with their friends is a little unsettling to me. It is the personal nature of these sites that I shy away from.

 

I decided to revisit the idea of social networking after reading a Nov.13, 2007 post by David Warlick called Participation Requested… He was presenting at a conference, two sessions over two days on Social Networking for Educators. David posed four questions about social networking that would be the focus of his presentation. He wanted to model the social networking process for participants. David created a wiki called Social Networking for Teachers. On his blog, (I imagine he sent out a few Tweets as well) the morning of the first session, he invited all of his readers to answer the following questions by editing his wiki.

1. What is Social Networking?
2. What are some of the differences between how our students use social networking and how professional educators use it?
3. What are your favourite social networking applications?
4. What’s the latest thing you learned from a social network?

The best example of social networking then evolved for the participants of the conference. David Warlick’s wiki was soon populated with the thoughts and opinions of social networking from all over the world. There is a geo-tagged map on the wiki to show where all of the contributors are located.

The definition of social networking that I can build on involves a support system, a community of people with similar interests, breaks down physical boundaries, supports learning as a social process, sharing information, collaborating, asking questions and building meaning through the process.

Vickie Davis (Cool Cat Teacher) made a comment at the Edubloggercon, we should no longer use the term social networking, rather “professional networking”, and “student networking” might be a better direction. She feels that social networking may have some negative connotations in an educational setting.

In a comment to David Warlick’s blog, someone insisted that he should really, really, really use Danah Boyd’s definition.

“A “social network site” is a category of websites with profiles, semi-persistent public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile.”

Differences between how our students and professional educators use social networking, reiterates my personal concerns about social networking. Our students use it as an everyday tool to keep in touch with their network, educators use it for professional support and are less social. A group of future administrators were asked this question, “how to you social network”… they said… “go out with colleagues or friends”, “dinner parties”, “talk on the phone”, “exercise together” “email”. I then asked how their kids are socially networking. They said “cell phones”, “MySpace”, “FaceBook”, “Blogs”, “Text Messaging”…and more. They were very aware of the things that kids were doing, but weren’t yet employing them in their own lives.

Contributors to the wiki were asked about their favourite social networking application, I only see Facebook once in the list. Some of the applications that were listed: Twitter, Ning, Skype, Flickr, Blogs, RSS Feeds (Bloglines or Google Reader), Google Docs, UStream, De.lici.ous and Second Life. Was Vickie Davis’ opinion correct, to separate “Professional Networking” and “Student Networking”?

The final question was to state the last thing you learned from a social network. This is where I love the collaborative, sharing nature of the network. I have read, researched, and learned amazing amounts of information through my Bloglines account. I am using social networking for exactly this purpose. Ideas stated on the wiki ranged from personal – my good friend just had her second daughter- to professional – how these tools can be applied in my class, teachers in Shanghai and Canada are doing the same things I am doing, and profoundly, that I get more than I give.

Is there a difference between a social network and a personal learning network? A social network requires sharing information and ideas with each other, a personal learning network may not require as much social interaction. A social network is not inherently about learning, other than social skills.

 

I will reflect briefly on the implications of social networking on academic research and writing. The ability to communicate and collaboration at global levels must enhance and develop an issue. Research could be more creative and writing more informative. Adapting to the information and the way we send and receive it will be an evolving skill for all types of business in the 21^st Century. Educating people to use Creative Commons attributions, to recognition someone’s work will become a more important piece of the research.

In conclusion, I think that most people will operate within their comfort zone. Although I may not jump on the Facebook bandwagon, and my 19 year old son thanks me, I definitely see the implications of social interaction and learning. Learning is a social process. I will find the tools that I feel are best for each application, but I will promote networking as a strategy for learning. We are teaching our students to be life-long learners. Statistics show that young people will have several jobs throughout their working lives. People will have to learn new skills and techniques, networks will be invaluable. It appears that social networking is fast becoming a fixture in our society. The benefits that we see now, is just the beginning!

Citations:

Warlick, D (2007, November 13). Participation Requested…. Retrieved December 3, 2007, from 2 Cents Worth Web site: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Boyd, D. (2006, November 10). Social Network Sites: My Definition. Retrieved December 3, 2007, from apophenia: making connection where none previously existed Web site: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/11/10/social_network_1.html