Did anyone catch the Twitter article in the most recent MTA magazine? There was a brief article on how a union rep uses Twitter as a professional tool to keep in contact with her members in order to update the members on upcoming meetings, paycheck issues etc. In the article, she mentions that e-mail is no longer enough...I have a few questions. Are we thinking that Twitter, Ning, and some of these other sites that we have signed up for will be used solely for professional connections? At what point, do we become too saturated with technology? Can we really check Ning, Facebook, multiple e-mail accounts, Twitter, Chatzy, blogs and so on many times each day? Are we eliminating face to face contact if we are using Twitter and other devices with people that work in our same buildings? I am concerned that there may be this expectation that we use social networking for professional purposes and that it will be one additional task that overwhelms us. At what point is the technology enough or should we be choosing a limited number of technologies that actually make our lives easier not more complicated?
Finally, I still do not see a value in signing middle school students up for any of these social networks. It is already challenging for them to see a Wiki or blog as a school assignment that requires words and not abbreviations. Although students may be comfortable with social networking and may enjoy it outside of school, it does not currently have an appropriate place in the curriculum.
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Sally, great point about the saturation of outlets. I agree that it becomes overwhelming, therefor counterproductive. What makes it harder is the fact that different organizations, or people, have their preferred methods of communication. So, if the MTA uses Twitter but NELMS uses Ning and the principal uses Wiki we, as the individual are responsible for logging onto each of these outlets to get the information we need.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, that is a great point. I wonder if the world will tire of some of these outlets because of this fact.
ReplyDeleteSo here's the question, does anyone talk face to face any more or pick up a phone and make a call? We are talking about using a Wiki to speak with our STA people - getting information out to our members. I guess we can only hope that people don't loose the ability to speak face to face!
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way!! Just keeping up with emails from parents, teachers, and administrators is truly my limit for the amount of time I'm willing to invest in online communication (other than during this course, that is)! Even my family knows not to email me. My neighbor (whose house I can see from my front door) occasionally sends an email (which I rarely see in time for anything since I only check my personal email account about once a month!), and I'd so much prefer a phone call or just to chat in the neighborhood! A close friend started a very thoughtful blog and asked me to read it a couple of times; I did on those specific occasions but have not done so since. I feel sad that she and I are much less in touch than we could be, but that is not the manner in which I wish to be in touch. (On the other hand, when I talk with other friends, my age, who've been my good friends for many years and have no desire to shift the friendship online, it's such a NICE, reassuring, comforting feeling!)
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about this with regards to Twitter, especially -- I can certainly see that people like Dennis are using it for professional purposes, but I have absolutely no desire to spend enough time online, myself, to be receiving information in lots of little, frequent snippets, like that.
I think we are still evolving electronically. I wonder, if at some point in time, one way of communicating will stand out above the rest.
ReplyDeleteA note on Twitter - I've been twittering with a colleague about a grant we've been working on. The communication is quick, to the point, and productive. It works. Direct messages from Twitter come to my phone, which is usually the quickest way to get in touch with me. It wasn't that different from text messaging, which I must admit, I think is great.
Ultimately, the tools that work for a specific group, project or task will be the ones used.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am attending an online conference. They are using a wiki, a ning, a blog, Elluminate (for online meetings) and twitter as major communication tools/platforms.
Videos and mp3s are used to present the content. Each presenter is expected to provide a link to supporting documents/resources so it's up to each presenter to decide how to do that.
I presented online at a virtual conference recently and they used a Moodle site and Elluminate.
This is pretty typical as has been the case for about three years of my experience.
Dennis Richards