Tag: November

ETL503- Module 2: Developing collections Part 2

Module 2.3: eResources: Discussion Forum: 2.3

Search Scootle for a resource related to critical thinking.

I searched ‘critical thinking’ and returned 199 results.

Utilising the ‘Advanced Search’ option, I refined my search on ‘critical thinking’ by selecting the years K-6 (which I teach) returning with 103 results.

From there, I chose a subject area from a side category that I am currently teaching: ‘Health and physical education’. This presented me with 7 results and a number of units across the grades.

Module 2.4: Selection aids: Discussion Forum: 2.4a

Select a curriculum topic of interest.
Select one of the online communities or resource sharing services listed in this section, and spend some time searching for tags, hashtags, lists or communities of relevance to your topic.
Share a link to a relevant online resource found from that community in Forum 2.4 and discuss the pros and cons of this community as a recommendation source.
We are currently working through the PDH curriculum at the moment with K-1 and discussing ‘courage’ and what it means to be brave. I believe we need more books with specific emotional language as part of our resources so I searched up ‘courage’ on Goodreads, resulting in 13548 resources.
I narrowed the selection using the ‘fiction’ category and the site sent me to a new search specifically on fiction alone.
When I typed in ‘picture books about courage’ I got an error message asking for ISBN numbers, which made me realise, I needed to do a broader search on something like Google Search and use Goodreads to pull up a specific book.
I chose Max the Brave by Ed Vere because one of our key words is in the title- ‘brave’.
I plugged this into Goodreads and it popped up as the first option with a 4.5 star rating.
Clicking in to the book title, I am presented with all the ISBN and Edition information a TL could want, along with alternate cover options.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22712981-max-the-brave?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=0FxO5bsODV&rank=1
Pros
  • I was able to sort the reviews from newest to eldest and vice versa and filter to show the highest and lowest rated reviews.
  • There is an option to ask questions about the book (there were none) and submitted reviews below.
  • There is a ‘book data’ pop-up if you hover over the words ‘Rating details’ which allows a snap shot of the ratings this title has received before trawling through all the reviews
  • Some reviewers seemed to be teachers who used the text in-class- these reviews provided information on how the book was used, received and suggested age groups at times.
  • People can place their reviewed books on ‘shelves’ which group books of a like nature.
  • There is a forum community on this site where you can ask for and discuss recommendations of similar texts.
Cons
  • Some reviewers are social media-based book reviewers and more still are parents who brought the ‘cute book’ for their kids. Most of these were quite brief and not very useful in determining content, writing style or image content of the book.
  • A number of reviews identified ‘Netgalley’ as having provided them a free copy of this text for a review- Would this skew the responses? Does Netgalley target teachers or just anyone open to reviewing?
  • ‘Shelves’ are determined by the reviewers individually and can sometimes be misleading, not allowing for any kind of consistency amongst reviewers or collections- potential for rabbit-holes and tangents!
I would use this site for personal selection ideas, rather than professional. The process of locating new texts is simply too laborious and time consuming when there are other resources that allow you to do this all in one place. Additionally, some of the reviews are quite unprofessional and lack the information an educator needs to make informed choices.

Module 2.4: Selection aids: Discussion Forum: 2.4b

Select one of the crowd sourced review sites listed in this section or search for prolific book bloggers in the field and have a look at the way these reviewers discuss fiction relevant to school libraries.
Share a link to an interesting book blog, Goodreads or LibraryThing review in Forum 2.4(b)and discuss your thoughts on the value of such a review, and what issues there might be for relying on such sources as selection aids.
LibraryThing seems to be similar to Goodreads, which I am more familiar with.
Keeping with the theme of ‘courage’ I searched and came up with a much more user-friendly search engine page with filter categories down the left hand side. I filtered the search to Books and Tags which resulted in a list of tags, where I chose ‘children courage’. I was presented with 3 picture books all ‘tagged’ by the same reviewer. I returned to the tag list and chose, instead, ‘teaches courage’ an additional 2 picture books were displayed.
Book: Franklin goes to the hospital by Paulette Bourgeois
https://www.librarything.com/work/54639
Pros
Rating, stats and review numbers visible
Easy access of texts
‘Tags’ clear- leading to similar texts on tagged topics
Similar texts nearby
Cons
Some of the reviews I saw were just random numbers and prices. None were educational or professional.
In comparison, the reviews on Goodreads were much more thorough with a higher number of reviews for this text.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/605137.Franklin_Goes_To_The_Hospital?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dltHaKVJpb&rank=1
Both platforms are good for general check-overs that the text is good for a certain purpose, or to quickly glean what a text is about but neither provide reliable, professional reviews of texts that I could see. At least, not with any consistency. Perhaps if you invested the time to find genuine, education-based reviewer accounts, you could better appreciate the sites for professional use.

ETL503- Module 2: Developing collections

Module 2.1: Selection in the school context: Discussion Forum 2.1

Using the Charles Sturt University Library Primo search or Google Scholar, conduct a search for a recent article in English that discusses patron driven acquisition.

Similarly to others, I found it difficult to find more recent articles on this topic, most falling into the 2013-2015 period or prior. Rather than start new, I was able to locate the same text as Cassandra and chose to add on to her post.

Jurczyk, E., Pagotto, S., Moisil, I., Grewal, K., Cassadt, S., Cato, J. (2020). Long-term usage of a consortial PDA collection: If they choose it, will we use it?. Collection Management, 45(4), 287-303. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2019.1702912

Key words/phrases

  • Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA)
  • data analysis
  • collection development
  • academic libraries
  • pilot

Module 2.1: Professional Reflection

Think about responsibility for resource selection.  You may like to use one or more of the following questions to write some blog posts.
  • Discuss how the teacher librarian’s expertise and role is different from that required by all teachers.

While the role of Teacher Librarians (TLs) has changed over time (Ciccone & Hounslow, 2019; Cole, 2016), it has been recognised that it is often a dense and complex position (Merga, 2020) and so I will keep my response here brief.

Let us begin, initially, with the expertise required to attain a Masters degree to be ‘officially qualified’ as a teacher librarian in NSW Public Schools. While there are numerous TLs operating without ‘official’ qualifications, the Department of Education encourages TLs to gain their Masters and become dual-qualified teachers (Merga, 2020). While some classroom teachers come into education on a Masters, on the back of an alternate career, the TL role is the only one I can think of that specifically requires dual qualifications off the bat. This study arms the TL with the skills and knowledge of specialised programs to develop and maintain the school collections.

In my experience, the TL is required to be aware of a scope of resources kept within the library space, those maintained elsewhere in the school and those maintained in a virtual environment through various platforms (Merga, 2020). In contrast, classroom teachers, though often aware of resources to suit their own stage or subject will rarely be fully aware of the entire scope of resources available to staff as students simply because their time and energy is taken up by other tasks not applicable to TLs.

TLs require highly developed collaborative skills, as do all staff, to communicate with the school community and outside parties to ensure relevant quality resources are being identified for reasonable prices. Networking with other local school and council libraries is a necessary part of the role to enrich student learning, develop collaborative programs and host extracurricular programs to benefit students and the school community.

TLs are often encouraged to develop and host extracurricular programs, usually during lunch or recess breaks (Merga, 2020). Personally, these have included art club, book club, writing club, student-led tutoring, choir, debating and a quiet place out of the ruckus of the main playground. Most TLs I know are amenable to these activities, within reason and will often be found hosting at least one extracurricular activity in their own time. *Most classroom teachers (CTs) are not pressured to undertake quite as many extracurriculars in my experience.

Finally, the in-school collaborative effort TLs must put in goes above those of the usual CT as the library is considered another arm of the literacy branch in education and so many schools run programs within their library directly linked to the literacy curriculum and programs being run in classrooms (Merga, 2020). This requires TL flexibility to adapt their programs to support specific classroom learning, expertise in core curriculum subjects and allowing someone else to be the captain of their proverbial ship.

*Most because we all know those CTs who go above and beyond their required duties

  • Share ideas on how teacher librarians might effectively collaborate with the school community in the selection of resources in a school with which you are familiar.

This year, I worked with staff and the Principal to identify an online platform of non-fiction resources to support literacy engagement in the school, school targets and staff programming. I was placed ‘in-charge’ of the development of this platform, its core uses in the school, communication to the community regarding this platform and educating staff on its various uses.

Additionally, I worked with staff on collating a list of resources to support their current and future programs, across various KLAs. We then collaboratively developed a proposal to take to the Principal and the P&C in an effort to request funding for these resources. Our request was successful and I was able to source, order and accession these resources in time for staff to access and teach alongside their programming.

  • Consider also how to engage your learners in selection of resources for their school library.

In my library space, I always have two tables available for students to peruse that are changed out regularly. One table is the ‘new in’ table where the newly accessioned resources, both fiction and non-fiction are displayed. The other table has to do with what students are learning in-class eg the life cycle of a butterfly or important days of the year eg Remembrance Day. Both these tables attract quite a lot of attention and give life to resources that, at times, have not been borrowed in quite some time.

  • Who should have the final say on what is included? Why?

In the end, I believe the TL should have the final say, so long as the acquisition process allows for the equal input of all contributing parties including; CTs, Principals, students, community, TL and any other staff engaging with students and the school eg teachers aides etc. I believe this because the TL, presumably, has developed expertise over time regarding staff requirements, student interests, school direction and current collection content. TLs should be open to suggestion but maintain final say as they are the experts in the development and maintenance of their collection.

References

Ciccone, A. & L. Hounslow (2019). Re-envisioning the role of academic librarians for the digital learning environment: The Case of UniSA Online. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 16(1). Implementing online learning: Stories from the field, Article 11. Available at https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol16/iss1/11

Cole, L. (2016). BiblioTech as the re-imagined public library: Where will it find you? Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2016- Columbus, OH- Connections. Collaboration. Community. in Session 213- Metropolitan Libraries.

Merga, M. K. (2020). School librarians as literacy educators within a complex role. Journal of library administration, 60(8), 889-908. DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2020.1820278

Module 2.2: The balanced collection: Discussion Forum: 2.2

  • Discuss the pros and cons of buying bundled sets of resources, for instance a journal database or a Standing Orders service.
  • Consider also the pros and cons of selecting content that is provided via online access but which the library does not own.

Physical sets eg Standing Orders

Pros

  • Set and forget order service- you can establish this at the beginning of the year and receive a lovely parcel every three months
  • Books are usually award-winning, closely examined and aligned to the Aust Curriculum
  • Provides a range of resources (fiction & non-fiction) to get students excited over new topics

Cons

  • TLs have no control over the content
  • Some texts may be irrelevant to your context
  • Some texts may date quickly
  • These are often expensive outputs at the beginning (or end) of the year

Online eg ClickView/World Book Online

Pros

  • Easy access with newly updated wi-fi and internet connection in most schools and increasing use of BYOD programs and technology
  • Access to platforms outside school hours to increase student enjoyment of reading
  • Resources are regularly updated and it is unlikely information is outdated
  • Read-to options to support student reading level and auditory abilities
  • Multiple copies accessible at the same time- great for independent activities and reading groups
  • No stocktake!

Cons

  • Some can be expensive and include elements irrelevant to the school context eg high school elements in a primary school package
  • Overwhelming availability to some staff and students eg too much choice
  • Licensing issues
  • Access equality- difficulties accessing internet or technology
  • Additional training for staff then teaching time for student

ETL503- Module 1: The School Library Collection

Module 1.1: Introduction: Discussion Forum 1

Definitions of collection management and collection development.
Find at least one other definition of collection management or collection development, preferably relating to school libraries, or a statement relating to resourcing the curriculum, and compare it with the definitions provided here.
In particular, see if you can find a definition used by your educational authority or an educational authority with which you are familiar. What are the key elements of that definition?  How are they similar or different?
Share your findings with your classmates in Forum 1.
Digging around the CSU Library database for this topic, I came across an article titled ‘Principals and Teachers’ Perspectives of Their School Libraries and Implications for School Library Policy’ (Ee Loh, Sundaray, Merga & Gao, 2021) in which non-library staff were interviewed regarding the roles of Teacher Librarians (TLs), including the development and management of collections in schools. In short, this article outlines that libraries and, in turn, TLs are multi-faceted educators who must:
  • support and lead collaborative and innovative practices to benefit staff and students
  • make pivotal decisions regarding library direction and tailor collections to suit school contexts
  • select materials linked to, and to enrich the curriculum
  • promote reading for pleasure organically
  • extend teaching and learning within the school

Although this study was conducted outside of Australia, I found these expectations to be similar to those discussed in the modules and the Department of Education (DoE) 2017 Handbook for School Libraries. I suspect the analysis of data that followed by Ee LOh et. al. (2021), demonstrating that few teachers and lead staff visited and utilised their library spaces often enough to understand the complex role of TLs, would also ring true in most NSW public schools.

More specifically, the DoE Handbook (2017) outlines the need for the TL to:

  • abide by government policies
  • lead the development and application of relevant acquisition and organisation policies
  • regular review of the collection and policies in collaboration with school leaders

I like that the Handbook allows TLs freedom of choice in how to establish and maintain these policies and procedures. It also allows individuals to develop their collections independently and tailored to their contexts while providing the core building blocks that allow for inherent accountability of TLs to their supervising staff.

References
Ee Loh, C., Sundaray, S., Merga, M., &  Gao, J. (2021). Principals and teachers’ perspectives of their school libraries and implications for school library policy. Journal of Library Administration, 61(5), 550-571. DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2021.1924532
NSW Department of Education. (2017). Handbook for school libraries. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2005-0221

Module 1.3: Pedagogical Initiatives: Think

Choose a level of teaching and a curriculum topic and explore that area.  Consider how you might go about resourcing that topic.
  • What types of resources would you provide?
  • How/where would you find them?

Level: Year 5/6
Topic: Science
I have chosen this topic and year level as I am currently teaching as an RFF STEM and Science teacher at my school, when I am not teaching Library Skills.

Our school is lucky enough to have access to an online platform called clickview.com.au. This is a collection of various resources that can be displayed online- a school-safe, educational version of youtube.com. I would search this online site alongside youtube.com for relevant, useful videos or illustrations related to the topic to present to students either as a whole class or as an independent activity.

Additionally, I utilise mentimeter.com for Stage 3 lessons to increase student engagement and allow students to shape the direction of the lesson, to a degree. This interactive website allows students to respond to and ask questions throughout the lesson, which are then shared and responded to by peers or, if necessary, the teacher. I believe this type of resource that encourages alternate thinking and the development of a variety of technology skills contributes to developing forward-thinking future global citizens (Oddone, 2021).

I would also research student-friendly information sites, such as nationalgeographic.com.au and present students with questions and the pages where they can find answers or present them with a print-out of information to locate answers from. This contributes to developing independent working skills and research skills online and in hard-copy. It also contributes to developing notetaking skills.

Ahead of time, I will also locate from my physical collection within the library and in Teacher Resources, different fiction and non-fiction texts based on or around the current topic. These will be displayed and easily accessible to expose students to new or familiar language and to allow them to make links between information. Additionally, there may be enlarged images, maps, diagrams that could be useful and would be displayed around the work area.

It is important to cater to multiple learning styles (Oddone, 2021) as students do learn differently and can pick up and retain different information from differently presented sources.

References

Oddone, K. (2021). ETL503: Resourcing the curriculum; 1. The school library collection. Interact2.https://interact2.csu.edu.au/

ETL503- Subject Introduction

It’s November 2021, post-COVID lockdown 2.0. I’ve now been an online library teacher as well as an in-class and COVID-pending library teacher as well.

Things have been wild and I am looking forward to a quiet Christmas but, for some reason, I don’t think that it’s going to happen.

Currently, I am taking on ELT503 in an effort to get a jump on the policies and procedures business that I had a stab at earlier in the year. It will also, hopefully, help me garner further support from my Principal whose attitude towards my roles can often put more emphasis on the Learning Support role over the role of TL. My hope it, that with a solid policy to back me going into 2022, I will have greater control over my own budget and over the events held on library time.

I am currently in the midst of a 30-day fitness kick to help get ready for my wedding in October, 2022 and participating in  NaNoWriMo 2022- a writing challenge (at which I am failing horribly). Additionally, I have been allocated the festive event planner at my school and data and reports are due ASAP. I figured why not add one more thing and picked up uni again.

Wish me luck!

INF506 Module 3- OLJ Task 4: Twitter feeds

OLJ Task 4: Twitter feeds

Explore two of the Twitter feeds listed above. Write a post for your OLJ of around 400 words that includes the following:

Compare and contrast the Twitter presence of the two organisations. What type of content do the organisations tweet (and retweet)? What audience are they appealing to? Do they appear to be successful? Analyse why or why not.

Word count: 373
  • UNESCO
    1. 1 million followers
    2. Share own videos using own hashtag #unescoGC
    3. Posting their own campaigns, #WorldHeritage events and human interest stories
    4. Uses retweets
    5. Audience: general public, activists, potential donors/volunteers
  • ALIA National- Australian Library and Information Association
    1. 8 thousand followers
    2. Shares images and surveys
    3. Posting about different literary events and days using various hashtags and links to other organisations websites
    4. Does not usually retweet
    5. Audience: library and information professionals

I would have to say in terms of getting and holding attention, I think UNESCO is more successful than ALIA National, simply because they want people to take action on the things they are presenting so they have used various forms of media on their Twitter feed to engage the short attention span of most people. On the other hand, ALIA National are targeting professionals already working in the industry, not trying to continually entice a new audience, and providing these professionals with opportunities to engage in different programs related to their department.

I think most people would feel UNESCO’s feed is more interesting because of the amount of videos and positive images they have used to bring peoples attention to issues and injustices. By varying their media, they are catering to all kinds of people with various interests and skills. ALIA is more cut and dry, less interactive because it is catering, specifically to the professionals and leading them away from Twitter to gather information.

Additionally, ALIA uses more technical jargon than UNESCO, whose language is targeted toward the general public. In order to engage with some of the ALIA posts, you would have to be aware of or working within the industry whereas UNESCO’s less formal approach could be found to be more appealing to the wider public.

While both accounts use hashtags to group and link their posts, UNESCO reuses their hashtag to make the audience familiar with them, specifically, while ALIA posts different hashtags for each post, I am assuming related to the posts, without any of their own presence represented. By adding their own hashtag to things, other could retweet, not only using the @ function, but also the shorter hashtag, allowing them to potentially trend more regularly.

 

INF506 Module 2- OLJ Task 3: Reflections on the impact of change

OLJ Task 3: Reflections on the impact of change

After exploring the resources… choose two ways that you see social media has impacted on an organisation you are familiar with. This could be a business, an institution or a government department. Identify the organisation and write 400 words explaining and analysing the impact.

Word count: 361

Department of Education and Training (DET), NSW Government (https://education.nsw.gov.au/) and NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) (https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/curriculum-syllabuses-NSW)

1) Curriculum changes- the curriculum has been altered multiple times in its existence. More recently, with the development of new technologies and increasingly prominent use of social media in developed countries, NESA has addressed social media in its standards for senior students:

‘respond to social media texts, for example contribute to a class blog, comment on a social media post’ (Year 11-12, English, English Life Skills, Outcome 6)

This would suggest that the government is recognising that social media is large influence predicted to be a part of students lives beyond their education. By acknowledging social media as a tool for students to develop competencies in, NESA and the DET has begun to address a sometimes outdated curriculum in an effort to provide students with relevant life skills. This acknowledgement of social media, from my experience is beginning to filter into the lower years with ‘cyber safety’ being a large focus in education due to the saturation of personal hand-held devices and access to laptops and therefore, the internet. This has resulted in staff needing to be up-to-date on relevant cyber safety and social media information in an effort to help prepare and protect students, some as young as five, who are now accessing multiple platforms online.

2)The DET has established a Social Media page on their website (https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/social-media) detailing which departments use which platforms, including links for the public to follow. I think that this is a very positive step, allowing the public to access caches of information, previous conversations and immediate announcements.

Additionally, the DET has developed a specific ‘Social Media Policy’ and ‘Social Media Toolkit’ to support staff development of professional social media accounts, provide guidelines for expectations and behaviours and to provide avenues for complaint or issues that arise either via social media or as a result of social media in schools. By establishing itself on these social media platforms, it has provided the world an example of  what the DET considered acceptable conduct online, and can be held to account should this conduct be breached by employees of the DET.

References

Department of Education and Training (DET). Social media policy, implementation procedures, November, 2018. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/associated-documents/social-media-procedures.pdf

Department of Education and Training (DET). (2019) Social media. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/social-media

Department of Education and Training (DET). (2019) Social media toolkit- education week 2019. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/education-week/teacher-toolkit/communications-toolkit/social-media-toolkit

INF506 Module 2- OLJ Task 2: The influence of technology on society

OLJ Task 2: The influence of technology on society

“…summarise in 400 words what you know and think about the influence of technology on society in general and specifically on organisations. What are some of the main points organisations have to consider that they may not have had to consider in the past?”

Word count: 347

I believe technology has had a great impact on society and the running and actions of organisations. It is difficult to move anywhere in the modern world without encountering some form of developed technology, whether it be in the form of mobile phones, laptop computers, electronic cash registers or moving billboard advertisements. Developing technology continues to mould the shape of our social and business ecosystems.

First, with the development of technology, organisations have gained immediate and impactful access to individuals via television advertising and the internet. A focus on product and company ‘branding’ (Harper, 2015) or how organisations are ‘seen’ has developed to saturate social media and television advertising and production. This will have increased sales, demand for product and transactions, as well as providing immediate avenues for review and feedback on products/services. Additionally, technology has allowed for the development of global connections and ‘interorganisational partnerships’ (Rathi, Given & Forcier, 2014) that were previously impossible due to time and distance.

Technology and the laws that have come to support its prolific use and development, provides the public with easy access to company policies and decisions in organisations. As such, all organisations are being ethically monitored, challenged and held accountable for their impact on the environment and the social ecosystems in which they operate (Livermore, 2012) in real time.

Organisations now need to consider all of these aspects, plus the development of staff specialist knowledge to best access and utilise these technological resources. It has been found that while the purchase of new technology is carefully considered, the training needed by staff to understand this technology is often underestimated (Gaimon, Ozkan & Napoleon, 2011).

Some organisations are a direct result of developments in technology (the internet led to Facebook, Instagram & Google) and have continued to value and promote technology innovation within their workplace, establishing tech-friendly office spaces, work environments and mentalities (Waber, Magnolfi & Lindsay, 2014). These, and other organisations, must consider what it means to maintain relevance in a constantly changing ecosystem (Adner & Kapoor, 2016) and how to compete with new technologies as they develop.

References

Adner & Kapoor. (2016). Right tech, wrong time. Harvard Business Review, Nov 2016, (94) 11. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_37900_1&content_id=_3129974_1&mode=reset

Gaimon, C., Ozkan, G. & Napoleon, K. (2011). Dynamic resource capabilities: managing workforce knowledge with a technology upgrade. Organization Science, 2011 (22) 6.

Harper, F. (2015). Success in programming how to gain recognition, power, and influence through personal branding. 1st Edition. Berkley, CA. ISBN: 1-4842-0001-2

Livermore, C. R. (2012). E-Politics and Organizational Implications of the Internet: Power, Influence, and Social Change. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0966-2

Rathi, D, Given, L. M. & Forcier, E. (2 Sept. 2014) Interorganisational partnerships and knowledge sharing: the perspective of non-profit organisations (NPOs). Journal of knowledge management. ISSN: 1367-3270

Waber, Magnolfi & Lindsay. (2014). Workspaces that move people. Harvard Business Review, Oct 2014. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/10/workspaces-that-move-people

INF506 Module 1- OLJ task 1: Social Media and Society – Journal Article Analysis

OLJ task 1: Social Media and Society – Journal Article Analysis

Access this journal, Social Media and Society, and read one article from the current issue that appeals to your interests. In a blog post, provide a brief description and an analysis of the article of your choice. Do you agree with the authors? If not – why not? (350-400 words).

Word count: 382

Description and Analysis: Using social media networks to engage men in conversations on masculinity and suicide: Content analysis of Man Up Facebook campaign data.

This article used content analysis on social media responses to determine the impact of Facebook’s ‘Man Up’ campaign, encouraging men to speak up about their emotional health and wellbeing. The research was carried out as the program was being released as a three-part television series and onto social media. The authors collected posts and comments of people’s reactions to investigate the responses being voiced. The authors of this paper helped design the program and were attempting to determine whether social media can be used as part of health campaigns to open dialogue and awareness about complex social and mental health issues and potentially change attitudes.

Schlichthorst, King, Phelps and Pirkis (2019) predicted that ‘A population-based multi-level health promotion intervention that takes advantage of a variety of communication channels… is expected to be most effective’. Their use of social media as a second, but equally important platform in their campaign allowed space for conversations to start up following the television release. They recognised that, after such a potentially uncomfortable, relevant and often taboo subject being aired, the public required a safe space in which to share their opinions, stories and feelings. Luckily, most of social media responded positively to both the campaign and the responses of others to it. I think this was a clever way of reaching an increasingly tech-savvy audience and supporting their original release material. Additionally, by establishing this campaign in social media domains, they have allowed viewers to access and respond to the information presented at their own time and pace.

The authors examined ‘masculine norms’ and stereotypes common to most Western areas, resolving that, perhaps, we should be more open minded and broaden our narrow definition of ‘masculinity’. By addressing these ‘norms’ directly, they asked viewers to question their own, often ingrained beliefs and broaden their own expectations. They started conversations about ‘masculinity’ and what it is to be ‘a man’ in todays world.

Schlichthorst et. al. (2019) also discussed the benefits of information and health sharing on social media, explaining that visible conversations happening resulted in expanded ‘conversation circles’ and more information getting out there. Notably, they recognised that social media has the potential for harm as well as good but shared positive facts, reiterating that social media has also helped combat feelings of suicide and stigma.

References

Schlichthorst , M., King, K., Phelps, A. & Pirkis, J. (2019) Using social media networks to engage men in conversations on masculinity and suicide: Content analysis of Man Up Facebook campaign data. Social media & society, Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119880019

 

INF506 Assessment item 1: OLJ creation and first entry

INF506 Assessment item 1: OLJ creation

1. Define what social networking means to you in a professional sense

The online Cambridge Dictionary (2019) provides two definitions for ‘social networking’

“1) The use of websites and other internet services to communicate with other people and make friends

2) The activity of sharing information and communicating with groups of people using the internet, especially through websites that are specially designed for this purpose”

When I think of ‘social networking’, I automatically have an image in mind of a physical conference with numerous professionals in suits with pens, perhaps a more traditional view.

Combining these ideas, taking into account the age of technology in which we live today, I would have to say that professional social networking is:

The act of communicating with others by engaging in internet-based environments, to form professional contacts, using these links to share information, ask questions and develop programs and abilities. Social networking also provides the opportunity for engaging new audiences, advertising and developing products and promoting events.

As time goes on, I am sure I will adapt my definition as my understanding expands.

2. List what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work and study purposes)

Currently, I use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Weebly in my personal life. I also use Yammer, Interact2, SkoolBag, ClassCover and Seek.com professionally. I have a Twitter account but have not used it regularly for some time.

3. Describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506

I would expect to come across some new social media platforms and perhaps gain some specialist experience in the more mainstream platforms while developing ideas on how to integrate them into the school environment. I would like to find out how other schools are using social media to engage the community and which platforms they prefer. I would also like to come up with a plan to employ in my school environment in the coming year.

 Reference List

Social networking (2019) In Cambridge Dictionary: English Dictionary. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-networking

 

Return to study

It is almost time to start back at study-life and I thought I should share where I am coming from (Instagram) this semester and why, perhaps I am a little reluctant to dive back into things.

Anyway, my subject this semester is Social Networking for Information Professionals, something I am relatively comfortable with in a casual, completely non-professional way so I am curious about what skills and tips I will be picking up along the way.

We will be using:

Facebook
CSU Thinkspace
Twitter
Instagram
GooglePhotos
Diigo

The only platform I don’t already have access to is Diigo, ‘a social bookmarking service’- whatever that means.

I am looking forward to developing an understanding of these sites and how they can support information professionals and, specifically, how they can assist in my career as a TL.