I was a guest lecturer today and provided an hour and fifteen minute long lecture/workshop for the first time on the exciting combo topic of internet searches, social and collaborative learning spaces and online influence. It was a fun topic to prepare because it combines some of my personal research interests along the lines of information literacy, algorithms and heuristics, personal learning environments and networks (PLE/PLN), and online “influence” analytics i.e., Klout. Only one person had heard of Klout before so I gather it’s a new topic for most folks (including me). Students were genuinely intrigued by views of my Klout dashboard and especially my score. It’s currently 49. What does this mean?
I ended with some open discussion about internet searches and credibility and showed part of Howard Rheingold’s video about online crap detection. We used clickers at the beginning of class to get the conversation going and to also probe social media use. Be sure to click the CONTINUE READING link so that you can read on!!!
The anonymous feedback was displayed after each question. What a great discussion! I was really interested to learn more about student perceptions of value/authenticity/credibility regarding internet searches for personal and course-related information.
Learning objectives: (these aren’t really my notes and not formally written up… but by the end of the hour, I believe students did gain some knowledge and possibly even some insight and also hands-on practice with:
1) Customized information spaces – what are they, how do they work? Examples such as Twitter, Facebook, Amazon. com, MOOCs.
2) Social media & online influence – A view of Ben’s digital world (WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr) and Klout profile – what is Klout? How does it work? How does Ben Harwood have his set up and why?
3) Internet searches and credibility video with Howard Rheingold: Online Crap detection – What to keep in mind in order to efficiently filter through all the crap on the web to get the information we are looking for?
“Searching and determining the credibility of what you find online”
Clicker Questions:
0) Off the bat questions
-How many social media accounts do you have?
-What’s your favorite social media tool to stay connected with friends, family?
-What’s your favorite social media tool to stay connected with your life and work as a student?
-Do you believe every result that comes up in a web search?
1) Customized information spaces
Different search results display often depending who’s logged in, whether you are logged in or not (especially when logged into Google), and where you are logged in from.. on campus, from home, on the go, etc..
“people get different things” Internet shows us what it thinks we should say versus what is really out there. Filters+algorithms (filter bubble- is your unique universe) Eli Paraser, The Filter Bubble TED Talk – Personally tailor search results. Analytics > other invisible algorithmic and the “editing” of the web.
More discussion questions
-Does everyone understand what is meant by a “filter bubble?”
-Do you decide what gets in your filter bubble?
-Are filter bubbles good or bad? Why or why not?
Discussion
-Is the Internet opening us up to other places/people/ideas or boxing us in a cozy comfortable filtered space?
2) Social Media pathways and influence – Introduction to Klout via Ben Harwood’s profile. Show my web presence on different social media.
“Everyone has Klout.” clout=influence
FOLKSONOMY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content;[1][2] this practice is also known as collaborative tagging,[3] social classification, social indexing, and social tagging.
3) Internet searches and credibility:
Searching and determining the credibility of what you find online. Google vs. Bing. Logged in versus not logged in. Location where you are logging in from.
Activity: Pair up, Take a few moments and do some web searches, see about differences. Bing vs Google search >> Pick a topic – logged in versus not logged in? Keywords. Give us a keyword to search from. I.E., Wikileaks, SOPA, Search for yourself or your partner. Make sure you are not logged into Google or Bing and search for something. Then login and perform the same searches again. Any difference? Whoa!
Howard Rheingold, Wikipedia
is a critic, writer, and professor at UC Berkeley; his specialties are on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a term he is credited with inventing).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Rheingold
“Teach everyone the skills of how to search and determine the credibility of what they find” rather than spend billions trying to regulate flow of info. = Crap detection!
Principles of the crap test > show link
Crap detection link:
http://blog.sfgate.com/rheingold/2009/06/30/crap-detection-101/
Crap dectection mini course
http://howardrheingold.posterous.com/mini-course-on-crap-detection