Social Networks
Entries related to social networks, group psychology, anthropology, and really any of the social sciences.
Wordless Wednesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 08:42
Independent Party Lt. Gov Candidate Cicero Booker addresses Bridgeport Coalition, originally uploaded by Aldon.
#pcct - What Makes for a Good Podcamp Session?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 08/03/2010 - 09:19Recently, a discussion came up amongst organizers of PodcampCT about different sessions ideas and what makes for a good session. I’ve always felt that a good podcamp is one where everyone learns something. It is one where there are not sales pitches or presentations. Instead, everyone is an equal participant. Everyone is a rock star. One submission particularly caught the attention of a few people.
Title: You Are The Media & The Message
Summary: Whether you are an experienced social networker or just getting your first blog or podcast off the ground, you can be as influential as any media outlet in the state. Learn how to leverage "the brand of you" through various media, both new and old, to get whatever you want to get done from some media mavens who will share some secrets to help you to use the new trust agents to grow your tribes, make it stick and crush it.
Various members of the organizing group felt that this sounded a bit like a sales pitch or presentation. It would probably be a winner on a social media buzz word bingo game card. It talked about ‘media mavens sharing secrets’. Others noted that the person who made the submission is very keen and progressive about social media, but that it did sound a bit like a presentation which might cause people to not attend, or to exercise the rule of two feet.
For people not experienced in Podcamps, the rule of two feet is that if you are in a session that just isn’t doing it for you, you should use your two feet to walk out and find a session that fits your needs better. You will get more out of the sessions this way, and people in a session may have a better session than they would if people are resentfully sitting in the session. When I am at a session that smacks of a presentation, I check to see if there is a chance to turn it into a conversation, and lacking that, I use the rule of two feet.
Yet actually, the session idea might not be as bad as it looks on first glance. If anything, it seemed to have the problem of combining many great potential session ideas. Key session ideas that I picked out of the one submission included:
How to brand yourself.
Participants will explore the idea of what it means to have a "personal brand"; why you might want one, and how you might establish one.Building audience and influence:
Participants will share ideas about how to get more followers and readers, especially followers and readers that are most likely to act on and/or repeat messages sent out via social media.Citizen journalism:
Participants will explore what it means to be a citizen journalist; how to cover stories that are being missed by others, how to get press credentials, how to tell the story in a way that people will be interested in.
I also suggested an idea to encourage people to suggest sessions that are not presentations. It seems like a good idea submission form might include a question something like
What do you hope to learn from this session?
Every session should be one that everyone attending is hoping to learn something from. If there aren't
things you are hoping to learn from this session, then perhaps someone else should moderate it.
That said, I also had a snarky suggestion:
Title: How to avoid pitches and presentations at podcamp
Summary: Podcamp is an opportunity to share ideas. Unfortunately, some people view it as an opportunity to make a sales pitch or presentation. They miss great opportunities to learn. This session will help participants recognize potential sales pitches and presentations to avoid, use the rule of two feet when they find themselves in such a session, and think about how they can promote sessions that will be meaningful discussions instead of presentations.
Podcamps are wonderful chances to share ideas and learn new things about podcasting and social media. PodcampCT will take place in New Haven on October 16th. If you live in the Connecticut area, please consider attending. If you live further away, please check out the main Podcamp website to find a Podcamp near you.
#FF #entrecard
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 07/31/2010 - 13:46@davelucas, @sparklecat, @ecopunkorguk, @photosbykml, @ontheverge6, @ScottzPrincess
Typically, on Fridays Twitter users post lists of interesting people they follow on Twitter. Well, it is now Saturday, but I didn’t get around to my Follow Friday post yesterday.
Also, typically at the beginning of each month, EntreCard users post lists of those people that have visited their card and dropped an EntreCard most over the past month. Well, today is the last day of the month, so I figure it is close enough to create this mashup. These are the six people on EntreCard that have dropped the most cards on me over the past month AND list their Twitter id on EntreCard.
They are all people (except of course the cat), that I enjoy following on Twitter and reading their blogs when I connect to them on EntreCard.
Social Media and Schools
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:35A few years ago, Avery Doninger posted a message on her personal Livejournal account from home one evening criticizing the administration of the high school she was attending. As a result, she was barred from serving as class secretary in her senior year of high school. This raised many important issues about freedom of speech in the age of the internet which are being explored in a case proceeding through the Federal Courts.
Last night, the Windsor Locks Board of Education met to discuss a personnel matter. The agenda included an executive session to discuss the Superintendent’s position/contract. All of this comes in the wake of comments that Superintendent David Telesca posted on Facebook. According to the Hartford Courant, Superintendent Telesca commented online that “my first day on site involved counseling an administrator to retire or face termination”.
The Courant article goes on to say,
A spokesman for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education said Tuesday that he could not recall any instances in the state when social media usage was a problem for a school district.
Apparently, the spokesman is not aware of the Doninger case.
There are many interesting aspects to this. Policy and law often lag technology, and few, if any school boards seem to have policies on the use of social media. On the other hand, an underlying question is whether or not online communications are substantially different than other forms of communications. Online communications are often more persistent, easier to search, and may reach a broader audience, but is this a difference of magnitude or something more substantial? One board of education member observed that boards do not have policies on ballpoint pen usage.
It may even be that the difference of magnitude is fading. As ‘trackers’ become more common in the political sphere, what people say when they are talking to a politician in a coffee shop may become as persistent, searchable and broad reaching as anything else. The line between the personal and the public continues to blur.
In would be wrong for the Windsor Locks Board of Education to terminate their superintendent because he made his remarks on Facebook. If, however, the content of the remarks are deemed to have violated Board policy, for example, saying too much about personnel cases, that would be a different issue. I do not know what different school board polices are about a superintendent talking about the hiring or firing process without mentioning individuals involved. It would seem as if there is benefit to these sorts of discussions, such as letting it be widely known that a school is searching for certain types of employees or discouraging certain types of behaviors.
This is not to say that schools should not be paying close attention to social media. If anything, they are currently failing by not focusing enough on it. Social media is the new place for kids to hang out. Teachers and administrators need to understand what is going on in the lives of their students. They should be providing skills to help students make the best possible use of tools in the twenty first century, which includes social media.
Indeed, some of the best teachers and administrators I know are the ones that make ample and wise use of social media. Students are encouraged to share their work with the public online, in ways that protect the students’ privacy. Administrators are using social media to communicate with teachers, parents, tax payers and other stakeholders about what is going on in the school districts.
Social media, like any other tool, can be used wisely or stupidly. It can be used for good or for ill. Some people will have backlashes against any new tool since the tool could be misused or used for ill. It is better to understand new tools and help people learn to use them in the best possible ways.
(Cross posted at deliberateCT.)
