Blog Post #7

What are the benefits of a diverse and inclusive PLN in social media sharing that understands where you are coming from with messaging that impacts the community?

It allows different people to share their opinions on the Internet without leaving their homes. When people post their opinions on the Internet, many of them may have disagreements over the opinions and discuss over the opinions. People would think whether their opinions are right. More often than not, people would learn more in the process. Meanwhile, it would let many people who do not want to speak on the Internet see their opinions and learn something.

Consider the audiences and how we adapt our messaging accordingly

Before we express out our views, we should give more considerations to whether or not what we express may hurt anybody else due to different cultural background. For our views, others may find offensive sometimes. Moreover, if comments are considered improper, please contact administrator to delete, giving cyber space a harmonious relationship.

Research our guest and see how they leveraged their network into a campaign. Reflect in your blog of this effort.

A post will be created at first and posted to discuss a topic and show personal views on social media. In general, such topic is about an event recently happened or something now under heated debate. After being posted, it is available to view on Internet. Other internet users may leave their views or opinions inside comment box down below. In this way, both information exchange and acquisition of new ideas can be achieved through Internet.

Post for Grading

Blog Post #10

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course? If yes, how? If no, what limitations exist?

From my view, I think PLN could help professional development post-course.PLN can help people express their opinions online quickly. It enables people to learn and share their opinions indoors. Moreover, by setting different topics and questions to let students discuss, thus new ideas can be got. Meanwhile, network can also open to the public to allow more people to join topics, so that more people can learn and participate in our topics. Furthermore, we can hold events online, such as voting on topics. In this way, more people can understand what we are learning.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

I think PLN can provide open professional opportunities because the purpose of PLN is to allow more people to express their views on the Internet anytime, anywhere. When people study and discuss enough topics, they will have a certain understanding of the topics discussed, and they will also inquire about certain materials on the Internet for self-study. In future career, this is also an indispensable kind of study, which is beneficial to help people make certain plans for their future careers.

Blog post 9

Why Media Literacy matters in your PLN

What is media literacy?

Media Literacy should be an essential quality of people. People first need to obtain information and evaluate it after thinking about it independently. (Media Literacy Fundamentals,2017) And post people’s views online. It’s actually like an ability that people show. Having the right media literacy can help people adapt better to society and express their views on things.

Why is it important?

If people do not have the right media literacy, it may lead to the proliferation of false information. Because reports on the same news on the Internet may have distinct results. When people do not verify the wrong information and make comments on the Internet, which will make their opinions be wrong and it is very likely to be seen by others, causing other people to have misunderstanding.

Why is it dismissed?

I think it’s hard to change people’s thinkings. When people begin to collect information, they will make judgments and subconscious evaluations of the information collected. In fact, the information of other people on the Internet can rarely change your own opinions. In addition, everyone should have their own opinions, because if everyone’s ideas are the same, everyone in the world will be the same.

Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

People have discussion on some topics because their ideas can not reach consensus, and the discussion on information on the internet can make people think more deeply. So then, people can pay attention to this topic. If all people can reach a consensus, they will often forget about it quickly. At the same time, they will not reflect on the mistakes they made in the incident. Although arguments may lead to misunderstanding, and even prevent people from reaching the right conclusions. But I think that only by continuous discussion and reflection can we make social progress.

Reference:

Media Literacy Fundamentals. MediaSmarts. (2017, January 19). Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/media-literacy-fundamentals. 

Blog post # 8

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

I think the use of social media in community publicity is a good idea, because in reality many people may have no chance to know the past and the culture of other communities. Social media can not only be used to show the community to outsiders, but also make community residents better know the culture and background of their own. PLN can make people get to know at home conveniently, so wasting time to learn in other special place is not necessary at all.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

I think instagram can play a significant role in education because most of younger people have instagram. they could initiate topics and discuss them on the instagram. Meanwhile, it can also be displayed and seen by public. Instagram could record their views on different topic at different ages. when student looking for a job in the future, it can also help enterprises better understand student thinking and their experience.

Consider the equality that exists when all have the same platform to engage community dialogues.

I think there are unequal conditions for community dialogue. First of all, some students are relatively outgoing, so they have many friends in real life. Their online expressions will be supported by many friends. While for students with few friends in real life, their opinions tend to be thought of as strange ones by most people, so their views will be ignored and even ridiculed.

Consider as an additional piece, when working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations? 

In my opinion, wrong information ought to be avoided to spread, because many people may sustain losses due to their reliance on spread of wrong information. There is also a great impact on professionalism. As is known to all, wrong public opinion may arise from wrong information on Internet. Both sides are affected. Some formal social media platforms require identity verification to register as a user, which can effectively protect private information and should be preferred to use.

Blog post #6

How do notable individuals use social media?

Celebrities will be authenticated by the platform first, as perhaps there will be many worshippers of celebrities who impersonate them. Moreover, they also use some popular social software, such as Facebook and Instragram, and usually post messages and photos on social platforms. However, celebrities’ opinions will have a great impact on the public, because they have numerous followers. Sometimes, even a company or person can be destroyed. So celebrities need to be more careful when using social software.

What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?

PLN allows people to better know about your life and interests because you can share your experiences on the Internet. When others don’t know you, they can learn about your personal hobbies and interests from your online information. You can make more like-minded friends in this way. Meanwhile, you can communicate with people online by posting information. This will also improve your communication skills.

Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

Limitations: Online communication may lead to arguments with others, as online communication is limited to text communication. You can’t let people know your tone or your expressions. If you make a simple joke and others misunderstand it, it will lead to an argument with others. At the same time, there is a lot of false information in the network. It is difficult to distinguish the true and false information on the Internet. 

Benefits: It’s easier to communicate with people, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic. People can communicate with more people while ensuring their health.

Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?

First, I think it necessary for more people to confirm information repeatedly and seek for information online. Meanwhile, cite more information from reliable large websites. Try to avoid citing private comments. As large websites have very strong mechanisms to audit information, wrong information can be prevented from spreading in this way. At the same time, indicate the source of original information before sharing others’ information. In this way, once information errors are found, it’s convenient to trace the source of information.

How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?

When you regularly take advantage of information from several websites, don’t use information from different sites too much. Looking for reliable websites can greatly reduce the risk of spreading misinformation. Because most of the information on reliable websites is generally correct, it will not mislead the public. Meanwhile, if you find wrong information on the network, inform the publisher immediately and let him modify the information, which could minimize the spread of false information.

blog post #5 PLN in Practice

How would you create a PLN (Personal learning network) prior to engaging a social media campaign on a topic of your choice ?

The topic I would choose is travel. I think traveling broadens people’s horizons and brings people a lot of new knowledge. And I enjoy taking photos. If I share some of my travel photos on the Internet, like Instagram or Facebook, more people will be able to learn about the outside world from their homes. At the same time, as a foreign student, traveling to different places in Canada can help me learn about the different local cultures and backgrounds so that I can be better adapted to life abroad. Moreover, I want to open my own restaurant in the future. Traveling will enable me to taste various delicious food in other places.

Choose a topic, consider your audiences, and consider how you would create a social media campaign leveraging your PLN ?

Before I go on a trip I will look into the destination first, and see what good restaurants and scenic spots there are in the place. In the process of travelling, I would turn on the phone’s location feature, take photos at any time, and post some theme activities with tags in Instagram. This will help people who want to travel there learn about local travel information. I would also leave my comments on Google, which can help future visitors avoid some bad scenic spots and save money and time.

Blog Post #2 V & R Map

My V & R map is showing Above 

What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?

Student are using Zoom and google Drive to develop their professional Network. On last year, due to Covid-19 paramedic, many student change face to face study to online Learning. Zoom can help students to have classes and enable teachers to see every student and teach them every day. Also, teachers will assign some homework to students, and students can complete the assigned homework through Google Drive. Everyone can modify the content of the homework and discuss it via social software. Students learn in this way, which can also be extended to work. In fact, whether it is learning or working, cooperation between people is always the key to success, and network tools can help people cooperate better.

What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network?

When students expanding their professional learning network, they should consider university relative to society. There are many different between school and society.  When students graduated, many students said that they could not adapt to the problems at work. Connecting between school and working could help student to adapt working. In addition, student need protect their private information to expose on online. If a student’s personal information is leaked to the Internet, it may cause the student to be violent on the Internet.

Discussion question

How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN?

Although data privacy can prevent your private information from being leaked, your network reach is confined. Students use fake names and information on Internet, because they worry about private information leak. As a result, visitors have no idea who the website owner is and may lose interest in browsing student websites as well.

In your network how can you create a digital identity/ reputation?

Try to help others on Internet. For example, if someone said they want to commit suicide or hurt others, please try your best to persuade them not to do anything against the law. And also do not disguise yourself. Show your true life to your friends. Enable other people to better understand you. Do not leave any offensive or hurtful comment about cyberbullying. Students should spread some information with a positive life attitude. In this way, a good network image can be achieved.

Final project post:

Network Information Security of PLN Worthy of Teenager’s Attention

Peiran Xu:V00990421

Xushi Lai:V00990212

Liu Qing: V00920386 

Prof: Jesse miller

EDCI 338 A02

3 Dec. 2021

Introduction:

People should properly protect their personal information from exposure in the network, but not all the information can be hidden. The security of personal privacy on the Internet is always a worrisome problem. The security of personal information becomes more important for teenagers. Easy exposure of personal information on the Internet may result in blackmail and cyberbullying. Meanwhile, as teenagers’ psychology is not as stable as that of adults, cyberbullying victims may tend to solve problems they meet with extreme measures.  In the article “ Blaming the Victim: The Effects of Extraversion and Information Disclosure on Guilt Attributions in Cyberbullying”, Mathias (2013) maintain that In the network, people tend to think that the objects in the network are virtual, so they do not think that their remarks are wrong. And when cyber-bullying happens, most people will look at it from the perspective of a bystander, and they rarely provide help for the victims of cyber-bullying. Therefore, this is also one of the main reasons for the continuous occurrence of tragedies in various countries. However, it is often difficult to communicate on the Internet without exposing too much personal information. Through the form of argument, whether teenagers should protect their personal information from disclosure on the Internet is discussed in this paper.

Liu: 

       Teenagers should protect their personal information to avoid cyber bullying

It’s very popular for people to share their daily lives on Twitter and Facebook. It can not only record your life and share your travel experiences, but also allows others to know you better. Moreover, when you work in the future, enterprises can also use these applications to learn about your personal experience. In other words, in today’s society, young people displaying their abilities has become an assessment of employers. At the same time, the popularity of the Internet enables people to make friends more easily through it. But it is believed that exposing personal information on the Internet is dangerous. When you deliberately conceal your personal information, you may be seen as a viritua person by others during communication, thus you may be hard to make real friends on the Internet. Some functions such as friend recommendation can avoid network users from exposure of private information in cyber space. In Twitter and Facebook, friend Recommendation is a very useful function. In the article “Social Friend recommendation based on multiple network correlation”,Huang (2016) mention that this function can push some of your friends in reality to you and help internet users with cyber communication, because you and your friends well know about who that is. However, friend recommendation is advantageous on the one hand and also disadvantageous on the other hand. Some of those in the list of friend recommendation are already good friends with you in the real world. It is therefore disadvantageous for your circle of friends to expand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PLN has become an important way for people to learn knowledge, which not only make it easy for people to learn, but also allows people to save more time. In the article “ Encouraging Teacher Development of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) in Twitter”, Oliver (2016) said that PLN can also help people protect their personal information. PLN has a special website to protect people’s privacy, and everyone will register with their real names when signing up for an account. Users can choose whether they want their information to be viewed. Besides, if people make negative comments on the Internet, they can easily be blamed. In this way, people will always be vigilant about what they say online. PLN also has a dedicated online regulator to screen topics and comments, so as to prevent people’s opinions from hurting others to the greatest extent. Therefore, PLN could help teenage to protect their private information on the internet.

Lai:

Teenagers should pay attention to property information and personal information

“Social media is a big part of many teens’ lives. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 750 13- to 17-year-olds found that 45% are online almost constantly and 97% use a social media platform, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.”(Teens and social media use: What’s the impact?)

       With the development of networking, more and more teenagers tend to create their PLNs and use online social media to share their ideas and life. But most of them do not realize the importance of personal networking information. “In 2020, the United States saw approximately 1,100 reported data breaches, according to a report published by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Included in that tally are the more than 300 million individuals who were affected by publicly reported data breaches.”(The relevance and importance of network security) From that, we know how important the security of personal information is when people use networking. As a result, I believe teenagers are definitely worth attaching importance to personal information and protecting. Firstly, if teenagers have their personal information stolen while using their PLN, they cannot know who obtained their information and do not know what others will do with their information. The most likely threat they face is the sale of personal information. According to “Your Data Is Shared and Sold…What’s Being Done About It?”, it is not difficult for these companies to know what you did and what you want through buying information from the public. (Pasternack) In that case, these people who obtain teenagers’ privacy may publicize the privacy of these stolen youths online or threaten them for fun or money. For example, I have a friend who was defrauded of 2000 dollars due to internet fraud. These scam gangs purchased my friend’s personal information through Wechat and contacted him through Wechat and fabricated lies to defraud him of his personal property. These lies all sound very true. This is because the lies are written based on my friend’s personal information. They even knew his Id. Also, These teenagers may fall into personal safety after their address is stolen. Especially for women among teenagers, for instance, a girl sent a tweet on Twitter or Facebook. This tweet roughly means that she has only one person at home and her family will not be back tonight. At this time, some people may find a way to steal her personal information and go to her home to cause life threats. Therefore, these behaviors that do not pay attention to the security of their PLN information or the lack of self-protection awareness of PLN information may cause serious threats to the property and personal life of the relatives and teenagers. I think that the reason why young people lack the protection of personal privacy is that most people think that the Internet is no substantial harm to them and feel that things on the Internet are very far away from them. But it is too late when they are truly in danger. Also, education and publicity for personal information protection are not enough, and most young people lack this knowledge. Therefore, we should strengthen the awareness of young people to protect their personal information when they are using PLN and make them aware of the importance of protecting personal information.

Xu:

Views and suggestions on information security when teenagers play games.

In the current big data environment, network information security is very important, “Cybersecurity is a widely used term that speaks to the security of systems and data but has many different definitions. Examples include “ prevention of damage to, protection of, and restoration of computers, electronic communications systems, electronic communications services, wire communication, and electronic communication, including information contained therein, to ensure its availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and nonrepudiation. “(Matt Bishop et al. 5). Especially young people need to pay more attention because now there are many criminals who use the big data environment to seek illegitimate interests and use the theft of personal information for fraud and Induced purchases, but many teenagers have not established cognition in this regard, and social software, game software, and shopping software now occupy most of the youth’s online space and extend their social life through this software, so they will use this software Leave complete personal information on the website, and criminals will use this information to commit fraud.” While most cyber experiences are extremely positive, many young people appear to go on “auto-pilot” when they are online, not thinking twice about broadcasting intimate details about themselves on various websites. Regrettably, this has resulted in abuses and unanticipated consequences ranging from cyberbullying, identity theft, and stalking, to school expulsions and future job prospects being ruined by indiscretions posted online.” (A Cavoukian 1) For example, I saw a piece of news before that a teenager was defrauded of gaming equipment worth thousands of dollars for leaking game account information.” Identity fraud cost Americans a total of about $56 billion last year, with about 49 million consumers falling victim. “(Leonhardt)so     I think we must disable the in-game charging items because many teenagers and even adults have gradually become accustomed to playing games through their mobile terminals in their leisure time, but there are several points when playing games. Notice. First of all, don’t associate a bank card with an account. Sometimes inadvertent clicks may cause irreparable deductions, so we must cut off the problem of deductions from the root cause. Secondly, go to the official store to download the game. You can check the comments before downloading. If you find that the game has similar problems, it is recommended not to install it. Many fee deduction codes are built into the game, and the fee is directly deducted without going through user review. After being maliciously deducted, the user will not receive the prompt message, but can only know it by querying the phone consumption record, which is unknown to the user who generally does not query the bill. And I think young people should be cautious in online shopping because while enjoying the convenience of online shopping, don’t forget the following points: Be sure to pay through a third-party transaction platform; carefully check the seller’s creditworthiness, and don’t be confused by the high reputation that is brushed out; Don’t be fooled by low prices, keep in mind that there will be no pie in the sky; keep the bills and chat records; open the confirmation in person after receiving the goods. Therefore, it is hoped that young people can build their cognition on the safety of network information, and that network knowledge literacy is a new content of modern family education. To protect the rights and interests of minors, we should scientifically and systematically promote minors’ new media literacy education.

Discussion:

Lai

For Liu’s idea, I’m interested in the part of friend Recommendation. Because when I use social apps with my PLN, I find that these social apps generally recommend friends to me in two ways. First, recommend people who are using this app to me through the address book. Most of these people I know, but in this way, there is no change in my social circle. The other is to recommend people nearby, either in the same city or in the same university. I prefer the second method, which is the most efficient if I want to make new friends. But I think this method is also dangerous, even if Liu said in her article that the current app requires real-name registration and various personal information. Therefore, we still have to be cautious about making friends through social apps. 

For Xu’s idea, I am interested in the in-game charging part. Because this is a way to deceive gamers, many games use free as a gimmick to attract gamers to play, but various items in the game still need to be recharged to obtain. What’s more, some mobile games use free-to-play publicity methods to attract gamers and then push low-priced gift packages to players in the game to induce players to consume. Many minors may recharge in this game by using a credit card bound to their parent’s mobile phone. Therefore, for “free” games, you should carefully check the game’s information and not be easily induced to consume.

Xu:

       I don’t agree that Liuqing has a dedicated website about PLN to protect people’s privacy. Everyone will register with their real name when registering an account. Users can choose whether to view their information because although there are special websites that supervise these, current criminals can still use the real information of others to register accounts, so this information is false for others, so when you create an account Later, if you check the real information of others, it is very likely to use this information to conduct criminal activities. Many teenagers do not have the awareness of prevention in this aspect, so even if there is a special website supervision condition, it is still necessary to establish this aspect for the teenagers. Cognition, on how to build cognition, I think schools and society can offer some lectures on network information security, which can not only teach young people but also allow their parents to learn these so that they can teach their children back because parents Are the best teacher for children.

I really like the story shared by Lai Xushi about a girl who was at home by herself but posted a tweet showing that she was at home by herself, and her personal safety was endangered by the stolen information. It is not difficult to see her own PLN from the story shared by Lai Xushi. How important is safety? In today’s network-developed world, every teenager regards social media as a very important part of their lives. For example, many people take a photo and post it on social media to share no matter what happens. Now, although this kind of thing is sometimes good and allows more people to pay attention to it, sometimes it is not very good. We can share our lives on social media, but it’s best to share it. Time to protect your own information, such as location information and so on.

Liu:

From my perspective, Lai’s idea is really interesting. Network fraud has become a very seriously problem. If teenagers do not protect their personal privacy, they are easy to be cheated of money on the Internet. Many teenager are not aware of dangers of the internet. I think Lai’s idea can help teenagers protect themselves on the Internet. However, PLN also have limitation. For example, If you don’t expose your information on internet, your friends may question your identity. Thus, teenager also will lose a great deal of opportunity of communication with their friend.

       For Xu’s idea, Online games are a tool to kill time. It is not only that teenagers like to play, but Also adults like to play online games in their free time. Therefore, online games have the function of communication. This will expose people’s personal information on the internet. I think people should improve teenagers’ awareness of network security. In this way, they can avoid being cheated in online games.

Conclusion:

       Through this method of argumentation, we separately elaborated our views and ideas and verified these views through discussion. Liu Qing mentioned that professional websites can protect personal privacy through real-name authentication, and Lai Xushi mentioned that the protection of personal privacy and property privacy should be strengthened on the youth network. Security, Xu Peiran mentioned strengthening the awareness of youth game network information security. With the views of the three of us, they agreed that the personal information security of young people should improve their awareness. All other factors cannot ensure that young people can well protect the security of personal information. Therefore, we recommend that young people use formal and Safe websites and software, and minimize the leakage of personal information and location information when sharing life with social software, and at the same time reduce the investment in-game property and increase the protection of payment information in online games.

Reference

Cavoukian, A., 2021. Online Privacy: Make Youth Awareness and Education a Priority. [online] Ipc.on.ca. Available at: <https://www.ipc.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/resources/youthonline.pdf> [Accessed 24 November 2021].

Dodge, Ronald C., Lynn Futcher, and SpringerLink (Online service). Information Assurance and Security Education and Training: 8th IFIP WG 11.8 World Conference on Information Security Education, WISE 8, Auckland, New Zealand, July 8-10, 2013, Proceedings, WISE 7, Lucerne Switzerland, June 9-10, 2011, and WISE 6, Bento Gonçalves, RS, Brazil, July 27-31, 2009, Revised Selected Papers. vol. 406, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013.

Huang, S., Zhang, J., Wang, L., & Hua, X.-S. (2016). Social Friend recommendation based on multiple network correlation. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia18(2), 287–299. https://doi.org/10.1109/tmm.2015.2510333 

Leonhardt, Megan. “Consumers Lost $56 Billion to Identity Fraud Last Year-Here’s What to Look out For.” CNBC, CNBC, 23 Mar. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/23/consumers-lost-56-billion-dollars-to-identity-fraud-last-year.html.

Oliver, K. (2016, March 21). Encouraging teacher development of a personal learning network (PLN) in Twitter. Encouraging Teacher Development of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) in Twitter – Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib). Retrieved November 26, 2021, from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/171763/. 

Pasternack, Alex. “Here Are the Data Brokers Quietly Buying and Selling Your Personal Information.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 28 May 2019, https://www.fastcompany.com/90310803/here-are-the-data-brokers-quietly-buying-and-selling-your-personal-information.

“Teens and Social Media Use: What’s the Impact?” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 21 Dec. 2019, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437.

“The Relevance and Importance of Network Security.” Consolidated Technologies, Inc., 27 Apr. 2021, https://consoltech.com/blog/why-network-security-is-more-important-than-ever/

Weber, M. Ziegele, M. (n.d.). Blaming the victim: The effects of extraversion and information disclosure on guilt attributions in cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23441684/. 

Blog Post #10

Can your PLN be used to help professional development post-course? If yes, how? If no, what limitations exist?

From my view, I think PLN could help professional development post-course.PLN can help people express their opinions online quickly. It enables people to learn and share their opinions indoors. Moreover, by setting different topics and questions to let students discuss, thus new ideas can be got. Meanwhile, network can also open to the public to allow more people to join topics, so that more people can learn and participate in our topics. Furthermore, we can hold events online, such as voting on topics. In this way, more people can understand what we are learning.

Can your PLN be relied on to open professional opportunities?

I think PLN can provide open professional opportunities because the purpose of PLN is to allow more people to express their views on the Internet anytime, anywhere. When people study and discuss enough topics, they will have a certain understanding of the topics discussed, and they will also inquire about certain materials on the Internet for self-study. In future career, this is also an indispensable kind of study, which is beneficial to help people make certain plans for their future careers.

Blog post 9

Why Media Literacy matters in your PLN

What is media literacy?

Media Literacy should be an essential quality of people. People first need to obtain information and evaluate it after thinking about it independently. (Media Literacy Fundamentals,2017) And post people’s views online. It’s actually like an ability that people show. Having the right media literacy can help people adapt better to society and express their views on things.

Why is it important?

If people do not have the right media literacy, it may lead to the proliferation of false information. Because reports on the same news on the Internet may have distinct results. When people do not verify the wrong information and make comments on the Internet, which will make their opinions be wrong and it is very likely to be seen by others, causing other people to have misunderstanding.

Why is it dismissed?

I think it’s hard to change people’s thinkings. When people begin to collect information, they will make judgments and subconscious evaluations of the information collected. In fact, the information of other people on the Internet can rarely change your own opinions. In addition, everyone should have their own opinions, because if everyone’s ideas are the same, everyone in the world will be the same.

Why should you aim for varied views but the factual consensus in your PLN?

People have discussion on some topics because their ideas can not reach consensus, and the discussion on information on the internet can make people think more deeply. So then, people can pay attention to this topic. If all people can reach a consensus, they will often forget about it quickly. At the same time, they will not reflect on the mistakes they made in the incident. Although arguments may lead to misunderstanding, and even prevent people from reaching the right conclusions. But I think that only by continuous discussion and reflection can we make social progress.

Reference:

Media Literacy Fundamentals. MediaSmarts. (2017, January 19). Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/media-literacy-fundamentals. 

Blog post # 8

Explore the video provided and reflect on the themes of a PLN in a professional capacity.

I think the use of social media in community publicity is a good idea, because in reality many people may have no chance to know the past and the culture of other communities. Social media can not only be used to show the community to outsiders, but also make community residents better know the culture and background of their own. PLN can make people get to know at home conveniently, so wasting time to learn in other special place is not necessary at all.

Which social media platforms are beneficial in education?

I think instagram can play a significant role in education because most of younger people have instagram. they could initiate topics and discuss them on the instagram. Meanwhile, it can also be displayed and seen by public. Instagram could record their views on different topic at different ages. when student looking for a job in the future, it can also help enterprises better understand student thinking and their experience.

Consider the equality that exists when all have the same platform to engage community dialogues.

I think there are unequal conditions for community dialogue. First of all, some students are relatively outgoing, so they have many friends in real life. Their online expressions will be supported by many friends. While for students with few friends in real life, their opinions tend to be thought of as strange ones by most people, so their views will be ignored and even ridiculed.

Consider as an additional piece, when working with the vulnerable sector, how does social media fit into professionalism and regulations?

In my opinion, wrong information ought to be avoided to spread, because many people may sustain losses due to their reliance on spread of wrong information. There is also a great impact on professionalism. As is known to all, wrong public opinion may arise from wrong information on Internet. Both sides are affected. Some formal social media platforms require identity verification to register as a user, which can effectively protect private information and should be preferred to use.

Blog post #6

How do notable individuals use social media?

Celebrities will be authenticated by the platform first, as perhaps there will be many worshippers of celebrities who impersonate them. Moreover, they also use some popular social software, such as Facebook and Instragram, and usually post messages and photos on social platforms. However, celebrities’ opinions will have a great impact on the public, because they have numerous followers. Sometimes, even a company or person can be destroyed. So celebrities need to be more careful when using social software.

What are the benefits of being in the public eye and having a PLN?

PLN allows people to better know about your life and interests because you can share your experiences on the Internet. When others don’t know you, they can learn about your personal hobbies and interests from your online information. You can make more like-minded friends in this way. Meanwhile, you can communicate with people online by posting information. This will also improve your communication skills.

Building community with online tools provided by the employer can be limiting, what are the perceived restrictions and benefits?

Limitations: Online communication may lead to arguments with others, as online communication is limited to text communication. You can’t let people know your tone or your expressions. If you make a simple joke and others misunderstand it, it will lead to an argument with others. At the same time, there is a lot of false information in the network. It is difficult to distinguish the true and false information on the Internet.

Benefits: It’s easier to communicate with people, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic. People can communicate with more people while ensuring their health.

Delivering information in a connected society requires verifiable resources, how to build a PLN to rely on?


First, I think it necessary for more people to confirm information repeatedly and seek for information online. Meanwhile, cite more information from reliable large websites. Try to avoid citing private comments. As large websites have very strong mechanisms to audit information, wrong information can be prevented from spreading in this way. At the same time, indicate the source of original information before sharing others’ information. In this way, once information errors are found, it’s convenient to trace the source of information.

How do those, who are veteran storytellers, minimize risk in sharing misinformation?

When you regularly take advantage of information from several websites, don’t use information from different sites too much. Looking for reliable websites can greatly reduce the risk of spreading misinformation. Because most of the information on reliable websites is generally correct, it will not mislead the public. Meanwhile, if you find wrong information on the network, inform the publisher immediately and let him modify the information, which could minimize the spread of false information.

blog post #5 PLN in Practice

How would you create a PLN (Personal learning network) prior to engaging a social media campaign on a topic of your choice ?

The topic I would choose is travel. I think traveling broadens people’s horizons and brings people a lot of new knowledge. And I enjoy taking photos. If I share some of my travel photos on the Internet, like Instagram or Facebook, more people will be able to learn about the outside world from their homes. At the same time, as a foreign student, traveling to different places in Canada can help me learn about the different local cultures and backgrounds so that I can be better adapted to life abroad. Moreover, I want to open my own restaurant in the future. Traveling will enable me to taste various delicious food in other places.

Choose a topic, consider your audiences, and consider how you would create a social media campaign leveraging your PLN ?

Before I go on a trip I will look into the destination first, and see what good restaurants and scenic spots there are in the place. In the process of travelling, I would turn on the phone’s location feature, take photos at any time, and post some theme activities with tags in Instagram. This will help people who want to travel there learn about local travel information. I would also leave my comments on Google, which can help future visitors avoid some bad scenic spots and save money and time.

Blog post #3

How diverse is your existing PLN?

I think in my current learning process, although I have tried to expand to make my PLN more diversified, there is no significant extension of PLN. Nowadays, although I use social apps to share my life, I am still very afraid of exposing too much of my personal information on the Internet, so I will try to avoid communicating my thoughts with my friends on social apps. Although my V&R map shows that I have diversified apps, actually very few of them are applied to learning.

In your PLN, are you learning from a variety of voices or are you the loudest in the room?

In my PLN, I prefer to listen to other people’s voices because I am not an egotistical person. But I also have my own subjective judgment. If I think other people’s suggestions are better, I will listen to them, but not in a blind manner.

Do you participate in a silo of information sharing (similar themes or wide range of interests)?

I like to share my opinions and experiences on social apps. I share my travel photos and daily life on Instagram, but I have set restrictions. Only my friends can view my Instagram because sharing it with strangers will make me feel a little shy. Meanwhile, I am also afraid that some people on the Internet that I don’t know will leave me messages because I don’t know how to reply to them.

In your professional setting of choice, do you think inclusion is actively embraced? 

I think inclusion is actively embraced because I am an international student from China. Throughout my study, I need to cooperate with other students to finish our project. Therefore, I think inclusion is really important in our team. If you want to successful in a course, you must keep a good relationship with your classmate.

What is the learning outcome of your PLN and how are you ensuring your exposure to diversity and inclusion?

I think PLN can make my study easier, and students can learn knowledge even if they stay at home. I can also share my views with more people so that learning has no geographical and language limitations. It also helps me know more people coming from different countries. At the same time, we can better understand the cultures of different countries so that I can better respect the culture of other countries. More radical actions can also be avoided if there is a dispute on the internet. It gives each party time to calm down.

How can you use a diverse PLN to broaden your views of inclusion?

On the Internet, I can learn more about the cultures of different countries, also I can make more friends. It is very important to learn, understand, and respect the cultures of different countries. Learning on the Internet can make me learn in a more convenient manner. I can stay at home and use my mobile phone or computer to learn. But I still need to consider how to connect the network with reality because I want to make more friends.

How has your thinking about inclusion and PLN evolved after reviewing the videos and readings?

Everyone’s ideas are unique. Only by communication can different ideas be merged to develop better ideas. Putting yourself in other’s positions when thinking is good for better communication. Everyone may come from different countries with different beliefs. Therefore, PLN can help us learn in a better way.

Blog Post #2 V & R Map

My V & R map is showing Above

What digital platforms are students currently using to develop their professional network?

Student are using Zoom and google Drive to develop their professional Network. On last year, due to Covid-19 paramedic, many student change face to face study to online Learning. Zoom can help students to have classes and enable teachers to see every student and teach them every day. Also, teachers will assign some homework to students, and students can complete the assigned homework through Google Drive. Everyone can modify the content of the homework and discuss it via social software. Students learn in this way, which can also be extended to work. In fact, whether it is learning or working, cooperation between people is always the key to success, and network tools can help people cooperate better.

What could the student consider in expanding their professional learning network?

When students expanding their professional learning network, they should consider university relative to society. There are many different between school and society.  When students graduated, many students said that they could not adapt to the problems at work. Connecting between school and working could help student to adapt working. In addition, student need protect their private information to expose on online. If a student’s personal information is leaked to the Internet, it may cause the student to be violent on the Internet.

Discussion question

How does data privacy and security limit and/or promote a PLN?

Although data privacy can prevent your private information from being leaked, your network reach is confined. Students use fake names and information on Internet, because they worry about private information leak. As a result, visitors have no idea who the website owner is and may lose interest in browsing student websites as well.

In your network how can you create a digital identity/ reputation?

Try to help others on Internet. For example, if someone said they want to commit suicide or hurt others, please try your best to persuade them not to do anything against the law. And also do not disguise yourself. Show your true life to your friends. Enable other people to better understand you. Do not leave any offensive or hurtful comment about cyberbullying. Students should spread some information with a positive life attitude. In this way, a good network image can be achieved.