Week 5 Prompt!

Week 5

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?

For me the largest divide between expertise on the Web and expertise face-to-face is how you determine their credibility in the field their are discusses. Most lectures or instructions that are face-to-face the presenter provides a detail of their background or experiences to gain credibility for their experience. Additionally, the speaker is normally backed by an organization or university that has also vouched for their expertise in the matter.

On the Web, articles or blogs are sometimes backed with a bio and references but it is in the hands of the reader to determine their credibility. Often,  I will come across an article and it will provide no background on the author but I can normally search the name and find out their experience in subject matter.

Additionally because the Web updates so frequently from such a large number of sources, statically data doesn't always align and how do you determine which one to go with. I have also found it is difficult to rely solely on Web sources for my Academic purposes due to credibility or validity of the source. This class has changed my perspective on that and I feel that the Web is making major strides to define credible online sources.

Whats your opinion? 

What is Learnist??

This week while exploring Learnist I found so many similiarities to Pinterest that I wanted to find out more about the connections and differences. Here are a few things I found:

Article: "New Social Site Learnist Aims to Become 'Pinterest for Educators' by Stephen Noonoo (2012)

This article discusses that like Pinterest, Learnist connects social media sites and resources organizing the context by pin boards, but with a focus on learning and lesson development.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/06/21/learnist-the-pinterest-for-learning.aspx

Then I explored what Pinterest had to say regarding Learnist and I found several boards on the topic (listed by title below):

What is Learnist?

Influencial People on Learnist

Learn Something New

Educators Using Learnist

Education on Learnist

Link to Learnist pinboards on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/learnist/

When I first started using Pinterest I found the site extremely difficult to navigate. I was able to find information quickly on a topic but had trouble access the associated information, sources, advice or directions (topic depending). I did not experience those issues with Learnist. The information is laid out in a similar fashion but the site is extremely user friendly. One of my favorite features was is clear distinction between interests and areas of expertise. I think this site has benefits for both formal and informal learning. 

Week 4 Prompt

How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally? 

After reading this prompt, I wondered is there a formal method to cite within a blog like the APA format used for papers and projects. Throughout this course I have linked several websites to my blog and referred to the articles on those links. I have also referenced several of the course reading material but not in a formal or particular format.

Has this been in error? This is what I found:

3 Blogging Rules:

http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingethics/tp/Top3BloggingRules.htm

APA Style Blog Guidelines:

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/blog-guidelines.html

I found these links helpful and was surprised that I did not consider looking into them earlier. Does anyone have any conflicting advice?

As for the work I produce, I am not yet concerned with copyright or authorship because this is my first blog and most of my entries have been my exploration not new discoveries. Additionally, my interaction with twitter and pinterest has mostly been repining or retweeting others creation (which I have not worried about copyright because it seems like the function is built into the system). I have shared several photos or ideas for weddings on my pinterest from my wedding but because I am not in the wedding business I have not been concerned about my ideas being stolen. My conclusion is that if I were using these social networking tools for business I would feel concerned with open access but for now I am happy to share my ideas as they are more hobby based.  

Additional Research Networking Tools....

After exploring Academia.edu and Mendeley, I found a lot of similarities in the services each offer and decided to explore other applications in this market and compare and contrast these resources.

I found a forum on researchgate.com (another similar application) that compares Academia.edu vs. Mendeley vs.  ResearchGate

Link to the forum:

http://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_your_impressions_on_ResearchGate_versus_Academiaedu_versus_Mendeley12

My takeaways from the Forum:

Research Gate

Collaborative
Networking
Interactive
Discovery
Large community

Academia.edu

Publication based
Article sharing

Large audience across fields
Statistics Tracking

Mendeley
Literature Research Source
Reference/Citation Management
Organization
Quick access library

If you have used these applications, does this assessment from the forum seem accurate? Leave your thoughts!!

Great tool! Academia.edu

This tool is one that really highlights the benefits of technology in the educational field. In my Inquiry and Measurement course last semester we were given a tutorial on the Florida State Library system and I was so impressed by how much the online library system had advanced since my undergraduate (five years ago). 

This tool expands research capabilities by incorporating all academic research papers and the pool of individuals who contribute to the site. I built my profile as a graduate student from Florida State and was about to find a few of the students in the Instructional Systems Program who had contributed to the site's data base. One of the individuals I found was out TA, Shuang Hao who contributed to one of Dr. Dennen's books which can be found at: http://fsu.academia.edu/ShuangHao/Papers

 

I found the following stats on the application's following and impact to the research community (http://www.academia.edu/about):

 3, 695, 525 academics

1. 635, 932 shared papers

I also found it interesting that this academic site was so linked to Facebook. First, there is a blog within the site specifically that can be followed via Facebook, the application can link you to your Facebook contacts and feedback on the application can be given via Facebook as well. 

Traveler Apps

Today, as I was sitting at the airport there was a news story on HLN called the Mobile Traveler and spoke to traveling via mobile apps from London to Rome. This sparked my curiosity; I searched but was not able to find the link for the clip but researched Mobile Apps for the traveler and this is what I found.

An article titled “The 26 Travel Apps that will Change your Life,” which discusses apps for obtaining Wi-Fi, hotels, flights, flight trackers, free text messaging, weather information and currency converter. Two that I found interesting were an app designed specifically for changing your seat (seat guru app) and Flyers Rights that lets flyers know their rights regarding delays and cancelations.

http://www.cntraveler.com/technology/2012/09/best-travel-apps-android-iphone-ipad-perrin-report

Another article I found was “50 ultimate travel apps…so far” which highlights several of the other apps and mentions my favorite for flight options as number one, Kayak. Some different and interesting ones from this article included several translator apps, the UNESCO World Heritage -- Location guide, and  JetLag Genie.

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/shop/50-ultimate-travel-apps-so-far-353352

This was an interesting topic for me because I knew about several of the restaurant finders and cheap flight apps but I was not aware of how large the market was for the other apps discussed in these articles and links.

These articles are both about a year old so I am sure there are newer travel apps not mentioned, does anyone have a favorite travel app listed in these articles or not?

I would say my most used travel apps are hotwire and kayak but I am going to start exploring my app market place. 

Week 3 Prompt

What uses might a collaborative wiki or blog have in your chosen (current or desired) work environment? How would they support learning and/or performance? What would be the design and implementation challenges if management tried to do this? What would be the design and implementation challenges of a user-initiated effort?

In the Coast Guard, I think there are several opportunities of wikis and blogs but due to security reasons might be more regulated than other work environments. Many units in the Coast Guard have a unit blog which is run by the unit Public Affairs officer and distributes information about what the unit is doing and valuable information for personnel reporting to the unit.

The Coast Guard actually has an official blog called The Coast Guard Compass: http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/

This blog focuses on connected the public to the Coast Guard’s missions and personnel.  This blog support learning and performance from a variety of angles as it educates the public on what is going on in the Coast Guard and also increases knowledge flow throughout the USCG personnel.

I also found guidance from the Coast Guard on how blogs should be implemented in the Coast Guard and was surprised to see that BLOGGER.COM (section 4.E of http://www.uscg.mil/announcements/alcoast/008-10_alcoast.tx) is the only approved site, which is what I chose for my class blog without realizing the connection. I think this article highlights some of the design and implementation challenges for using blogs in my workplace and I am sure other organizations have their own policy in regard to their uses.  Did anyone else find there present or past organization had guidance policies for implementing social media sites such as blogs?

I have never used a wiki in the Coast Guard before but from my coursework experience with Wiki it could be beneficial to team projects, setting up duty rotations, department work lists, or preparing for inspections and large events. All these things require input from several individuals, collaboration and coordination.

When I tried to find information of the Coast Guard’s use of wiki’s, I found this really great article on Social Media in the Coast Guard.

http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/spring2010/articles/73_Migliorini,Day_SocialMedia.pdf

This article highlights Coast Guard involvement with several social media tools including YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, Facebook and several official blogs. Definitely an interesting read!