Personal Learning Assignment: Oh What Fun!

Well, this was an exciting assignment in my Social Media and Society course based on a Personal Learning Experience!!!

I decided to do mine on LinkedIn. Since Garry started his own consulting business we’ve had a few friends ask or suggest that he create a LinkedIn page. While he loves the technical side of his profession he really isn’t one for the internet or social media. I have to admit that because I seem to be forever curious about social media tools and maybe even a closet geek and wondered about LinkedIn as business media tool. So when this assignment came up, it was an excellent opportunity for me to investigate LinkedIn further by creating an account and a profile…in this case for husband, Garry’s business.

I did it! Take a look at my personal learning assignment result here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/garryholtz

I also made a video for this assignment. First time experience but worked brilliantly to help me share my learning experience. Please take a moment to take a look at it. I signed up for a 30 day free trial of Camtasia to use which I downloaded from TechSmith at http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html

I think that we are all marketers. Whether we are manufacturing an actual product or simply selling ourselves we are still marketing and looking for opportunities to locate “buyers” of what we are selling. Kay Hebbourn has an easy to understand article on her Brand You Brilliant Wordpress page on how to market yourself on Linkedin. If you want to refresh, update or join she has some great tips at http://www.brandyoubrilliant.com/how-to-market-yourself-on-linkedin/

When researching for the assignment I also came across this article by Stacy Zapar http://www.stacyzapar.com/2013/04/six-tips-to-spring-clean-your-linkedin-profile.html. I admit that in creating my first-ever profile I just wanted to lay in the bare bones but intend to continue to flesh out Garry’s profile. Stacy also had excellent pointers and liked her presentation. 

Now that that initial scary part is over I want to go over Garry’s profile again and fine tune it. I hope to teach Garry a thing or two as well so he can update his own profile and keep it current.

I confess that I ran into a problem creating the account. I was creating the account for my husband. Using his name and his email but from my laptop. LinkedIn immediately wanted to mine MY yahoo contacts list. But, but, it isn’t mine, it isn’t me…it’s my husband. I thought I hadn’t “clicked” or “unclicked” something.  I deleted his account and started over.  This time I paid careful attention to every page, looking for a box or something but it tried to do it all over again. When I would not co-operate…it would not let me continue. Well, arrrrrrgggghhhhh. I deleted again, had a cup of tea and glared threateningly at the LinkedIn screen. I deliberately signed out of my Yahoo Mail and…I started again, not necessarily because I am a glutton for punishment but because I don’t want any social media to defeat me! This time I did create the account but I have my yahoo mail asking me this:

Hi Lynn,
You agreed to share your Yahoo! information with LinkedIn. If you did not agree to share your information, stop sharing.
Regards,
Yahoo! Account Services

Nooooo! I didn’t. I mean…I didn’t want to. When I click stop sharing, yahoo takes me to my mail login page. Gulp. I have a feeling that I am still being mined and my family, friends and associates are now trapped in the world of LinkedIn. Ah well. 

Hmm, those other tutorials and articles didn’t warn about this. Even typing this I am wearing a frown. After this experience, I Googled specifically “LinkedIn mining my contacts”…and there are people complaining. This is one link to a forum upset: http://community.linkedin.com/questions/29749/how-can-i-stop-linkedin-from-mining-my-email-conta.html

Yes, you read the URL correct. That particular forum is none other than the Linkedin Help Centre Community forum. There was no simple solution. It is a zebra, it wears it stripes and there is no way to change it to polka dots. Egad! What have I done?

I dug a bit more, looking for recent tutorials based on the year. I came across this one that I am hoping has the solution to my current contacts problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3AtjaSqB5w and I am hoping to find a quiet moment in a very busy week to examine the tutorial closer and have a go at it. 

 The last video that I watched on my own about LinkedIn was a cute little British video about how 9 minutes spent on LinkedIn can change…everything. Check it out right here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBkSwobbac  It is perky and lively and it sort of lifted off that dark cloud over my head, a little. I am going to continue working with my husband on his LinkedIn page and see how much further I can take it and more importantly…if it really does work for him. 

References

Christopher Ivanovich (2013, April 23) How can I stop Linedin from mining my email contacts? LinkedIn Help Centre Help Forum Question Retrieved June 24, 2013 from http://community.linkedin.com/questions/29749/how-can-i-stop-linkedin-from-mining-my-email-conta.html

Hebbourne,Kay (2013, April 1) How to Market Yourself On LinkedIn, Brand You Brilliant Retrieved from http://www.brandyoubrilliant.com/how-to-market-yourself-on-linkedin/

Kane, Libby (2013, April 3) 8 Mistakes You Should Never Make on LinkedIn, Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/03/04/8-mistakes-you-should-never-make-on-linkedin/

Kapar, Stacy (2013, April 13), 6 Easy-Breezy Tips to Spring Clean Your LinkedIn Profile, Retrieved from http://www.stacyzapar.com/2013/04/six-tips-to-spring-clean-your-linkedin-profile.html

LinkedIn, LinkedIn: 9 minutes can change everything, (2012, May 20) Retrieved June 24, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBkSwobbac

Willie Lowery, How to setup a Linkedin Account – LinkedIn Tutorial linkedin.mp4 (2013, January 5) Retrieved June 25, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3AtjaSqB5w

Citizen Journalism: A Different Kind of News

Citizen journalism is different news.  I personally don’t think that citizen journalism has made news worse or better. I think it has brought a different perspective.  Citizen journalism is reporting based on experiences not ethical standards or practices that ideally should govern professional journalism.  

An example of initial amateur videos and photos transcending into citizen journalism based on what they unintentionally captured is the recent Boston Marathon bombings. 

In this What Amateur Footage Can Tell Us About Boston Marathon Bombing Article reporter Madeleine White, of the Globe and Mail,  interviews International Affairs and Security correspondent Paul Koring who states amateur footage could provide  clues about the explosions (flash, colour, size) as to the type of  device and potential suspects .

Another article written by Caitlin McGarry and Mark Sullivan details negative experiences with inaccuracies on social media like Twitter and wrong info being pushed. You can read their article here The Best Boston Marathon Video Was Shot By Amateurs 

Caitlin’s other article entitled Online Resources for Boston Marathon Explosions indicates professional journalists seemed more likely to report assistive resources and information in an emergency than their amateur counterparts, 

In the incidence of the 2011 Vancouver riot videos and images were initially posted to social media sites for all the wrong reasons and many became self-incriminating.  Some people had rude awakenings to social media etiquette, losing their jobs and/or facing criminal prosecution. What also happened was national shame in which people came forward and readily turned their videos and images over to law enforcement even before they were solicited to do so by police. 

Social Media and the 2011 Vancouver Riots is an interesting article on the event published by ArtsWire, an online source of news and views from the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia. In this article Nick Lewis interviews University of British Columbia Sociologist, Christopher Schneider.  Mr. Schneider studied the June 15, 2011 riot and co-authored two research papers, in addition to numerous talks and public lectures about the event, and wrote about it in a book titled Qualitative Media Analysis (2^nd edition), published by Sage Publications.

He discusses not only a comparative of the 1994 Vancouver riot reported by traditional journalists and news sources to the 2011 Vancouver riot crowdsourcing social media reporting but, also talks about the collective mindset of using social media in 2011 as a means of “recording of evidence”. Whereas the on the ground Boston Marathon experience was unintentional amateur journalism, the 2011 Vancouver riot had deliberate amateur journalists generating crowd-source policing or citizens policing citizens.

The commonality between the citizen journalism of the 2011 Vancouver riot and the Boston Marathon bombing is that citizens were collecting information in real time and spreading it globally faster than the police or journalists could. I think this speed of information is the cause of inaccuracies even in professional journalism which struggles to stay on the competitive delivery edge. It has become harder to contain…and to damage control. 

Treehugger author Chris Trackett wrote Exxon Controls Local Media Coverage Arkansas Oil Spill Citizen Journalists Use Guerrilla Reporting Tactics Should Pros Be Doing More posing interesting questions in scrutinizing an Exxon Mobile Oil spill when a Pegasus pipeline rupture spilled 84,000 gallons into a Mayflower,  Arkansas  street and possibly contaminating nearby Lake Conway.  The large corporate dollars and lawyer clout of Exxon and resulting environmental sensitivities limited the access of traditional news media.  Reporters were restricted and in some instances subjected to corporate intimidation. He provides an interesting video, photos and a transcript that details how citizen journalism was better able to report the circumstances than professional journalists. What resulted was a watchdog of citizen journalism using tools and social media to contradict Exxon before Exxon could control the information and before professional reporters understood the extent of the event. He points out in his article that citizen journalism is potentially personal and often raw footage.  The video evidence of oil flowing down an “anywhere” urban street in North America captures us because of its familiarity. The newsman in the provided video is reporting he doesn’t know if anyone has had to evacuate and that Exxon has said they would pay hotel expenses “if” anyone had to leave.  Ordinary citizens permitted us to see behind the corporate spin with images of an oil flooded backyard, oil flowing like a river between houses into a street or images of a pond turned black, evidenced on rubber gloves and pictures of affected wildlife. 

A video is difficult to dispute when captured in real time. A negative side to citizen journalism?  This becomes difficult in an era where even conventional professional journalism is under fire for being prejudicial, inaccurate or even unscrupulous. A point in case could be the recent Mayor Rob Ford alleged video. One of the papers involved has a history of being biased against the Mayor, its allegations unsubstantiated because of irresponsible handling of the alleged evidence. It could be true, it might not be true. In the hands of a citizen journalist it would likely have been one of two things – first, simply rumor. Second – viral and everywhere.

Online References

McGarry, C. (April 15, 2013). Online resources for Boston Marathon explosions. [TechHive story]. Retrieved from: http://www.techhive.com/article/2034676/online-resources-for-boston-marathon-explosions.html

McGarry, C. and Sullivan, M. (April 16, 2013). The best Boston marathon video was shot by amateurs. [TechHive article]. Retrieved from: http://www.techhive.com/article/2034834/the-best-boston-marathon-video-was-shot-by-amateurs.html

Trackett, C. (April 12, 2010). As Exxon censors local media, citizen journalists document Arkansas oil spill. Can the pros be doing more? [Treehugger article]. Retrieved from: http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/exxon-controls-local-media-coverage-arkansas-oil-spill-citizen-journalists-use-guerrilla-reporting-tactics-should-pros-be-doing-more.html

White, M. (April 16, 2013). What amateur footage can tell us about the Boston marathon bombing. [Globe and Mail article].  Retrieved from: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-what-amateur-footage-can-tell-us-about-boston-marathon-bombing/article11261246/

Blog Assignment 2: The Diet!

Personal Log, Stardate -310445.06

This is the Second Assignment Blog post of the OpinionNium. The mission is to survive 48 hours of isolation from social media interaction. Social Media, the medium to explore the galaxies of interaction, to seek out new life and new civilizations. I shall be cut off from my technology and my environment, adrift aimlessly in space…or is there more?

 Log Supplemental: I have survived.

Maybe using the Star Trek reference seems a bit over the top but seriously, WAS Dr. McCoy really a doctor of medicine? All his medical diagnostic and treatment equipment where based on technology. Mr. Spock, Science Officer, relied on tricorder deductions. Hmmm.

Social Media is a frontier. Its borders are the limits of its present technology but that is constantly evolving and with it human interaction. The more we use it, the more we demand from it, the broader the universe becomes, until we can’t see the horizon line or realize how entrenched it is in our daily lives.

I have taken sabbaticals before. Before the internet broadband towers were installed at Algonquin Park any service along the corridor was drastically unreliable and so I would separate myself from my cell phone or Travelling Laptop (yes, that is my name for it). When we vacation in the States I refuse to pay the atrocious roaming fees so I unplug from my media tools. So 48 hours was kinda easy peasy. Only, I have never had to deny myself at home. It’s always been while I am “away” and somehow “away” creates a psychology my brain says “Ok. But when we get back…” only in this instance, I was already back.

Oh my.

I didn’t warn anyone that I was on a sabbatical. I won’t call it a diet because a diet still lets you eat….this was a FAST. I wanted to see if anyone reacted. I am not consistently on social media so I didn’t expect to be on anyone’s radar. Only one girlfriend noticed. She inadvertently texted me on Friday to find out my weekend plans. But I was already fasting. So about two hours later she texted a question “Are you mad at me?”

Background: when she texts me, I am pretty good to answer her within a reasonable time.

On Facebook or Twitter, no one noticed I was missing in action…I am not sure anyone has ever noticed that I am in action since my actions on those platforms are so rare.

Are you mad at me? My girlfriend assumed there was something wrong…with her…with us. My battery could have quit, I might have forgotten to change my volume after work, I could have fallen asleep, my cell phone might be malfunctioning. An endless list of possible, genuine and reasonable reasons I might not return a text. But she took it personal…or at least worried my silence was a rejection. When I discovered her messages on Sunday evening I have to admit I felt sad that she thought I was upset with her. She had become so conditioned to us reaching back and forth, miles apart from each other, that when it wasn’t there she initially thought the only wrong with us - was her. I texted her and let her know why I hadn’t answered. Everything is cool as she texted back “Ok. Weird but glad”.

Social media really is a frontier; not only globally wide-open and technically overwhelming with choices but difficult because something so seemingly impersonal potentially can be construed as very personal. A blog is just an opinion of sorts but it invites interaction. Would you care if someone ever reads your blog? Why post it public if you don’t? You can easily keep a handwritten diary or a word document if it’s just to put down your hopes, dreams, opinions. We blog in the hopes that someone out there will read it…and interact with us. First contact. Aliens in space. I don’t think it is about being lonely. We always make that presumption that something is missing from the lives of people who spend so much time using social media. That they don’t have lives. But the truth is the social media is a component of their real lives. Curiosity leads us to seek like-minded and exchange. You talk to your neighbor over a fence about the flowers in your garden…or you talk to a global neighbor on the other side of planet earth about the flowers in your garden. Perception.

I wanted to go onto Facebook. See what friends were up to. Just because I don’t post much, doesn’t mean I don’t like to read posts or check up with conversations on social forums. But I didn’t.

I planted flowers, transplanted bushes, burned up wood I had wanted to get rid of while listening to loons out on the lake and ate my first s'more ever. I wasn’t compelled to check my cell phone like it was a parole officer. There was only a little withdrawal. The very, very, very best part was in the moments I didn’t really have anything to do…I just enjoyed doing nothing. Off the diet, I would have been on my cell scrolling or trolling. Instead, I discovered the wonderful art of doing nothing and that watching clouds is quite fascinating.

I am now on a diet. I am watching what personal time my social media eats so that I don’t get fat on it and thin on life. I pay attention to why I am using social media. I am looking for balance. I liked the simplicity so I plan on keeping it. I liked the inner peace.

I am going to go see my girlfriend.

References

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1. Meme Generator http://memegenerator.net/Dr-Mccoy