Bits & Pieces

I consider myself multicultural...born and raised in the U.S. to immigrant parents from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. During my Facebook days, I would share or repost news from the U.S. that my families from Nicaragua and Costa Rica would share, adding my opinion/thoughts that they would eventually read, translated, of course (thanks, Facebook!). The same would happen vice versa. My families from each respective country would post news I would then repost and share with my U.S. contacts.  We see discussions of barriers existing on the web. In my previous post, I discuss how although Web 2.0 has broken down language and geographical barriers, users still consume content regional to them. However, content and news make it at the global level. How so? Is it thanks to our multicultural individuals that help communicate the information for us?  Below is another interesting read discussing global news-making practices on Twitter from multicultural individuals. Here is a small excerpt: "...

While researching language and social media, I stumbled upon this interesting article, reference below. Good read, by the way! Discusses BTS being an exception since they became a global phenomenon.  The article discusses that although the Internet has enabled information to overcome barriers of language and geography, users consume content from the region they reside in. Interesting to note that regions that share borders and/or speak similar/same languages tend to share similar content. The study found that global social media usage on both YouTube and Twitter is even more heterogeneous and driven to a larger extent by language and geography than global website traffic.  Is it because of the communities of users that are created regionally? Like-minded individuals consuming the same regional content? What are your thoughts? Ng, & Taneja, H. (2023). Web Use Remains Highly Regional Even In The Age Of Global Platform Monopolies. PloS One, 18(1), E0278594–E0278594. Https://D...

As you may have seen, Twitter/Elon Musk has decided to ditch the iconic blue and white bird logo and replace it with the letter "X."  Twitter is a huge part of pop culture. The blue and white bird logo produced the popular term "tweet." This made its brand so memorable. If you were to show people the bird logo, most would immediately recognize it as Twitter.  So why the change? According to The New York Times , Elon Musk hopes to turn Twitter into an “everything app” called X, which would encompass not only social networking but also banking and shopping.  However, this change is not being received well by Twitter users...even me, a former Twitter user. I think all of the changes after Elon Musk acquired Twitter have not been received very well. This change coincidently comes after its rival, Meta, released Threads...or was it all a plan from the beginning? Who knows. What I am curious about with platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is what drives their c...

Teens are using social media to diagnose themselves with ADHD, autism and more. Parents are alarmed article . This course has definitely helped me see the "good" side of social media and all the benefits it can bring. While we discuss new tools and their benefits, negative aspects of social media are heavily discussed in our current news. One of the most significant topics relates to social media use by teenagers.  This topic stands out to me because I was a former educator that worked with middle schoolers. Yes, I saw many of the things this article discussed. I look back at my teenage years and consider how these terminologies were nonexistent. Would it have been different if we had access to online information like today's youth? Absolutely. Is it a bad thing? I don't know...it's very complex. School districts and parents have filed lawsuits against major social media platforms Is this why digital citizenship is essential? How can we teach teenagers healthy soc...

This week's discussion question on our collective responsibility for promoting and developing digital citizens really caught my eye because I can answer it through my K-12 educator lens, but I had a hard time reflecting it through a lens of an instructional designer (because I'm technically not one, I guess?).  Digital literacy speaks to me the most in the K-12 realm. Many things from K-12 can transfer to anyone of any age. Many questions pop up in my head through my reflection and reflection of what my classmates shared.  What does digital citizens look like outside of the classroom?  How can we help them transfer these skills and knowledge to adulthood?  What does digital citizenship look like with adults? Can we teach digital citizenship to adults or is it best taught to younger students?

"In a movement that involves such a wide variety of people, communities and perspectives, it can be difficult to find a way to coalesce everyone’s political agenda. Social media overcomes this issue, acting as a public platform airing competing opinions. As Setright explained in the case of Nicaragua, “Social media was a key tool which everybody used to organize, protect each other, collect evidence, discuss political tactics, expose paramilitary violence and build new exiled communities.” In April 2018, Nicaragua experienced a civic insurrection during which numerous citizens reacted against the authoritarian government of President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.  Growing up, I heard a lot about the Nicaraguan regime because my dad was born and raised there. Most of his side of our family still lives there to this day. It was thanks to social media that we were updated with all the horrors that were going on in his country. Thanks to social media, many of Nicaragua's citizens f...

I am an avid Reddit user. It's the only social media I kept when I deleted all social media apps from my phone. Watching the recent events unfold on Reddit, especially on the 'popular' tab has been interesting. It went from Redditors discussing the changes that were going on, to subreddits locking their communities as a form of protest, to moderators getting threatened and now Reddit removing their reward system. So what do Redditors decide to do? Give away all their rewards! There are sure a lot of changes going on lately! To read more about it:  https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/reddit-announces-removal-of-reddit-gold-in-app-awards-system/687834/#:~:text=Second%2C%20redditors%20want%20awarded%20content,and%20the%20existing%20system%20sunsetted

Social media came in handy during the pandemic. I was at home and my students were barely interacting with me via email or whatever platform my district decided to use when schools were shut down. I decided to use my ample time at home to work on projects like many others did. One of them was gardening and through gardening, I became interested in composting. I usually bought vermicompost (earthworm poop), but it was too expensive, so I turned to social media to learn how I can compost with what I had. YouTube is a good example that supported my informal learning.  I searched for key statements like, "starting you vegetable garden," "starting your own compost" or "basics to composting" Through this search, I discovered YouTube shorts! I preferred them over the longer videos because the main points were addressed. They were very engaging and because I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube Shorts, I guess you can say that it helped me retain the information b...

This week we explored a few more additional tools, one being Trello . Below is a small blurb I took from Trello's website: "Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process." I explored the EME6414 boards and it made me think of Padlet...but fancier looking for the eyes. I really like the design of Trello. I have yet to explore it, so I am unsure about the significant differences and similarities between Trello and Padlet. However, I thought about how this tool could benefit my department. Below are some thoughts: My department will be launching a knowledge management system within our agency. We call them "desktop procedures." We are looking for ways to capture our day-to-day tasks that aren't mentioned in our position descriptions. The goal is to successfully identify our main and daily tasks (desktop procedures...

For example, one might create a blog for students, but if the students aren't engaged in produsage (as defined by Bruns) is it really an instance of social media-based learning? Do you think instructors should aspire to produsage in the classroom? In what settings/contexts? When should it be avoided? I have been reflecting a lot on the questions above and wondering what the right answer is. I keep using instances of our class where the answer to these go one way but then further thinking takes me another route. Overall, an educator must first set the intentions with social media-based activity and learning. What are the learning goals? What are the activities? What are the affordances? What is the social media tool? Can lurking be considered engagement? All these questions popped in my head. There should be produsage in the classroom. I think what's produced can yield data that then produces a grade. However, I don't think should be an overloaded task for the student. I lik...

I recently began a new job with the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT) Organization Development Office. Our office includes training, change management, talent and engagement, policy and procedures, and multimedia teams. My role is the Organizational Development Coordinator, where most of my duties are to support the teams...so far! I am still learning more about the job. One of our department's major projects is creating a wiki for our teams so we and others within our agency can learn more about our work. Many members of the department expressed that there is a breakdown with 1. people wondering what we do, 2. leaving behind helpful information to someone that may take over our position in case we transition to a new role (folks in my department call it "desktop procedures," the day-to-day tasks), and 3. people knowing the why of our work.  Our agency's platform is SharePoint. We plan on working on the wiki in the next couple of months. Our department...

This past year, I was the program manager for the Florida Department of Education's Sunshine State Scholars . Each of Florida’s school districts, including lab schools, select their top 11th grade students in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). Each scholar and their parents traveled to Orlando for a program designed to bring together scholars from around the state, connect them with employers specializing in the STEM fields, and create networking opportunities between the scholars and schools from Florida’s College and State University System. My team was in charge of running one of the engagement activities. The students were tasked with finding clues/questions in specific coordinates around the hotel the event was being hosted. Then they had to collaborate with their group members to answer the questions. The questions involved something along the lines of the population in Florida growing exponentially and how that affects infrastructure, the environment, et...