Author: xizhang (Page 1 of 2)

Who Needs To Know About Your PLN

Who Needs To Know About Your PLN

Reflect on your experience in the course, your development of PLN, your use of social media platforms and networked publics, share any changes in your perspective of social media in professional settings and personal use.

This course revolves around PLN. I still remember how my curiosity was aroused at the first sight of the term. After reading the material, I knew what it is. That’s the first time I started to reconsider the benefits of social media platforms. Previously I hold negative attitude towards social media. I thought it breeds anger and anxiety, blurs the boundaries of one’s professional and personal life, gradually turning human into machines working around the clock. However, I can’t deny the advantages of such platforms. I have gained a lot of opportunities through such platforms and I can always find someone to ask for help. After associating the abstract term with my life experience, I accepted the logic behind it and started changing my thinking. Throughout the course, we have read a lot of materials, which discussed the advantages and disadvantages of social media, fake news and reasons behind it, and media literacy. I have also enjoyed the lesson videos, learning from the experience of the predecessors. They come from all walks of life, bringing refreshing perspectives. 

I have also built a PLN with my group. Reviewing the blogs of my group members enables me to gain different perspectives towards the same question. Everyone has his/her interpretation of the same material. Such a process deepens my own understandings. 

The course allows me to reconsider the necessity of my participation on social media platforms. It’s an ability to build a successful PLN. It needs efforts to make our PLN work for us. I start to notice how others around me make use of social media platforms to build a desirable personal, enhancing their own credibility and reputation. In my final project, I have analyzed the social media presence of Sophie Lui in details. Through the analysis I recognized that PLN is essentially about one’s digital identity. An effective and useful digital identity requires us to present both our professional competence and our personal charm. Besides, the two parts should be supplementary. For example, Sophie Lui shares her time with her family and friends and her activities of social services. Such a caring image adds her charisma, enhancing her reliability. 

I have learned a lot from the course. Thank you for reading!

Engaging your PLN

Engaging your PLN

1.If your PLN can be used to help professional development post-course?

Amber Glauber’s experience shows that how PLN can help one’s professional development. She built a deep relationship with a surgeon who later helped her to fast track and work in the operating room. 

I want to work in a company focusing on technology. Thus, I have proactively connected with graduates who are working in such companies. I think relationships with them could help me get an easier access to my desired position. 

2.Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities and on which platform does your emerging expertise get good exposure?

Amber Glauber mentioned that build a useful PLN could actually add one’s credibility, which may in turn open more professional opportunities. In my opinion, the quality of one’s PLN matters in creating possibilities. I have taken part in some volunteering activities and competitions where I have encountered students from other universities and all walks of people. I have built relationships with some of them and get to know more professionals through them. Such a wide network can enlarge my professional opportunities.

I was recommended frequently to use LinkedIn through which I can meet other professionals and also present my abilities. Besides, I have been working on my personal profile and persona on Twitter because I want to show my expertise and abilities. 

3.Can you leverage your PLN in future endeavors?

As far as I am concerned, I can leverage my PLN in my future endeavors. One advantage I can take of my PLN is that I can recognize my weaknesses through others’ feedback or comments. Amber Glauber mentioned in the video that she tend to approach people critical of her in that she can keep improving herself. What’s more, I can widen my horizon or learn more knowledge from my PLN. My PLN can provide professional knowledge from different sources. 

4.With consideration to the reading and video interview, how do you ensure that you expand your PLN via social media platforms into spaces that may be outside of your comfort zone?

In the book From Information Society to Network Society:  The Challenge, social media platforms have the advantages of overcoming different barriers and promoting communication, which can help one to expand one’s PLN. However, social media platforms are shaping the existence of a digital culture, which may consequently affect our cognitive abilities. Glauber amber’s description further explains how to combat the negative influence digital culture has on our insights. 

According to Amber Glauber, there are mainly two ways to expand one’s PLN and get outside of one’s comfort zone. One is to deal with people of different personalities or different institutions. The other is to keep absorbing new and upcoming information together with updating one’s knowledge. She mentioned that she persists in reading peer-reviewed research articles to be aligned with the trend of the contemporary society. 

References

“EDCI 338 A01 – GLAUSER, Amber.” YouTube, uploaded by Jesse Miller, 15 Nov. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiWaXNfnHAg&feature=youtu.be.

Giudice, Del Manlio, et al. Social Media and Emerging Economies: Technological, Cultural and Economic Implications (SpringerBriefs in Business). 2014th ed., Springer, 2013.

PLN and communications—what do people see?

PLN and communications—what do people see?

1. Community communications go beyond blogs and social media shares, how does a PLN help and hinder the developments of thoughts and ideas in public discourse—especially when addressing our differences?

According to Harrison Mooney, his PLN can help him, an isolated black man, to connect to zeitgeist. He can also learn from others in his PLN. He also mentioned that being able to observe others’ remarks online can provide him with inspirations. 

According to the book of social media, the prominent advantage of social media, when it comes to address our differences, is that it can present various perspectives, which can deepen our understanding and make us more objective. However, a PLN sometimes may have negative effect on developing new thoughts and ideas. For example, when we add hashtags in Twitter we may find that there are many people who hold the same opinion with us, which actually is a process of self-reinforcing. In this context, we may tend to be extreme, ignoring other opinions. Besides, being absorbed in a PLN composed of the like-minds may create an information silo for us, which means we can only receive confirmation of our own values and beliefs. 

2. How can a PLN be curated to minimize bias and expand knowledge of the lives of others?

Bias is sometimes bred by ignorance. When we don’t understand others’ circumstances we are easy to hold prejudice. A PLN can help with providing opportunities for all people to make their voices and tell their own stories. Harrison Mooney comes a good example. His online presence and his share of his own story can expand others’ knowledge about black men. 

3. How does the identity of who you are, fit into your PLN?

Harrison Mooney narrated his own experience of being the sole black man among the environment dominated by white people. What I have learned from him is that he would present his professional abilities regardless of the outside environment. He didn’t show anger over other’s impoliteness and disrespect. What he chose to do is to seize every opportunity to make his own voice, expanding others’ understanding. When it comes to myself, I don’t think my own identity has to fit into my PLN. If the PLN holds some kind of tacit understanding of whom I should be, then I might just turn to another PLN. That’s why I separated my professional and personal PLN. 

4. Do you include professional and personal boundaries?

Yes, I set professional and personal boundaries. It’s mainly because the two areas hold different expectations for me. My professional persona is supposed to be diligent and sensible. However, my personal PLN expects me to be sincere and open. I don’t want to expose my true self in the professional context because that may undermine my credibility. 

References

Miller J. (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – Smith, Julie. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/Z_T9RghwJlI

Cathie L. (2017). Introduction to Media Studies. Chapter 4. Retrieved from: https://mediastudies.pressbooks.com/chapter/the-importance-of-media-literacy/

Why Media Literacy matters in your PLN

Why Media Literacy matters in your PLN

1. What is media literacy?

According to Julie, media literacy refers to the ability of resourcing and producing information on media platforms. Julie confirms the saying of “media fluency” because it contains the key aspects of media literacy: understanding and producing information. People with media literacy, at first, can recognize the important role of media in today’s society. Besides, they are able to search for effective information and apply the useful resources for learning. At last, they are supposed to be equipped with certain media skills, creating various message forms, such as audio, video or websites).

2. Why is it important?

Currently, media literacy is a useful skill both for our personal and professional development. As Jesse mentioned in the video, media platforms actually allow us to grow ourselves and connect with others. Julie described her own experience of interacting with other staff on Twitter and how that benefits her. Personally, such interaction presents different perspectives, helping one to be more objective and rational. Besides, such media communication can provide mental relief and boost morale because it’s easy to find other people who can relate to you. Professionally, the process of connection enables people to learn from each other, to access to all kinds of useful materials, promoting working efficiency and creating more career opportunities.

3. Why is it dismissed?

According to Julie, media literacy is dismissed for two aspects, one is that people aren’t familiar with the concept, and the other is that people focus mostly on its potential risks. Julie joked that she would rather change the name of media literary to make it more accessible because people fail to link the concept with their daily experience, recognizing the importance of it. Julie also explained her drive to popularize media literacy—-people’s fear. Nowadays parents are concerned about social media’s negative effect on their children, overlooking the benefits of media literacy. Social media is possible to mislead children with unverified information. However, it also serves as an opportunity to broaden one’s horizon and connect with others.

4. Why should you aim for varied views but factual consensus in your PLN?

To start with, it’s important to seek varied views because it helps us become well-rounded rather than single-minded, as Julie says. Our media activities aim at different needs whether of emotional or intellectual. When one’s online presence is for emotional satisfaction, he/she is actually looking for information to confirm himself/herself, which reflects his/her own values and beliefs. As a result, one is indulged in an echo chamber that prevents one from understanding different perspectives and developing objective opinions.

However, once we open up to the varied views, another problem pops up: how to verify different information. One thing we should bear in mind is that there is false news online and part of them is targeted to mislead and manipulate us. Julie revealed the reason behind fake news, that is, journalism is actually a business which favorably presents what we want instead of what we need. Thus, factual consensus is significant because it sets a principle of our media presence. Varied views are useful and helpful on condition that they are facts.

References 

Miller J (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – Smith, Julie. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_T9RghwJlI&feature=youtu.be

Trilling, B & Fadel, C (2009). 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. Retrieved from: https://learning-oreilly-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/library/view/21st-century-skills/9780470475386/fade_9780470475386_oeb_c04_r1.html

Public PLN – Balancing PLN and public discourse

Public PLN – Balancing PLN and public discourse

1.How do notable individuals use social media?
From Sophie’s sharing, we can learn how notable individuals use social media. Sophie is a news anchor, and she is active on her social media. She has made a separation between her professional presence online and her personal one. When it comes to the professional field she turns to the platform of Twitter where she can post her perspective towards social issues, follow people she is interested in and learn from them as well as scroll over others’ comments. Twitter is where she builds her professional PLN, which promotes her career development. Besides, she also creates a personal PLN on Instagram where she can post the photos of her life, showing others her facet of being accessible.

 2.What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN? (career development in the public eye)
During the interview, Sophie has mentioned the benefits of being in the public eye. The online presence of anchors allows the public to know more about their profession, to understand their situations and impediments, and thus show more sympathy and recognition. Besides, Sophie talked about how her PLN helped her when she entered the field. She contacted some journalist predecessors, asking them for advice and recommending herself, which set a good foundation for her career development. What’s more, being in the public eye enables Sophie to get real-time feedback towards her performance. Although these comments are mixed with both compliments and criticism, she could reflect on them and learn from them.

 3.Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits of having social media directly associated with employment? (verified accounts because of employment, accounts that are professional versus personal, hybrid accounts)
There is no doubt social media serves a convenient tool of connecting with others, therefore, when it marries work it facilitates communication, cooperation and supervision. Such a social media platform can improve working efficiency dramatically. However, its upside can also turn into its downside. With such an online tool, any online movement and performance of the employees could be tracked and recorded precisely by data. To meet the demands of employers, employees may have to create their professional persona. Besides, the feature of “instant messaging” makes it possible to blur the borders of one’s professional life and personal life, keeping one in standby mode all the time around the clock.

 4. Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how does one build a PLN that can be consistently relied on?
According to Martin Hirst, two main factors account for the occurrence of fake news. One is economic factor and the other is reckless journalists. This could inspire us on how to build a reliable PLN. We can choose to follow individuals or information channels that are not manipulated by capital participation. Only when the sources subject to no powerful persons or institutions could they stick to the truthfulness of their information. In addition, we can make a judgement towards the credibility of the sources from several aspects, for example, whether the person we follow checks the information beforehand or not and whether he/she resorts to logical thinking rather than the intuitive one. Last but not least, we ourselves should also develop social media literacy, which means we should always check the facts before we spread the information.(Hirst 54)

5. How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?
To minimize risk in sharing misinformation, storytellers must capitalize on search engines or their PLN to verify the truthfulness of the information. Besides, they’d better be clear about their own belief systems or their ideology because that helps them to bring no personal bias when sharing information. What’s more, the storytellers should pay attention to their rhetoric and they are supposed to employ logical thinking instead of emotional manipulation. (Hirst 54)

Works cited
Hirst, Martin. Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism. 1st ed., Routledge, 2018.

Community Engagement and My PLN

Community Engagement & My PLN

1.How does social media help engage in community-based communications?

During the age of public media 1.0, public dissemination is in a top-down approach, which means public opinions are controlled by a few people. However, as the advent of the Internet, everyone could step on the stage of social media and engage themselves. They can tell their own stories, give their opinions towards social news, and provide suggestions on how to solve social issues. A good example comes in the independent media of our last guest: Mo Amir. Such a transformation of social media is significant because it implies wider participation, social scrutiny from the public, and provides a platform for those in need of equity and attention. More power to say means more democracy. As long as everyone is guaranteed with access to social media, truly community-based communications could be realized by social media. (Pooley et al., 2013)

2. How does social media challenge community-based communications?

Although social media does contribute to community-based communications, currently it still faces some challenges. To start with, as certain business models have established, social media would be the next arena involving power and profit. Large-size technological companies could capitalize on their advantages and control social media climate. For example, Facebook is possible to use its platform to microtarget the users and thus hold sway over public thinking. In this aspect, social media is again reduced to the tool of the powerful people. Secondly, there are many policies needed to be set up and implement regarding the content and collaboration in social media in order to ensure public participation as much as possible. Polices should ensure rights of the entire population to be part of the social media, protecting both state media and independent media. (Pooley et al., 2013)

3. Within community engagement, are their extended rules from the employer that you should consider? Are there cultural sensitivities that should be considered? What should your PLN say about you as you communicate to the public via social media or communication tools?

I agree with Angie Kermer that community engagement is better to be about sincerity and reciprocity. We may show our real selves and freely communicate with our friends. However, it is more than that. Social media platforms, whether we like it or not, have been convenient windows for others to examine us. In this context, I would consider employers and cultural sensitivities because the online impression is possible to influence my future career development. I intend to build a professional and polite persona online. And my PLN should present others that I am reliable, accessible and measured.

4. What does it mean to balance your professional expectations and your personal beliefs in curating a PLN for the purpose of career development?

From the videos of the two guests this week, I found that both of them have encountered the contradictions between professional development and personal beliefs in building a PLN. Angie Kermer kind of resists to capitalize on one’s PLN for professional benefits because she believes interpersonal relationship is built naturally and maintained by reciprocity. Mike Russell was once an advocate of no-phone and no-social media. However, under the requirements of his work, he stepped in social media, which also helped his later pivot. From the experiences of the two guests, I found that PLN do bring benefits to our career development, whether it is built online or offline, and whether it is out of intention or not. Besides, the two aspects do not necessarily to be conflicting. I think the balance could be achieved by separating our professional PLN and personal PLN. The two different systems allow us to act differently. I also believe that our personal beliefs can update once we embrace more and try more, just as how Mike Russell changed his idea about social media.

5. What do you think you need to reflect on (in regards to your PLN or development of a PLN) to adapt evolving social media communication expectations as a community learns more about who you are?

Once a community learns more about who I am, I think that’s when I need to pay attention to my language and my opinion stand. Just as what Angie Kermer learned from online communication, I should also ensure the effectiveness of my communication and its decency to a wider audience. Besides, my stand also matters. I am supposed to live up to certain moral principles and represent a neutral and impartial voice. Another consideration is that this is a chance to enlarge my PLN because once I am known by the community I will have more opportunities to make acquaintance with others who may help me with my future career choices.

References

Pooley, J., Taub-Pervizpour, L., & Jansen, S. (2013). Media and social justice. Palgrave.

PLN in practice

PLN in practice

1. Explore how you would create a PLN prior to building a podcast on a topic of your choice and how would you use your PLN with the intent to expand your audience?

Just as what Mo Amir said in the video, building a PLN contributes a lot to creating a podcast. He can take part in related community and follow professionals, which lays a foundation for their future cooperation. Besides, he can post an issue and trigger a debate or a meaningful discussion, not only promoting people’s reflection on these issues but also publicizing his own brand. These examples manifest how PLN could play a vital role.

If I have to choose a topic of my podcast, I may choose film commenting. To create such a podcast, I would build my PLN in the following aspects. To begin with, I would follow some renown predecessors on Twitter or YouTube. I would spend some time listening to or watching their works. This process could help me get to know the content and procedures, to be familiar with the taste of the audience. Then I would directly communicate with some of them. I would describe my respect for them as well as my preliminary plan and then ask for advice. At the meantime, I may try to search for people in my PLN who happen to know anyone working on film commenting. To sit down and have a good chat with such predecessors, as far as I am concerned, would be much help and this could also be a basis for our potential cooperation.

I would also put efforts into building my social media profile. As Bianca said in her passage, the profile need to be professional and also show my personality. Since I don’t have much experience, I would briefly and clearly state my motivation and my goals about film commenting. If anyone shows any interest in my content, I would treat them with respect and sincerity because with the great power of social media, one’s positive reputation can bring more fans. I also learn from successful predecessors that one has to proactively sell oneself on different social platforms to expand one’s influence. So I would try to explore as many platforms as I can.

2.Explore some of the privacy/security concerns to consider when developing an audience on any social media platform. What are the concerns for individuals who become influential in a social space?

As to privacy and security concerns, I think they are inevitable if one choose to expose oneself to share his/her views. If one’s famous, such issues could be much more serious. What comes with fame is bigger expectation and requirements. Some people may use one’s previous online traces to attack one’s credibility or one’s character. We may all post some inappropriate remarks or comments under certain circumstances. As a result, one’s social persona is very vulnerable and could collapse in an instant. Another problematic issue is about appearance. I would find this most unacceptable. I myself am not a mentally strong person. If I am at risk of being attacked and abused, I would consider it hard to stick on. On top of that, a more subtle concern is about the public’s expectations. For example, my giving film commenting is initially aimed at looking for fun and bringing useful recommendations for others. And once I get famous, I might be surrounded by others’ expectations and deviant from my original plan. But from another perspective, the public pay attention to us because what we bring to them is special. So persist in one’s initial intention and style may lead to bigger success.

References

Woods, Bianca. “Building your own PLN: seeking new insights and ideas? Expand your personal learning network.” T+D, vol. 67, no. 11, Nov. 2013, p. 70+. Gale OneFile: Business, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A348998538/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=ITBC&xid=9daf4a31. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

My PLN and Inclusion

My PLN and Inclusion

  1. How diverse is your existing PLN?

As far as I am concerned, my PLN is diverse enough. To start with, I am involved in lots of social platforms, ranging from the professional ones to the individual ones. I regard these platforms as channels of information and I want the sources to be as diverse as possible. In addition, in each platform I get in touch with and pay attention to people from all walks of life. My doing this because I think life has many facets, and information or suggestions from different kinds of people can bring me benefits. I also consider observing colorful lives can widen my horizon.

        2. In your PLN, are you learning from a variety of voices or are you the loudest in the room?

In my PLN, I am learning from others and at the meantime trying to be a voice myself. Normally I just play the role of an observer and quietly collecting useful information from all voices. I view PLN as a free opportunity to participate in the process of knowledge sharing. However, when it comes to something that really captivates me or I happen to have experienced, I am more than willing to express my opinions. And if such comments ever received any compliment or appreciation I feel encouraged and motivated to contribute more.

        3. Do you participate in a silo of information sharing (similar themes or wide-range of interests)?

In my understanding, a silo of information sharing is strengthened by social media’s targeted feeding. Once we search or show any interest in something, we are constantly fed by the likes of it, which ends up in a cycle.

I have always tried to engage myself in a wide-range of interests, such as subscribing both the official and entertainment news. However, when I reflect carefully on my network activities, I found myself subconsciously choose to read or absorb information from a small certain range of sources, and the accurate algorithm couldn’t be to blame in this case. The reason behind falling into information silo is that I want to be confirmed and supported by others online. The illusion created by the silo is absolutely unreasonable but is temporarily comforting.

         4. How can you use a diverse PLN to broaden your views of inclusion?

In Shelley Moore’s sharing, inclusion is a potential shift in education. To broaden my views of inclusion, I can subscribe to her channel on Youtube. I can also follow her and her team on Twitter. Besides, I can pay attention to people who have teaching experiences of children with developmental disabilities and know more about the situation as well as the implications of inclusion in education. What’s more, I can talk with teachers in my PLN and learn about how they think about the issue of inclusion and what approaches they have adopted to realize inclusion.

         5. What is the learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

I harvest professional suggestions, life lessons, and practical information from my PLN. On one hand, I can search and follow any topic of my concern. For example, several months ago I was preparing for a test and I don’t know where to start. After browsing others’ suggestions and shared experience, I could quickly get the whole picture. On the other hand, I often take part in the discussion among my friends. In this process I can learn how they deal with other people and how they handle tricky life difficulties. Furthermore, I browse websites or some platforms on a daily basis to screen some useful information, like a better way of note-taking or some keyboard shortcuts. Such trivial information could serve as inspiration to solve many of my current problems.

One of my useful skills in adding the diversity of my PLN is to ask for information source instead of information alone. Sometimes I could easily get answers to certain questions through the help of my PLN. Rather than stopping there, I would add another question for how they get such information. Then others may recommend me with some platforms, channels, professionals that I never heard about. This is an effective way to expand my network and ensure diversity.

As for inclusion, I never shut any person or platform outside without allowing myself some time to get to know them. The point of doing this is keeping possibilities. The person who seem to have nothing to do with my current life may provide a hand to me in the future. With an inclusive attitude, we can get the most of our PLN.

          6. How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved after reviewing the videos and readings?

Before I reviewed the videos and readings I thought inclusion is equal to integration, allowing people or students to be in the same place. Another myth I held is that inclusion is to help people with developmental disabilities to adapt to the pace of the average. However, many of these notions have been broken apart. In the introduction of Shelley’s book, I have learned the differences between inclusion and integration. Inclusion implies much more than place—it means voluntary, meaningful, and purposeful participation. The traditional education system is aimed at the average, however, at the cost of the special kids. As a result, the special kids are less cared and partially ignored. A shift of perspective is all it takes to achieve the balance and make sure everyone’s participation in education. The example of bowling by Shelley Moore impressed me. The problem is so easy to solve that we just need to switch our aim from the average to the special ones. Everyone can benefit from such inclusive education. (Moore & Schnellert, 2016)

What I learned about PLN is that I should try my best to expand the diversity of my PLN, exposing myself to as many voices as possible. In this condition, I can get many different perspectives. Besides, I should set clear purposes for my participation, or the inclusion may not be as effective as I think.

References

Moore, S., & Schnellert, L. (2016). One without the other (pp. 6-12). Portage & Main Press.

My V&R mapping and my digital identity

My V&R mapping and my digital identity

My V&R map:

1. What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?

To develop professional network, students can use a wide variety of digital platforms, including Twitter, Microsoft team, Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, Instagram and Pinterest.

2. What can you (as a student) consider to expand your professional learning network?

As far as I am concerned, there are mainly two aspects for a student like me to expand professional learning network. One is to participate. We can join online communities or Meetup groups to interact with and learn from others. We can proactively participate in discussions on social media platforms. Normally I just scan others’ opinions, but from now on I will try to interact with others and post my thoughts. The other is to create and share. Since everyone has different learning experiences and interests, we all have something useful that could share with others and help them. In this case, we should first identity what our strengths are, and then we can aggregate useful resources, provide related suggestions and our own sincere understanding. The sharing process is necessary and effective because when others find us helpful and resourceful they would  be willing to follow us and become a part of our personal learning network.

There is one more idea that I think could help. Discuss with other students about their ways to expand professional learning networks. This is meaningful because there are always all kinds of tools or applications popping up. Our personal experience and attention is limited. Discussing with other would definitely help us to discover probably better ways.

3. In your network, how can you create a digital identity/reputation?

A good digital reputation plays a more important role in our life. It could be regarded as our personal brand. Some employers may check online the information of the potential employee as a pre-interview. So how to create a good reputation?

To create a digital reputation, the fundamental rule, in my opinion, is to follow good web netiquette. Avoid posting something offensive or impolite. Some tend to view internet as a space void of rules and unleash their negative energy accumulated from reality. But there are real people, and people do get hurt by anonymous comments. Avoid boasting about success online. Nowadays, some use social media platforms not to share real life experiences or feelings but just to brag about themselves. This could be annoying to the audience.

From another perspective, we can promote our personal brand by creating high-quality content and  engaging with others actively. We need to provide something valuable and interesting. We should try to be honest and accurate so that people would think we are reliable and professional, and that helps our digital reputation.

4. Consider what a local employer would do if you applied for a job with them – can they search the content, is it of benefit to the career path, does it hinder the opportunity of employment?

I think it is beneficial to my career path. I pay attention to my netiquette, avoiding offensive posts or comments. I hardly debate with people who hold against my contents. I involve myself into friendly and thoughtful conversations and discussions online.

My posts mainly focus on sharing of some songs, some articles with thought-provoking or innovative ideas, and comments on certain news. I think these contents help to show others that I am someone who embraces new ideas and cares about society and other people.

 

References

  • Webroot.com. n.d. What Is Netiquette? A Guide To Online. [online] Available at: <https://www.webroot.com/us/en/resources/tips-articles/netiquette-and-online-ethics-what-are-they#:~:text=Netiquette%20is%20a%20combination%20of,in%20an%20online%20social%20environment.> [Accessed 29 September 2020].
  • Edutopia. 2019. Leveraging Social Media To Build A Digital PLN. [online] Available at: <https://www.edutopia.org/article/leveraging-social-media-build-digital-pln> [Accessed 29 September 2020].
  • Common Sense Education. n.d. Social Networks For Students And Teachers | Common Sense Education. [online] Available at: <https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/social-networks-for-students-and-teachers> [Accessed 29 September 2020].

Questions about digital identity

Questions about digital identity

What is a digital identity?

To better understand the concept of digital identity, we can look back on the idea of identity. There are two functions of identity. On one side, it tells who we are, and on the other side, it provides us accesses to social services. It’s the same with our digital identity.

Digital identity is one’s online presence, including whatever one posts as well as how one interacts with others. One’s digital identity reveals one’s personal traits, tastes, favorites, and uniqueness. What’s more, one’s digital identity nowadays could serve as the threshold for one to enjoy digital services, such as financial services. One without digital bank account or mobile payment is actually denied many economic opportunities.

How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

Our personal digital identities determine what social media platforms we prefer, how we engage ourselves in the social media, and what kind of groups we take part in to get a sense of belonging. Think how social media serves us. We use social media to entertain, to gather information, to interact with others, and during all the process we are actually consciously or unconsciously looking for a sense of community. Both our comments online and participation in certain groups confirm our ideal personal identity.

Our professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use by two ways. On one aspect, professional requirements may suppress our personal identity and force us to take on uniform professional identity. What our jobs want us to present ourselves online may conflict with who we truly are. In this case, we have few alternatives but to choose to perform what the bosses want or what the work ethics require. On the other aspect, our professional skills direct us how to perceive and use social media. If one treats social media as a huge, open resource pool where he/she can gain benefits from then she/he may hold a positive attitude towards social media interactions. Besides, if one is equipped with professional skills, such as peer learning and team working, he/she could harvest much from social media interaction and could have more active participation.

How do digital identities converge in networked publics—what are the impacts and/or benefits?

It’s no doubt that with the pervasion of internet, anyone with digital access leaves personal digital identity and personal information in networked publics. The question is what are the pros and cons.

The advantages of digital identity include strengthening of our persona, establishment of our personal learning networks and entrance to digital economic and societal services. In order to obtain the imaginary sense of community we need to repress our real selves and make performance of the right sort of identity. Nevertheless,  professional performance online do promote our career development and leave others good impressions. We can take advantage of our digital identity to present others what they need or want. Besides, digital identities help build personal learning networks. Once we intend to learn something new, we could easily access to some related community online and learn from others their experience and gain useful resources. Last but not least, digital identities currently represent green lights to many kinds of services that could facilitate one to develop and boost. With digital identities, customers can purchase online efficiently, and entrepreneurs can apply for loans, and government could streamline its service procedures.

The problems of digital identity are obvious, such as, how could our identity and information be protected and prevented from being misused. For example, Facebook is free of charge to its users, however, the users themselves are indeed goods to be exchanged with advertisers by the corporation for profits. In addition, our digital records are consistent and always traceable. Our activities on Facebook and twitter witness how we grew and developed. As a result, our digital presence could be an effective and efficient tool for surveillance. Another risk is that since the self-learning algorithm is able to analyze our prefers and then feed us exactly what we may like. We will probably indulge ourselves into a closed bubble where we are surrounded with like-minded people, leading to the strengthening of  our possible prejudices and ideologies.

References

  • Jawed, S., Mahboob, U., & Yasmeen, R. (2019). Digital professional identity: Dear Internet! Who am I Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31512590
  • Eric, S. (2016). What is Digital Identity? Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0&feature=youtu.be
  • Saira, J. Usman, M., & Rahila, Y. (2019). Digital Professional Identity: Dear Internet! Who am I? Retrieved from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=e60f682f-ad9f-4586-81b3-245d0488a035%40sdc-v-sessmgr03
  • Karl, S. (2015). Identity-Making and Social Media. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137405876_6
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