LinkedIn (10 pts)
We aren’t going to spend much time on the first generation of social network applications in this class, but the modern attention to social software and social networks came– in large part– because of the sudden popularity of sites that explicitly allow people to meet new people.
Some of these sites were for dating purposes, some for finding new friends with common interests, and some for professional networking with others in your career field. Because so many were coming out so quickly for a while, these services (which number in the thousands) have become known, collectively, as “Yet Another Social Networking Service” or YASNS.
For this assignment, you are going to sign up for YASNS: Linked In, a tool for professional networking– meeting other people in your field(s). Who knows, you might even find being a member of LinkedIn to have professional value. Proceed to the LinkedIn homepage.
Sign up for the service and create a profile. You don’t have to fill the profile in completely but put some information there so I can identify you and it’s clear you know how to edit your information.
To complete the assignment, finish editing your profile and then connect with me as a friend or colleague. You can do this by performing a search for me and using the “Invite Tatiana to Connect” link when viewing my profile. Then using Assignment link above submit the link to your LinkedIn public profile page. For example, here’s mine: www.linkedin.com/in/tapiatanova/
You can find the link to your public profile page by selecting the Profile from the top menu (when you are logged in to the LinkedIn service) and choosing View My Profile.
Reflection: Cognitive Surplus (25 pts)
Your assignment: read Chapter 1 (“Gin, Television, and Cognitive Surplus”) and create a blog post reflecting on what you think of the reading, including my prompts below. I am most interested in your own thoughts and reaction, so please feel free to go “free form” and consider your reading in whatever way you see fit.
a) link to other resources and sites that support or are related to your reflection and/or
b) go beyond the reflection in some creative way (sharing notes, writing a poem, creating an image, creating a suite of links in Diigo, discuss some of the specific sites/trends Shirky mentions, contribute to one of those sites and share a link to that contribution, whatever — go crazy!).
Chapter 1 blog prompts (you might also be interested in watching this presentation by Clay Shirky — and reading the responses– on this topic from before the book came out — it covers much of the same ground):
- Are you a television watcher? If so, how does that activity balance with your other “free time” activities? If not, why not? Do you participate in any websites (other than those you participate in for this class) where you create or edit or contribute without being paid for it?
- What do you think Shirky means when he says “More is Different?”
- Are you buying the idea that, as stupid as they might be, LOLCATS represent something different and at least marginally better than passively watching television?
After you make your reflection post, comment on at least one other student’s post.