I thought last weeks format worked pretty well hey? We start by sitting down away from the computers, going round each person and coming up with a plan each for the night. I think its a good way to get to know where everyone else is at, and to get a sense action before we zonk out in front of the computers.
I'm pretty keen on showing people Wikispaces. Its a free and very easy place where you can set up your own wiki, even create a fancy looking website that is always quite and easy to update.
Would you like to learn how to do that? Its much the same as with Youtube videos too.
Tonight we will learn how to embed media into our blogs AS WELL as how to set up an account on things like Youtube so that you find the best stuff for you're interests. You you don't have account on Youtube, then you're probably missing the best parts of it all! To you, Youtube must seem like a bunch of teenage home movies. Not so! The best stuff will reveal itself to you when you set up an account and start using it better!
Edit This is a kind of guest book. If you've hung out with us exploring social media and you think you're going to keep it up, how about you comment in your blog so we can follow your progress? If you keep reasonably active with your blogging, we'll list you here:
Hello everyone, it was a great turn out last week, and even though we were thwarted by Twitter not letting us all through, we still managed to get some good runs on the board. I have seen quite a few follow through with Twitter accounts, with a special mention to Veronique who went the extra yards and wrote something to her blog about Twitter! Thanks V
This week we'll separate the group into those who have a Google Reader account and those who don't.
Those who already do have a Google reader account:
Your task is to research recent information on "Social Media" using the Delicious online bookmarking service. Basically you will be browsing what other people around the world have bookmarked about social media, and noting good finds to your blog.
You should be able to tell by the URL that you are looking at my delicious account, were I have bookmarked a number of items to do with social media.
Browse the links in this list, and open things that interest you in a NEW TAB
When you have finished browsing the list, look closely at the things you have opened, and prepare to write a post to your blog on the things that stood out for you most of all. Note what the link you like is, why you think it is important, and how you think you might use it in future.
Now spend some time looking at bookmarked items that all delicious users have under "socialmedia". The URL therefore will simply be http://delicious.com/socialmedia
Notice the "Popular and Recent" link at the top of the list that will assist your browsing.
Subscribe to the RSS feed for these bookmarks
If you have time, write another post to your blog for anything you have found that you think Leigh should use in the course.
For those who don't have a Google Reader account:
We will simply set up an account with Google Reader and use it to subscribe to information feeds like blogs and bookmarks. Review the notes from the last workshop.
Tonight, lets focus the first hour on Twitter. I suspect that twitter will help us all understand the nature of blogging more quickly. Twitter is becoming VERY popular, and to experienced bloggers, it seems to operate much the same as blogging has done for several years, but much more quickly, mainly because when you post to your twitter you are limited to 140 characters! Making it quick to write, and quick to read. For this reason, things like twitter are known as microblogs.
It is my hope that by using twitter for an hour, the new comers will more easily appreciate how blogging works, and the veterans in the group will learn something entirely new and fun!
After that, the new comers have the option to set up a propper blog (here's notes on how from the last workshop), at the same time I'll show the veterans how to apply a fancy template with navigation tabs. Hope to see you all tonight at 6pm
I left with a bad feeling from the last workshop.. mainly because I always struggle with where to start!? It usually becomes easier when I get a sense of what people want to do, but at the same time - how are people meant to know what they want to do when they don't know what is possible?
Usually I start a workshop with an overview of social media. But I stutted, ummed and arghed, and probably left new comers feeling a bit bewilded and wondering about what they're doing here.
It seemed people were anxious to get in and "do some learning", but we're back to the first problem.. try what and why? Perhaps a workshop on "social media" is too broad.. and I need to simply focus.. Tonight's workshop is on Twitter for example - make of it what you will? But as Beverly said, social media is not a linear thing, and engaging with it like this risks a very disjointed understanding of it. My approach has been to try and look at it as much as possible first, and see if a light turns on. But this has just as many problems, not the least over whelming people with new information.
For some people, the non linear approach of looking at things and seeing where questions and comments lead us seems to work to a point. It really depends on how willing people are to engage. We focused a lot on the makings of Wikipedia.. and that lead to a deeper understanding on how we can assess its accuracy and authenticity. But over all, many people are so new to it all, that it is hard to question or comment or engage generally - its just a task in concentration alone!
Eventually I bit the bullet and realised non linear is just as difficult as linear. So we knuckled down to setting up an RSS news reader, using Google Reader. Those new to the course all successfully set up an account and subscribed to at least 2 feeds. Here's a video by GoogleReaderHelp to get you thinking about how to use your reader effectively:
One new person (sorry, names!) discovered a wonderfully quick way to search for feeds! Simply click the "subscribe button" and type in a subject search, such as "gardening with native new zealand plants". Google reader will search for social media (that being media created largely by people like you and I) and return information that includes: The title of the media item it has found, a snippet of the content, the website address that the item comes from, and how many people are subscribed to the feed. From this we have just enough information to decide whether to subscribe to the feed or not. I think this is a very quick way to find feeds that may (or may not) lead us to new and interesting information in the future. Think of feeds as pathways to future information, rather than static and already available information. You're looking for feeds that appear like they will provide you with information around your interest generally.
The Google Reader is hard for people to comprehend I find. A lot of people struggle to use it well, such as finding good feeds, and regularly checking it for updates. But it is fundamental for entering the social media scape. If you can work this tool out, it will help you access interesting media, and help you manage all that you find in an efficient time saving way. With all this stimulation will likely come inspiration and new ideas, which will hopefully lead you to want to create your own media, and that will see you becoming connected to people who eventually subscribe to your feeds. In time and careful management, you will draw yourself into deeper understandings, direct contact with experts, and you will start to feel the "social" side of the Internet.
Next week, I think we'll go linear again and look at Twitter. I think Twitter is useful in helping us understand how blogging and reading fit together.
I thought last weeks format worked pretty well hey? We start by sitting down away from the computers, going round each person and coming up with a plan each for the night. I think its a good way to get to know where everyone else is at, and to get a sense action before we zonk out in front of the computers.
