Bunn - EME6414

This chapter focuses on Flickr. More specifically it focuses on the struggle and what some would call failure of Flickr. While the platform is still around and has a fairly large number of users, the platform itself is an example of where Web 2.0 tools can flop. According to Van Dijck: "Flickr members wanted the owners to invest in user connectedness and were willing to pay for it. On the other hand, Flickr developed a platform for app designers, third parties, and advertisers who regarded the site's mass of generated photographic content as a unique resource waiting to be monetized" (p. 94). In short the site turned from their community of users, to the commodity of the data they produced. They changed the interface several times, changed their motto, reintroduced stuff they had taken down under new names, and in the end alienated their core users who invested their time and loyalty at the beginning.  This chapter didn't provide a lot of new insight, but it did warn

Does anyone else follow a really random show? I've been obsessed with a reality television show for YEARS now. Big Brother is a show that puts 16 adults into a house cut off from the outside world. There are twists and turns, secret alliances, and crazy competitions. One person is evicted every week, ending in one person winning half a million dollars. If it's not cancelled due to Covid, this season will mark the 22nd season. I have seen an embarrassing number of these seasons, but sometimes life got in the way. The I ended up adding CBS All Access to my Prime Membership and now I have access to every single season.  I absolutely love this show, but it is probably the only reality competition that I have followed and it does not seem like something I would be obsessed with. My friends laugh at me about it, but I don't care. I love it! Anyone else have a show like that?

Again, I find myself in a place where I wish that I had known what I learned about this week when I was still in the classroom. As a High School ELA teacher, even in a title one school here in Florida, we had a computer cart in the classroom with enough computers for each student. While many social media sites were blocked (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Many of these other online tools would not have been. I wish I could have tried a more networked learning community style. I think the use of a class bog, collection and curation tools, the online badges, and the primary resource sites form the creative commons unit come to mind. So, to answer the question, I think in some cases the tools help foster ideas, though I would argue that once you know of the tools then you would probably get ideas of how to use them when you come across a subject. I think I could have fostered more motivation from my students, possibly given them the additional time and space for them to work at their own

Chapter 5 focuses on Twitter. Originally the creators of Twitter were striving to create a utility. A piece of information infrastructure that was an everyday and unnoticeable part of our lives, like electricity or phones. Van Dijck says that this created a paradox in that is "presumes Twitter to be a neutral platform upon which users freely interact, much like the Web itself...indifferent to the contents they exchange" but that "the streams of data are engineered to promote certain uses and users over time" (p.69). Van Dijck says this paradox of "enabling connectedness while engineering connectivity" and "propagating neutrality while securing profitability" show up in every aspect of the platform. This is kind of a trend in all social media platforms as the start out about the user, but need to pay the bills... The Twitter platform has has some pivotal contributions to the culture of connectivity (culture influence tech while tech influences cul

Reading has always been a bit of an escape for me. As long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with fiction and the ability to get away from my present and go pretty much anywhere. Even as I am pursuing my Phd, I find that I am constantly buying (odd for someone with a Library degree) the next novel that I want to read. I almost always have a novel on me, I think I really picked the habit up when I moved to New York and realized there is so much time to read throughout the day that you might miss. Taking the train, waiting rooms, random periods when you are in between tasks, etc. So since then, I find that I get through more novels that expected, even though I'm in a period of study that requires a lot of reading. I've been on a bit of a noir kick. I love the old movies and I've discovered that some of my favorites are based on novels and that the author has written many more. I've always loved The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and found out tha

Most of my work so far has been in qualitative methodologies, but as I progress through my Web Analytics course, I find that Big Data sparks my interest like RCTs and other quantitative methodologies never have. I am also focusing on Social Media and learning in a research project that I am a part of and plan to engage with it in my dissertation from a policy standpoint.  As I read the Batrinca & Treleaven (2015) article for my web analytics class, I started to wonder how text analytics and sentiment analysis might be used to gather more information regarding how people felt and talked about policy. Twitter and other platforms are all used to discuss policies and programs that have passed, what outcomes they have produced, and people’s feelings about all those aspects. I wonder how Big Data might be used to provide more background and be used to make decisions regarding policy and amendments to those policies and if there is a way to use the processes to collect qualitative data as

Learning more about the intellectual property and the creative commons this week and looking through the tools has been enlightening and to be honest a little frustrating. LOL! I was looking through the Merlot.org website and I am so upset that I didn't know about this site while I was teaching. The amount of materials that I could have used to supplement the class readings on both historical and literary topics would have been so helpful.  As a result, I will be sending several of the resources I have discovered so far in this course to many of my high school teacher friends in an effort that they may benefit from my learning and discovery. 

I made a new discovery this week that I thought I might share with everryone. I found a new band that I really enjoy and they pair particularly well with working on school work. I usually listen to Lofi Hip Hop Beats to Chill/Study To (more on that later). It was my best friend's baby's birthday at the end of May (irrelevant) and I made a gift and was finally able to visit and give it to them. During dinner I got to chatting with her husband (also a great friend) and as usual we got to discussing our current favorite cocktails, craft beer, and music discoveries.  Well his suggestion was a band called Khruangbin (pronounced kroong-bin). I gave them a listen on my drive home and now I am completely obsessed.  Their music is mostly instrumental, upbeat, and catchy. Its great to have on while you are working on schoolwork or housework and it helps you stay motivated and active without being distracting when you need to focus. Checking them out on Apple Music or Spotify. Their bio t

I'd like to start out by saying a big thank you to Dr. Dennen for the attention to her students this summer. She heard and listened to a diverse group of people with different needs and acted in a kind and compassionate way that allowed students to redirect their energies where they were needed most!  I'd also like to acknowledge my fellow students who are putting in some hard work following an increasingly stressful year. The disintegration of the spring semester due to Covid-19, months of quarantine, and then the current answer to injustices all over America have made focusing on schoolwork tough! Great job being a participant of the world and keeping your schoolwork going at the same time! Summers can be particularly stressful anyway, so good on you! Stay strong everyone! We'll get to the end and be better for it!