The article,It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda, brings up the interesting idea of Ampliganda. It is the result of a system in which trust has been reallocated from authority figures and legacy media to charismatic individuals adept at appealing to the aspects of personal or ideological identity that their audiences hold most dear. The public is able to speak their minds with a good possibility of it spreading over the internet. It is scary how the social media algorithm works to identify popular content, true or not, and surface it to users. The internet is a giant web of interconnected users, each with an agenda, shouting at one another to pay attention.
Wonder
I wonder what consequences could surface due to an individual’s content, whether it be a Twitter post or YouTube video. Are these algorithms causing more mayhem than educating one another? How do these algorithms work? How is content considered popular?
Self-reflection
I personally feel like these internet algorithms have a long way to develop. I’ve briefly read about YouTube’s algorithm and have seen different responses regarding the algorithms’ advantages and flaws. Most YouTubers disagree with YouTube’s algorithms as it only favours channels with videos about recent trends and advertiser-friendly content which is biased. I’m interested to see how the YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the other social media’s algorithm turn out in the future.
First of all, Shelley Moore’s idea about Transforming Inclusive Education is breathtaking and eye-opening. I totally agree and support her advocate for inclusive education and how she seeks to reform Individualized Education Programs to better suit the needs of individual students. Her bowling analogy was really effective as well. When an idea is introduced using an analogy, it makes it much easier for the viewer to understand and interpret what is being said. Her idea to target and teach each and every learner no matter their ability or disability is a topic that should be talked about more, especially within universities or learning institutions. Not only is she advocating for a great cause, but she’s also trying to advocate it through different mediums which is interesting. She tries to capture and educate all groups of audiences. Some people read about this idea through the book that she wrote and some people might have come across her idea on a youtube video. This idea to spread knowledge to different groups of people could be effective in terms of reaching more people which is great for movements like this.
Wonder
I wonder if there’s a research out there that proves that this is a valid and reasonable way to publicise information. Whether this is a better way, numerically, to spread advocacy about a certain topic. I’d love to see the percentage of people that have been reached per media and compare whether publishing a book made a significant reach to audience members in this technological world today.
Self-reflection
Shelley Moore’s idea was impressive to me to the point where I had binge watched some of her content on youtube. It was also interesting how she had advocated about what she learnt through different mediums. At the end of the day, I hope she succeeds to make an impact on the majority of learning institutions around the the world to bring uniformity.
Every individual topic that we were introduced to and read about in this course was fascinating. In particular, the Personal Learning Network (PLN) read was one of my favorites. Not only was it a though provoking article, but it had also sprouted various different ideas in my mind. Let me begin by defining a PLN. A personal learning network is a group of people personal to you, that you engage with in order to aid your learning by sharing resources, ideas and expertise, thereby, creating a network of individuals who share the same interests and aims.
Every time you connect with someone in a way that contributes to your knowledge, you are adding to your PLN. You probably already have a PLN even if you don’t realise it. Technology has removed the physical barriers that once existed to communicate with each other. Time zones and distance no longer present the significant hurdle they once did either. We are able to connect like we never imagined before. We can meet a random stranger on the internet and end up building an important relationship with them. For example, you could potentially meet your life partner on Tinder. Could you imagine? From complete strangers to life partners. Another example could be contacting the CEO of your dream company through LinkedIn and end up working for them. How exciting and convenient!
The PLN can be an important part of your family engagement, personal relationships, or even professional development. We are able to connect to different groups of people using different networks and platforms. LinkedIn and GitHub are usually platforms used for professional development. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram are all platforms to connect with friends and family. Tinder and Bumble are two of many dating platforms used to create relationships. I’m just ever grateful for Facebook to be able to visually see my family on a conference call and communicate with them no matter where they are or what time it is. It’s mind-blowing that you could possibly connect with anyone nowadays. You could possibly communicate with someone famous by sending them a message on social media. Click here for more on that interesting topic on my other blog about it.
Ashley, an aspiring writer, wrote about Using a Mapping Tool to create a PLN where she created an amazing illustration of her PLN, as shown below, similar to what was explained earlier. She shows her personal contacts within specific network connections. I agree with the way she structured her PLN showing she is able to contact different connections through different medias of communication. For example, she shows that she uses LinkedIn for her Industry Connections. In my case, I would add Uvic webmail in the academic connections group as I’ve used it to make multiple academic connections throughout university.
On the other hand, Tianna, a fellow EDCI338 student, brought up a great thought on her blog about how all of this is only possible if we have the technology to connect to the internet in the first place. We are all able to create valuable connections on networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Tinder using the internet. However, I keep wondering about how are people building their PLN without these technologies? Do they even have a PLN? How has this affected their lives? How are their lives different to ours? A thought for you to ponder on.
References:
Gutierrez, K., (n.d.), What are Personal Learning Networks? retrieved from https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/personal-learning-networks
Jahangir, S., (2022), Wow and Wonder post #1 – Week 2 (Jan 17–23), retrieved from https://shaafij.opened.ca/wow-and-wonder-post-week-2-jan-17-23/
O’Brien, A., (2014), Using a Mapping Tool to create a PLN, retrieved from https://shaafij.opened.ca/wow-and-wonder-post-week-2-jan-17-23/
Routley, T., (2022), Week 2 “Wow and Wonder”, retrieved from https://tianna338.opened.ca/week-2-wow-and-wonder/
The Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement was a wonderful read. I learnt a few interesting concepts; the concept of a visitor and a resident. Visitors and Residents is a simple way of describing a wide range, or continuum of, modes of online engagement. It has proved to be a useful way to come to an understanding of individuals’ motivations when they use the web in differing contexts. For example, if I had to order my medication online, I’m publicly letting the web know of my health status which is private information. We are not proposing that one mode of engagement is better than the other, simply that different modes are employed depending on the individual’s motivation and context at the time.
Wonder
There was one thought that stood out to me. Visitor mode is where individuals do not leave any social trace online and Resident mode is about social presence. Is there possibly a mode where we are ‘off the grid’ where we are neither visiting or resident, just simply not there? I would be interested to look into that idea. Another far fetched thought I had was, do these same principles take place on the new and improved Web 3.0? Will we ever be allowed to surf the internet without leaving a digital trace?
Self-reflection
It’s interesting that we are sometimes ready to provide our digital information right away in some cases and hesitant in other cases. These decisions are purely based on the context, security and the purpose of what we intend to do. It’s crazy how we think we know so much about something to then know nothing about the future because the past is left in the past. For example, we know Web 2.0 very well. When Web 3.0 is introduced and starts replacing Web 2.0, we need to learn about all the new possibilities that can be opened up to users.
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