Landing : Athabascau University

Meme for educational social networks

Jo Ann asks:

What are the essential questions we need to ask regarding the educational social network? - Jo Ann's question from her blog.

Here is a meme of five questions to ask to determine the nature of an educational social network:

 1. Whose voices are clearly heard, and whose are suppressed?
 2. Who are the participants? How did they get to be there?
 3. Who is the audience: intended, accidental, or otherwise?
 4. How interconnected is this network to others?
 5. What values does this social network have in practice? 

Comments

  • Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers September 25, 2008 - 7:27pm

    Hi Glen, 

    I posted about these questions -- earlier today on your webskills and in a different location on Me2U --  but now,  I thought I would add a different perspective as I had a different sense of how I might approach them. 

    1. Whose voices are clearly heard, and whose are suppressed?

    In blogging -- perhaps there is more chance to have your voice heard -- than say a newpaper -- editted by someone else. 


     2. Who are the participants? How did they get to be there?

    With bloggers -- they vary -- invited, linked to, same interest area. They could get there by picking up links in other people's blogs, and probably many are students who are in courses like CCK08 and AU 605.

    3. Who is the audience: intended, accidental, or otherwise? If the audience is really varied -- then I'm not sure this connects to an essential question -- but it speaks more to "how do we know who will likely have an interest, criticize, or ignore our blog -- if they find it.

    4. How interconnected is this network to others? This connective likelihood seems important if one really wants people to find the blog.

    5. What values does this social network have in practice?

    I like this one -- is the blog up front on a "purpose" and how the bloggers might intentify if this blog would be serviceable -- or not.  Some blogs clearly show their intention towards a cause, a group, or a purpose -- while others indirectly suggest they are just causal meanderings -- and that's okay too.