A final note

Introduction

This module has essentially done two things for me. First, it has given me a greater awareness of the depth of the online cosmos – i.e. the amount of online acitivities one can take part in and the amount of online activities, tools and mediums that are already present. Second, it acted as a slight catalystic change for me to embrace online mediums more.

Digital literacy review

Lets review the digital literacy audit first. In summary, there is slight improvement in the areas of participating in and collaborating in online communitites, building online networks and managing online identity. In the areas of blogging, I am now familiar with the technical aspects of it (navigating and playing around with blogposts) and more importantly, learnt to be objective in providing comments (a fundamental principle for being more online savvy).

While I am still new to Twitter and LinkedIn, I am more aware of the potential both platforms can provide in terms of helping me establish myself professionally.

However, I do admit that I have much to learn and explore. I have to be more familiar with those platforms and be at ease using them. More importantly, I think the idea is not to simply increase my usage of them but to know how to use them in a productive way.

1. The approach you will take to your learning on future modules

This largely depends on the modules themselves. Where online research is concerned, I will still assess the sources of online materials, prefably sticking to more credible sites. I make use of my university library’s online database to gain access into academic journals as well.

For my own learning (outside the university’s curriculum), I do occassionally check out educational videos on TED and youtube. For instance, on the areas of religion and life lessons, I listen to Nick Vujicic and Billy Graham, whose talks have been recorded and uploaded on youtube.

Reflecting on any particular topic

One of my views that was expanded came from topic 1. I like how the authors David and Alison distinguished some of the key behavioural differences between digital residents and visitors in their blog. Their descriptions were very applicable as I could identify with the visitor side of the spectrum. Being predominantly a visitor, I can understand why I may find it more difficult to establish my presence online or be involved in online communities.

2. How you will build your own online professional profile

To be realistic, I will work on my LinkedIn profile first. I have created an account, but I will take some time to select an appropriate profile picture, list the skills and work experiences I have gained, add my connections, get some endorsements and look for groups to join.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/simon-lam/a6/3b6/778

For facebook, I will continue to tune my privacy settings and follow some of the companies’ feeds and pages. I will be cleaning up my news feeds to enhance the content that I want to receive.

Lastly, as I am still very new to Twitter, I will increase my usage of it after I have enhanced my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.

A final note

To that end, thank you Dr. Lisa and team for facilitating this module and using it as a means to encourage us to be more involved online, and to have greater awareness of what we can do online to enhance our career prospects. I admit I did struggle with the learning style of this module, as I am tradionally a more teête-à-tête kind of person. I did however, still took home some meaningful insights and knowledge from this module.

Cheers,

Simon

Topic 5 Reflection

The argument for and against Open Access in the perspectives of content producers is a really difficult one. There are just too many factors. As Wen Hui noted in her post, whether Open Access can be advantageous or disadvantageous to content producers would depend on their motivation behind producing content. (eg, for money or for publicity, etc). This point was also echoed in Charmaine’s post, when she challenged her readers to “rethink the reason why we are sharing in the first place”.

Another big point brought up was about cost and the sustainability of content producers. Ebrahim shared on my post about how advertising could be one way content producers could defray costs. Novina on the other hand, brought up Coursera’s model on charging students only if they wanted to obtain a formal certificate for completing a certain course. I suggested to Novina that, while that model is also one way to help content producers remain sustainable, it may not work across all Open Access platforms, assuming more platforms will be emerging in the future with greater variety.

A lot of our classmates posts mentioned how consumers can stand to benefit from Open Access. However, it is hard to identify how content-producers on the other hand would benefit. I guess that’s also because most of us take the shoes of consumers of online content, and we may not necessarily understand how content-producers will benefit fully from this system. I asked Charmaine for her thoughts on how content producers will benefit.

All in all, I think the addition of OERs have brought about one clear advantage for content-producers. They now have a choice. They can choose to either publish their works through the traditional publishing house or engage Open Access platforms, and like what Wen Hui and Charmaine mentioned, depending on their main motivation behind producing and sharing a particular content.

Topic 5: Advantages and Disadvantages to a content producer of making materials accessible freely online

Photocredit: cynicalbabblings.wordpress.com

Advantage

Photocredit: www.dreamstime.com

One of the benefits that producers can enjoy when making their materials accessible freely online is larger publicity. Leveraging on OER platforms for instance allow producers of the content (eg. researchers or educational institutes) to reach out to a wider audience and thereby achieve greater publicity and viewership/readership of their work. Take Standford University for instance. The launch of their Coursera platform instantly allows the University to reach millions of students and adult learners across the globe (Dunn, 2013). While there is certainly no need for the University to advertise itself as it is already amongst the world’s most prestigious universities, I think Stanford greatly enhances its soft power through this act of sharing its educational resources online for the entire world. Just imagine the kind of support and goodwill Stanford has gained as a result of sharing its high-quality lectures to the public. If Stanford wants to shape a certain idea across the globe, the university is now able to do so through its OER platform. That is scary.

Disadvantages

Photocredit: www.insurancecompanyrules.org

Cost can be both an advantage and disadvantage. While consumers of the materials on OERs can benefit from its low costs, content producers on the other hand may question its sustainability. Who pays the content producers for constantly producing new content? Who pays for maintaining the content online? As more people subscribe to the content, the online platforms that support free content will have to become more sophisticated and will incur more cost. To simply rely on the government and taxpayers’ money may not be feasible in the long run. Consumers of the content, will inevitably bear some cost somewhere down the road (Peterson, 2014)

Another issue is that of copyright. Based on Professor David Wiley’s 4Rs (2012), producers of content literally have to allow their content to be used in anyway possible. Question. How many authors or researchers who painstakingly put in years of research into their study, would support the idea of an open system where their work can be revised or remixed, even though they may still be cited? The credibility of research can potentially decline if content producers do not receive the necessary rewards, whether monetary or in other forms.

The idea of OER is worth exploring but brings with it great risks. Perhaps we should continue to monitor the effects of Stanford’s Coursera and Harvard-MIT’s MOOC before jumping into the bandwagon.

References

Dunn, D. (2013). Education Finally Ripe for Radical Innovation by Social Entrepreneurs – Forbes. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://ht.ly/jPTX3 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Peterson, D. (2014). The Pros and Cons of MOOCS. [online] About.com. Available at: http://adulted.about.com/od/Adult-Education-in-the-U.S./a/The-Pros-And-Cons-Of-Moocs.htm [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Wiley, D., Green, C. and Soares, L. (2012). Dramatically Bringing down the Cost of Education with OER: How Open Education Resources Unlock the Door to Free Learning. Center for American Progress. Available at: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535639.pdf [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Topic 4 reflection

Photo credit: mayrsom.com

There seems to be a whole suite of ethical issues raised in educational or business context use of social media. In particular, some of the business uses of social media have raised questions regarding the use of solicited endorsements via social media platforms. Consumers clearly do not like to be kept in the dark, and companies need to be responsible in boldly declaring their true intentions behind some of these marketing tactics. Perhaps, this is also the impetus for companies to improve the quality of their marketing campaigns rather than to resort to underhand tactics that raises ethical dilemmas, when conducting their marketing activities.

Another point I’ve learnt from this topic is that both companies and individuals need to navigate social media platforms cautiously. No longer can individuals simply post comments on websites or social media pages of a certain company without first being aware what persona he or she is taking. Individuals need to be self-aware on the social media platform.

I have also learnt about “social bashing” through Wen Hui’s post. It is also one of the many ethical issues concerning the use of social media. However, in my reply, I explored with Wen Hui the idea of solving ethical dilemmas in real life that people face rather than solving their online ethical issues because many of the unethical things that people do online have its roots in real life issues of character and their own code of ethics.

Lastly, Isaac’s case study on Ford’s use of social media in their business context also shed light on yet another type of ethical issue that companies can face. I reiterated in his post that the idea of context is again very important as it helps determine what ‘type’ of posts are appropriate for what type of events.

Topic 4: Ethical issues raised by educational OR business use of social media

Photo credit: MDO Partners

There are many ethical issues raised by business use of social media these days. I would like to highlight two of the following:

Solicited endorsements

One ethical issue in the context of business use of social media is that of solicited endorsements. One example in case was products manufacturer Belkin, which, was caught for paying people to leave positive reviews on their products via Amazon (Arthur, 2014). Another similar case would be that of Wal-Mart, which, sponsored two bloggers who were road tripping across the United States to write positive reviews about Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart did this without informing the public that it was indirectly paying for the bloggers’ road trip (Vinjamuri, 2011).

These are examples of unethical use of social media in the business contexts. Followers of the companies on social media sites are being “cheated” into believing that the content that they see on social media platforms are real when in actual fact, there is more than meets the eye. The problem here again is not social media, but rather, the unethical practices that businesses use to forward its marketing agendas via social media. It is unfortunate that such problems have risen as a result of the interactive nature of social media, where companies can engage with consumers more directly and dynamically.

Conflict of interests

Another unethical use of social media in the business context is that of conflict of interests (Institute of business ethics, 2011). This occurs when employees mix their personal lives with their corporate lives. Employees sometimes unassumingly post comments on their competitors’ websites while wearing the hat of a normal consumer. For instance, a said employee is simply doing his own research while sourcing for different car brands to buy. He decides to share his thoughts on a company’s (say Audi) facebook page. In the heat of engaging in meaningful discussions with other potential buyers on the page, he posts some very subjective thoughts regarding Audi’s car. He forgets that however, he is an employee of BMW. This unassuming, no-doubt innocent post, can also result in an unethical business practice. If other users find out that he works for BMW, he and BMW can possibly lose credibility in their reputation.

These days, companies need to take a very proactive approach towards guiding their own employee’s usage of social media as well as being aware of and practicing ethical ways in their engagement of social media platforms to further their marketing agendas.

References

Arthur, C. (2014). Are your tweets trusted or tainted? The realities of social media #fails. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/08/tweets-trusted-tainted-social-media-fails [Accessed 8 Dec. 2014].

Institute of business ethics, (2011). The ethical challenges of social media. Issue 22. [pdf] Available at: http://www.ibe.org.uk/userassets/briefings/ibe_briefing_22_the_ethical_challenges_of_social_media.pdf [Accessed 8 Dec. 2014].

Vinjamuri, D. (2011). Ethics and the Five Deadly Sins of Social Media. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2011/11/03/ethics-and-the-5-deadly-sins-of-social-media/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2014].

Topic 3 Reflection

Credits: qtpham1992 via: ebay 

This topic has led me to have a better understanding of what are some of the key ideas to create our online professional profiles and how to make them stand out. Amongst the myriad of social media sites, LinkedIn and Twitter still prove to be the most popular for networking purposes. My interest in these two platforms had certainly been ignited as a result of this module.

Some of the other key learning points I took away from this topic:

Isaac reminded me through his post, that in addition to thinking of ways to create our online professional profiles, we should also think of how to maintain them. He got me thinking about how often we should audit our profiles, and I asked for his views on what he thought a reasonable timeframe would be. I think semi-annual updates are reasonable.

Xiuzhen’s post also showed me another key feature of LinkedIn through an insightful video she shared – on how to use the connections in LinkedIn to our advantage. I did have my reservations though, and I asked her to what extent can we really be “connected” to the multiple connections offered in LinkedIn.

Novina’s comment on Xiuzhen’s blog offered some food for thought too. She brought up a good point on whether certain online platforms may be more relevant to certain types of skill-sets. I concluded that at the basic level, social media platforms could still be relevant to every field. The usage and relevance of it however, would then differ among the different industries.

Xiuzhen’s post and Novina’s comments: https://cheexiuzhen.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/topic-3-finding-a-job-using-resume-nah-no-more-social-media-is-trending-for-employability-right-now/comment-page-1/#comment-17

Isaac’s post: http://isaaclye.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/advice-from-a-linkedin-guru/comment-page-1/#comment-11

Topic 3: Ways in which an authentic online professional profile can be developed

Without getting too technical, I will discuss briefly some of the main themes or ideas that most writers across the web have put forth, in giving us a clue as to how to create authentic online profiles that can impact our professional lives.

1. KnowGoogle thyself

source: http://www.cafepress.com

The first is to do an online search of oneself. The age-old adage of self-awareness being the beginning of wisdom certainly does extend to our digital age. According to ExecuNet, 77% of recruiters used search engines to find background data on candidates. (Cooper, 2011). Doing an online search of oneself helps one to get a snapshot of any positive or negative impressions of oneself that one can find online.

The benefits of knowing this are two-fold. One, the candidate does not have to be caught by surprise should employers bring to light some of the candidate’s past activities found online (eg. past remarks made). Part of being authentic is to also be aware of who one was in the past, and who one is now, and thus be able provide accountability to employers. (Henry, 2012)

2. Enhance strengths, mitigate weaknesses

source: http://www.upsidelearning.com

Being aware of any possible junk tied to one’s profile, the candidate can now decide how to present a better impression of oneself. This is where the second benefit lies. The candidate should remove past traces of oneself that can potentially ruin the candidate’s reputation. For instance, inappropriate photos or remarks made on social networking sites deserve to be cleaned up. On the other hand, the candidate should start enhancing his online presence in more positive ways. For instance, creating a LinkedIn profile to network with potential employers online, or making use of blogs to showcase one’s portfolio are just some of the ways.

3. Honesty is the best policy

source: http://www.memorymuseum.net

In light of how to create an authentic profile, I believe the principle of honesty applies across every medium. If employees and even senior management can face harsh consequences for lying in their resumes, the same caution should be taken in online profiles (Pepitone, 2012). A LinkedIn profile for instance, is almost an extension of one’s résumé, albeit being in the form of an online profile. One should not risk tarnishing one’s credibility or reputation by putting up false information online.

Additional tips on how to manage your professional and personal profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook respectively: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/04/12/sociability-how-recruiters-use-social-media-check-applicants-and-tips-linkedin-and

References

Pepitone, J. (2012). Yahoo confirms CEO is out after resume scandal. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/13/technology/yahoo-ceo-out/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Henry, A. (2012). How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression. [online] Lifehacker. Available at: http://lifehacker.com/5963864/how-to-clean-up-your-online-presence-and-make-a-great-first-impression [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Cooper, C. (2011). You’ve been Googled: what employers don’t want to see in your online profile. [online] Available at: http://careers.theguardian.com/careers-blog/google-online-searches?intcmp=239 [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Topic 2: Reflective summary

The argument for and against having multiple online identities and thus the degree of anonymity a person should have is one that can never fully have a one-size-fits-all answer. It depends from country to country, city to city. The fabrics of each society are different and thus the degree of anonymity that each society is comfortable with would also differ. It all depends on the context.

I agree with Wen Hui that one way to make our lives easier when approaching our online identities is to be consistent. Wen Hui’s point addresses the question from the angle of how to remain authentic online. However, I do believe that there are benefits of being anonymous as well and asked Wen Hui for her thoughts on what would some of the benefits be.

Xiuzhen shared an interesting info-graphic about how employers screen candidates’ social media profiles when they hire. It is a good reminder for us to be cautious, yet at the same time, it begs the question of how much should employers base their hiring decisions on our social media profiles? How much is reasonable? I posted this question back to Xiuzhen.

Lastly, Isaac replied with a thought-provoking comment to my blogpost, which I would like to share. He brought up a point about how certain members of the community, because of the posts they hold or the stance they take (eg. a minority stance), protecting their offline identities would be paramount to their safety. I strongly agree with Isaac, and I replied that we do not have to give out private information about ourselves, but rather the idea I hoped to bring across was about having accountability to what we say and who we are online.

Wen Hui’s blog: https://elishapwhisliketat.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/topic-2-online-identity-privacy-and-security/comment-page-1/#comment-5

Xiu Zhen’s blog: https://cheexiuzhen.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/topic-2-online-identity-privacy-and-security/comment-page-1/#comment-9

Isaac’s reply: https://wingslykeagles.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/topic-2-online-identity-privacy-and-security/comment-page-1/#comment-8

Topic 2: Online identity, privacy and security

One of the themes brought up regarding having multiple online identities is the contrast between authenticity and anonymity (Krotoski, 2012). I would like to expand on this theme as I put forth my arguments for and against having more than one identity. Here, the assumption is that authenticity would mean having only one identity, where this online identity is merely an extension of one’s real-life identity. Having multiple identities on the other hand translates to anonymity as the person does not reveal any clue of who he or she really is.

Arguments for having more than one identity

One of the immediate platforms that came to mind is discussion forums where users can discuss topics that can range from anything generic to deeper and more sensitive issues. Regardless of the topics, having a separate identity would definitely help. This is especially so when sensitive subjects such as medical conditions or addictions are being discussed, and where there is the possibility of the person sharing being subjected to discrimination or worse still, blackmail (Masters, 2011). In order for the person to be vulnerable to receive help, he or she would need a safe place, which the internet cannot guarantee unlike physical spaces, hence the benefit of a pseudo online identity.

Arguments against having more than one identity

Unfortunately, people abuse internet anonymity. Too often we see derogatory remarks on public forums or social media sites. When people are not held accountable or when their credibility or reputation is not at stake, netizens unfortunately do not practice much sensitivity and tactfulness in putting forth their comments (Davenport, 2002). Their comments are also often not substantiated by concrete evidence.

Another argument against having more than one identity is the increasing reports of online scams. Love scams: where people pose fake identities of themselves to target individuals who are just innocently looking online for a dating partner, but are actually professional cyber criminals out there to extort money from these unassuming individuals.

In light of these arguments against having more than one identity, this is where restricting netizens to having only one authentic identity may derail some of the negative effects of internet anonymity (Masters, 2011). The idea is this: if who you are online can be immediately traced to who you are offline, people will naturally take their actions and its consequences more seriously, and work towards a safer and responsible space online.

References

Davenport, D. (2002). Anonymity on the Internet: Why the Price May Be Too High. Available at: http://www.csl.mtu.edu/cs6461/www/Reading/Davenport02.pdf [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

Krotoski, A. (2012). Online identity: is authenticity or anonymity more important?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

Masters, A. (2014). Identity on the Internet: The pros and cons of anonymity | | Independent Editor’s choice Blogs. [online] Blogs.independent.co.uk. Available at: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/09/19/identity-on-the-internet-the-pros-and-cons-of-anonymity/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

Topic 1 Reflective Summary

Many of my classmates mentioned the fundamental differences between what classifies a digital visitor and a digital resident. Two of them in particular shared interesting points that got me thinking about some other ideas that may never have crossed my mind.

Isaac got me thinking about whether the visitor resident mapping process is helpful in a business/marketing context. It made me realise that the mapping process does have its limitations, and the usefulness of it really depends on the context of the company as well.

I also probed Isaac on whether he thinks having a digital profile serves to be more advantageous or disadvantageous for us. This came across my mind because we often hear bad examples of companies firing their employees after discovering about their lifestyles from their online profiles, or worst still, because they have posted some unprofessional remarks on their digital space.

Sara brought up an interesting point that as long as there is a need for digital literacy, people will learn to do stuff. It got me questioning whether is the need really strong enough for our population to be digital literate and what it would take to migrate everyone online and reach a certain standard of digital literacy, if such a standard is even in place?

Another interesting point I learnt from Sara was that we can actually be both digital visitors and residents, depending on the purpose of our online activities. This however, made me question the usefulness of the digital visitor and resident category, and if they can really add value to companies and universities.

Isaac’s blog post: http://isaaclye.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/visitors-residents-and-me/comment-page-1/#comment-2

Sara’s blog post: http://saradanlee.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/digital-visitor-vs-digital-resident/