Month: January 2021

1. What is a digital identity?

People or a group of people’s digital identity online refers to the activities they do online. To borrow the words of Eric Stoller, digital identity refers to people’s digital footprint which is any body of work, portfolio, or blog (0:20-0:30). Digital identities are created based on the preferences of users. For example, when a certain online user loves to listen to classical music, he or is likely to be engaged with people, post, or share something related to classical music. In line with this, in the article entitled, Identity-Making and Social Media, Karl Spracklen explained that a fans of sports, music and other forms of popular culture can use the internet to discuss their private obsessions with their fellow fans (94-95). This explains why people’s digital identity is related to what they like. Nevertheless, this is not always the case for digital identity can be created based on the identity that users are trying to project. Erick Stoller mentioned that some employers “stalk” their applicants profile as some form of pre-interview (0:45-0:49). If this is the case, then users need to be wise in creating their digital identities and create one that will be approved by their (future) employers.

2. How do personal versus professional approaches to digital identity affect social media use?

Eric Stoller mentioned that there are some people who “dented” their career because of something that they have posted online (0:50-0:54). This is alarming because this only implies that whatever we post online, regardless if we are just making a joke or we are serious about it, it will still affect our career. For this reason, if we really wanted to create a professional digital identity, it would be better if we will be more careful with what we post. Particularly, before posting anything, we should ask ourselves questions like: “What would my boss think about this? How would my employers react to this? However, one might argue and say that they use social media as their emotional outlet or for some personal reasons. For example, some people use social media to connect with their own community (Spracklen 95). In cases like these, it would be advisable for professionals to create “alternate accounts.” In this account, professional social media users will not fear judgments from their clients or boss.

3. How do digital identities converge in networked publics – what are the impacts and/or benefits?

Different digital identities converge in networked publics when people do online discussions, create online communities, and add/follow other users. The convergence of digital identities has positive impacts because it helps people establish their sense of belongingness (Sprackle 95). In addition to this, convergence of digital identities enable people to learn from other people as well. However, the downside of the convergence of digitial identities is when one’s personal digital identity overlapped with his/her professional digital identity. The overlap of professional and personal digital identity happens when users do not responsibly use their personal and professional digital account. As mentioned earlier, personal and professional digital identities should not overlap especially when what one is sharing and posting in his/her personal account is not fit for a professional.

4. Can a digital wallet provide trust in networked publics?

In my opinion, digital wallet can be trusted especially when you know how to keep your vital information private. Internet users should not only be familiar with different digital tools that they could use but they should also be aware of how fraudulent activities are done online. It is true that a lot of fraudulent activities are done online and many had already been victimized by it. However, I do not think that that it is reason enough to not push through with digital wallets. According to Manyika, 1.7 billion will be more “financially included and participative” if they have access to digital IDs (9:25-9:30). This means that online wallet can help governments promote financial independence.

 

Works Cited

Eric Stoller. “What is Digital Identity?” YouTube, University of Derby, 25 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0&feature=youtu.be.

Spracklen, Karl. “Identity-Making and Social Media.” Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture, 2015, pp. 94-112.

World Economic Forum. “Davos 2019 – Press Conference The Value of Digital Identity for the Global Economy and Society.” YouTube, 6 Feb. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-V7lyxrOmw&feature=youtu.be.

1. What does it mean to network using social media?The technological innovations for the past years allowed people to connect to each other through creating online networks. These networks that people have created over time have profound effect on the way people learn (University of Southampton). To network means gathering, collecting, communicating, creating, and sharing information and experience to group of connected people (Gutierrez). Networking can be effectively done through social media as it allows users to follow and connect to each other. One particular kind of network that people can create in social media is the Personal Learning Network also known as PLN. PLN, according to Jane Hart is “A network of trusted connections with whom an individual interacts (and learns from) on a regular basis” (cited in Gutierrez). PLN are created by learners and they create it according to their interests and needs (Rajogopal, et al.). This means that compared to online courses, learners have more freedom in PLN. More so, learners can create their PLN in social media through following the social media accounts of the experts of the field that they are interested in. If learners are using Facebook in particular, they can also like pages or join groups related to their topic of interest.
2. How are we motivated to participate in networked publics?
Learners are motivated to participate in networked publics because they feel that they are in-charge of their own learning. In the article entitled What are Personal Learning Networks?, Karla Gutierrez stated that PLN is further defined by intention. This implies that in PLN, learners only have their intention as a guide in building their network and they do not need course outlines nor teachers to tell them what to do and what they should learn. The absence of course syllabus, timeline, and mentors enable learners to learn from their fellow learners and through experience as well. In addition, learners are motivated to participate in networked publics because of it makes them feel that they are part of a community (Rajogopal, et al.). Engaging or participating in networked publics make learners feel fulfilled through sharing their ideas to others. More so, participating in networked public will enable them to get help or assistance and they could also establish friendship with others. Ultimately, participating in networked public help learners learn remotely. This means that learners do not have to be physically at school in order to learn new things and master skills. PLN made learners realize that for as long as they have a quite space at home and they have reliable internet connection, getting proper education would be possible.

3. What are the risks & rewards of public communications?

The rewards of public communications includes the following: it is cheaper, it is accessible, it hones learners’ critical thinking, and it paves way to life-long learning. Public communications online is way cheaper than public communications through television, radio, newspapers, and etc. In addition to this, public communication online is much accessible as learners can use different social media for free. Furthermore, public communications can hone learners’ critical thinking because public communications expose learners to different beliefs and perspectives. Moreover, public communications can also be a good training ground for learners to justify their beliefs and encourage others to their side. Lastly, public communications enable life-long learning because PLN has no expiration date. In other words, learners can still learn from PLN that they created even if they are no longer students. Even if public communications have a lot of rewards, these also have risks. Accordingly, PLN users should also be aware of these risks so that they would know how to responsibly engage in public communications. One of the dangers of engaging in public communication is that users have no true control of their data is nearly impossible (Boyd 349). For this reason, the author proposed that instead of controlling data, users need to focus on data usage and interpretation. In other words, PLN members need to be vigilant on how they daya are being used and interpreted.

Works Cited

Boyd, Danah. “Networked Privacy.” Surveillance & Society, vol. 10, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 348-350.
Gutierrez, Karla. “What Are Personal Learning Networks?” SHIFT E-Learning Software | Authoring Tool, 21 June 2016, www.shiftelearning.com/blog/personal-learning-networks.
Rajagopal, Kamakshi, et al. “Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them.” First Monday, vol. 17, no. 1, 2012.
University of Southampton. “What is a Personal Learning Network (PLN)?” FutureLearn, 8 Aug. 2013, www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/learning-network-age/0/steps/24644.

Hello EDCI 338 people! My name is ZongyuJia! I am an Economics major and I am currently a fourth year student. Hopefully, if things went well in my academics, I will be graduating this June 2021. How time flies! I will be graduating in less than 5 months! Despite the challenges of the pandemic, I am still very excited to get my diploma and finally be out in the real world. I know that looking for a job can be extra challenging these days but I am still positive that things can still go well. By the way, I still have no internship experience but I plan to work in the bank in the future. Working in the bank will not only allow me to practice what I learned in the university but it can also help me become financially independent. More so, even if I am into economics, I am also very interested in arts and film. In my spare time, I watch art tutorials because I find it calming and entertaining. Art tutorials, particularly the ones on watercolor painting ones make me forget all that is happening in the world. Aside from watching art tutorials, I also read film critiques online and I am a huge fan of Indie flicks. My all time favorite film is Wong Kar-wai’s 1994 classic film titled Chungking Express. I like this film because I love weird love stories. Moving forward, one the things I expect to learn in this class is how digital learners like us can best use our online network to learn more. Even if I am graduating in less than 5 months, I have no intention to stop learning. I hope that this class will give me more ideas on how I can learn online aside from watching video tutorials.