INF506 Evaluative Report: Part B

A reflective statement on your development as a social networker as a result of studying INF506, and the implications for your development as an information professional (@ 750 words).

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In reflecting on my development as a social networker I refer to the list of online social networking (OSN) technologies I used prior to IN506. While the number of OSN sites has not grown, my depth of understanding about features and limitations of these services has. For example Twitter: usage as a medium to share my thoughts, pick up new ideas and links to resources has increased; my ability to write value statements in 140 characters has improved; managing connections and security has developed; and I have implemented an aggregation tool (Yoono) which combines feeds from various OSN services. As my use of Twitter has grown so has my exploration into its role as a tool for mobilising people for crisis/disaster management (1, 2). Another example is RSS, which I thought I use extensively, however now appreciate the level of complexity that can be achieved through RSS (3) and its use as a push technology for distribution of social capital (4).

Serendipitous discoveries of useful resources has assisted in my development as a social networker and information professional. Through tweets I noticed references to paper.li which aggregates your tweeter feed into a newspaper format. As a consequence, I have created OnSocialNetworking Weekly which I also use as a topic archive. Another useful discovery occurred via INF506 Facebook group, which resulted in the use of Storify to create, on behalf of a community of practice, Gamification, a curated archive of tweets and presentation from a community event.

In exploring and selecting tools and technologies I am congnisant of the need to have a strategy (5); however prior to INF506 I had not translated this into my personal/professional online environment. I now taken time to ask myself the following questions before engaging in a network (and retrospectively): what do I hope to achieve and what are the success factors, risks, and time and resource commitment? (6). Additionally, I have reframed my social networking experience within the context of a personal learning network supported by a personal learning environment (applications and tools) which will both vary depending on context. Importantly, these strategies have helped me to (try to) achieve a “balance between learning and living” (7).

An expectation from this course was to better understand the online communication ecology. I know I have more to learn with regard to online behaviour and identity across multiple communication channels; however there are some insights I have gleaned from undertaking the INF506 project (setup and online facilitation of Yammer for a community of practice) and online interactions within INF506 Facebook group:

• New communication channels, such as OSN, supplement rather than replace existing communication channels (8).
• Initial technology adoption is usually for an explicit purpose, however continued use is driven by interpersonal connections (9).
• Greater connectedness can be achieved by creating multiple points of contact (10), such as linking with fellow students via Facebook, commenting on student blogs, and following/responding on Twitter.
• Greater connectedness can be achieved by rich, meaningful, ‘of value’ and frequent communication; behavioural aspects of interpersonal trust (11).
• Greater connectedness can be achieved through reciprocity (not only taking but also giving, no matter the size of the contribution); a key mechanism for ‘bridging social capital’ (12).
• A level of emotional intelligence (intrapersonal and interpersonal skill) is required for effective positive online communication (13).
• Lurking, with ambient presence, is a valid form of legitimate peripheral participation (14); however real personal value comes when you move from passive to active participation.

The above have guided my development as a social networker and enriched my professional knowledge, specifically in the area of facilitation of communities/networks. Additionally, the process of validating observations through literature has provided an evidence base for future practice.

In considering various course readings on ‘2.0’, I would posit that beyond the ‘movers and shakers’ (15) are librarians and information professionals, myself included, who have a ‘2.0 mindset’ to run with the ‘groundswell’ offered by social technologies (16); however we are often impeded by organisational structures, systems and culture (17). For me, spending time developing social networking skills, experimenting (and having fun) with new applications and tools (such as adding a QR code and voki to my OLJ blog), scanning the horizon for new and emerging technologies, and understanding the implications of digital trends (18) has placed me in a good position to shape an organisation’s or community’s strategic planning, influence culture and support development of structures and systems that underpin the social aspects of 2.0 (19) to mobilise knowledge.

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Endnotes

1. Briggs, 2011.
2. Huang, Chan & Hyder, 2010.
3. Hayward-Wright, 2011, May 8a.
4. Li & Bernoff, 2008, pp. 31-34.
5. Hayward-Wright, 2011, May 17.
6. Bermis-Dougherty, 2010, p. 46, para. 7.
7. Utech, 2008, para. 8.
8. Turner, Qvarfordt, Biehl, Golovchinsky, Back, 2010, p. 848, para. 11.
9. Turner et al., p. 849, para. 7.
10. Smith & Trayner, 2005, p. 1, paras. 2-3.
11. Abrams, Cross, Lesser & Levin, 2003, p. 65, para 6.
12. Steinfield, DiMicco, Ellison & Lampe, 2010, p. 245, paras. 4-5, 246, para. 1.
13. Hansen, Grange & Prosser, 2009, p. 10, para. 5.
14. MacDonald et al., 2003, p. 4, ‘The value of lurking’ section, para. 1.
15. Movers and shakers such as Meredith Farkas (course reading: Building Academic Library 2.0).
16. Groundswell is a term coined by Li & Bernoff, 2008.
17. Bennett, 2010, p. 143, para. 2.
18. Hayward-Wright, 2011, May 8b.
19. Hayward-Wright, 2011, May 6, ‘Social (people) underpinnings of 2.0’ list.

References

Bennett, J. (2010). Workplace impact of social networking. Property Management, 28(3), 138-148. doi:10.1108/02637471011051282

Bermis-Dougherty, A. (2010). Professionalism and social networking. PT in Motion, 2(5), 40-47. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Briggs, G. (2011). The twitter revolution. The Big Issue, 357,1-14 March, 15-19.

Farkas, M. (2007, November). Building academic library 2.0 [webcast]. Keynote paper presented at Academic Library 2.0, sponsored by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Berkeley Division. Retrieved from http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21207

Hansen, G., Grange, L., & Prosser, C. (2010). An investigation of emotional intelligence and the use of online social media tools in organisations [White paper]. Retrieved from Knowledge Solutions website: http://www.knowledge-solutions.com.au/attachments/147_EISM_Report.pdf

Hayward-Wright, N. (2011, May 6). Librarian 2.0, or librarian in a web 2.0 environment? [blog post]. Retrieved from http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/librarian-20-or-librarian-in-web-20.html

Hayward-Wright, N. (2011, May 8a). The simplicity and power of RSS [blog post]. Retrieved from http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/simplicity-and-power-of-rss.html

Hayward-Wright, N. (2011, May 8b). Digital trends and digital behaviour [blog post]. Retrieved from
http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/did-you-know-4.html

Hayward-Wright, N. (2011, May 17). A visual framework for social media implementation. [blog post]. Modified 2011, May 24. Retrieved from http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/framework-for-social-media.html

Huang, C., Chan, E. & Hyder, A.A. (2010). Web 2.0 and internet social networking: A new tool for disaster management? – Lessons from Taiwan. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 10(57), doi:10.1186/147269471057

Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell. Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business.

MacDonald, J., Atkin, W., Daugherity, F., Fox, H., MacGillivray, A., Reeves-Lipscomb, D., & Uthailertaroon, P. (2003). Let’s get more positive about the term ‘lurker’. CPsquare Foundations of Communities of Practice Workshop. Retrieved from CPsquare website: http://cpsquare.org/2003/08/lets-get-more-positive-about-the-term-lurker

Smith, J.D. & Trayner, B. (2005). Weaving together online and face-to-face learning: A design from a communities of practice perspective. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2005, 1113-1118. Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/21337

Steinfield, C., DiMicco, J.M., Ellison, N.B. & Lampe, C. (2009). Bowling online: Social networking and social capital within the organization. Proceedings of the Fourth
International Conference on Communities and Technologies, 245-254. doi:10.1145/1556460.1556496

Turner, T., Qvarfordt, P., Biehl, J.T., Golovchinsky, G., & Back, M. (2010). Exploring the workplace communication ecology. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 841-850. doi:10.1145/1753326.1753449

Utecht, J. (2008, April 3). Stages of PLN adoption [blog post]. Retrieved 2011, May 7 from: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption



Related OLJ blog post

Hayward-Wright, N. (2011, March 19). Online learning journal INF506 – Assessment item 1 [blog post]. Available from: http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/online-learning-journal-inf506.html

Social media examples created by author during course

OnSocial Networking Weekly. (changes weekly); Available from: http://paper.li/NickyHW Also available from: http://knowledge-bites.blogspot.com.au/p/onsocialnetworking-weekly.html

Gamification. (last updated 2011, May 5). Available from: http://storify.com/nickyhw/gamification

Widgets added to OLJ blog during course (subsequent to initial blog creation)

OnSocialNetworking blog QR code: http://bit.ly/mm2g2T

OnSocialNetworking blog voki: http://bit.ly/kSmVbJ

Social media tools cited in post

paper.li: http://paper.li

Storify: http://storify.com

Yoono: http://www.yoono.com