Tagging has become a language, a way to identify people - look at someone's tags in del.icio.us, GMail and other tools and you can tell a lot about them, and not just what they like by what they tag. Rather, by reading the actual tag and not what was tagged, you can get an insight into what they are thinking, their language skills, idiosyncrasies, and other characteristics.
It's almost more interesting to read the tags themselves than the sites or messages that were tagged. Do they use just a single tag or do the use multiple tags that are cross-referenced in some way - do they build "clouds" of tags around a subject? All of these give insight into the person. A very cool thing.
Ian MacLeod
Posts made by Ian MacLeod
Good point Tia - in my case we had great success, and you are right it is up to faculty to make that first "leap" into the new social media world. Just be sure to take your learners along with you. In my experience many of them are not as "digital native" as we think they should be. In fact a very wise friend of mine tells me, and I agree with him, that the true digital natives are the generation currently in middle and high school - when they reach post-secondary education - look out!!
I think you have made some great points - and I think that the use of social media tools have certainly levelled the technology playing field significatly - we are seeing users creating quite elaborate sites that a few years ago would have been the purview of Web site developers. Now with blogs, Facebook, and other tools just about anyone can have a comprehensive presence on the Web.
I'm like you - Web 2.0, social networking, and environments like Second Life (hondomac Dalgleish in world) have allowed me to develop relationships with people whom I would never have met otherwise.
Here's a question I get asked quite often - is it possible to be friends with someone who you have never met face to face? Do we need a new definition of what a friend is?
I'm like you - Web 2.0, social networking, and environments like Second Life (hondomac Dalgleish in world) have allowed me to develop relationships with people whom I would never have met otherwise.
Here's a question I get asked quite often - is it possible to be friends with someone who you have never met face to face? Do we need a new definition of what a friend is?
Discovered this wiki in my travels - http://socialnets.wikispaces.com/. Author has done a great job of gathering and compiling social networking information and resources - check it out!
Great stuff Tia and very important too. We have already touched on the issues of privacy in this seminar, and while I am an adult educator and much of the privacy concerns are those that learners are responsible for, this is a huge issue in the K-12 space.
How much controls is too much? If we place privacy controls do they inhibit the very social nature of the Web that we want to engage learners in? I think that all of the points you raise are important for all educators and educational institutions to think about. I think we are obligated to at least discuss with learners appropriate use (particularly sites like Facebook and MySpace - they can come back to haunt...), controls on personal information including pictures, and course Web sites and wikis - are they open to all, some, or just the enrolled learners?
A huge issue and I'm looking forward to some great discussion on it this week.
How much controls is too much? If we place privacy controls do they inhibit the very social nature of the Web that we want to engage learners in? I think that all of the points you raise are important for all educators and educational institutions to think about. I think we are obligated to at least discuss with learners appropriate use (particularly sites like Facebook and MySpace - they can come back to haunt...), controls on personal information including pictures, and course Web sites and wikis - are they open to all, some, or just the enrolled learners?
A huge issue and I'm looking forward to some great discussion on it this week.