What is it?
Social Networking websites - A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of relations.
Facebook, Myspace, Bebo ...
Etienne Wenger - Communities of Practice
1) We are social beings.... this fact is a central aspect of learning.
2) Knowledge is a matter of competence with respect to valued enterprises.
3) Knowing is a matter of participating in the pursuit of such enterprises, i.e., of active engagement in the world.
4) Meaning -- our ability to experience the world and our engagement with it as meaningful -- is ultimately what learning is to produce.
(reference)
Social Networking for Educators, a few places to start.
- http://commun-it.org/
- http://classroom20.ning.com/
- http://nextgen.ning.com/
Current Research
Abstract
I then examine how teens are modeling identity through social network profiles so that they can write themselves and their community into being. Building on this, I investigate how this process of articulated expression supports critical peer-based sociality because, by allowing youth to hang out amongst their friends and classmates, social network sites are providing teens with a space to work out identity and status, make sense of cultural cues, and negotiate public life. I argue that social network sites are a type of networked public with four properties that are not typically present in face-to-face public life: persistence, searchability, exact copyability, and invisible audiences. These properties fundamentally alter social dynamics, complicating the ways in which people interact. I conclude by reflecting on the social developments that have prompted youth to seek out networked publics, and considering the changing role that publics have in young people’s lives.
Among the key findings for me:
•We are doing our youth a disservice if we believe that we can protect them from the world by limiting their access to public life. They must enter that arena, make mistakes, and learn from them. Our role as adults is not to be their policemen, but to be their guide.
•The fundamental properties of networked publics – persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences – are unfamiliar to the adults that are guiding them through social life.
Abstract
A social networking site is an online place where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five years, such sites have rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of internet users. More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Among the key findings for me:
•55% of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55% have used social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.
•66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible by all internet users. They limit access to their profiles.
•48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26% visit once a day, 22% visit several times a day.
•Older girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networking sites and online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared with 54% of older boys, and 70% of older girls have created an online profile, while only 57% boys have done so.
Other Resources:
Examining Facebook- The University of Missouri uses Facebook to monitor policy violations; and employers use it to screen job candidates.
Going A Little Further:
Social bookmarking tools (Resources)
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