The usage of SNS

The following information on social networking sites is based on what I read in the Media Literacy Report.http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/socialnetworking/report.pdf
Social networking sites such as Facebook (adults) and Bebo (kids)are currently the most popular in the UK and US. The main Issues surrounding their use include bullying, providing fake information, stalking, and the future risk from disclosure of private information. However, instant messaging is seen as a much greater risk than SNS from sexual predation, and becoming just as popular.

Problems arise because of a lack of rules,social conventions and obvious boundaries compared to the real world. 60% of users leave their privacy settings open sometimes inadvertently because of a lack in internet literacy or interface design limitations. Other young people scan profile pages of strangers,which is 2nd in popularity to communicating itself. I think,it's natural for the young to compete and get as many friends as they can.


Having taken a look at discussion pages related to young peoples interests the content does not seem particularly new...and would be the sort of thing I would talk about when I was at school. There must be some more extreme content out there, which could have a significant effect on young people, who may not know how to react as an adult would.


Most older people in my age group use SNS for keeping up with friends and finding old ones. There are a significant number of young women who use them for attention seeking -People, who are maybe insecure and looking to increase their self esteem. This follows from my own experience where a pretty family member has over 1500 personal photos of herself partying in provocative dress on her facebook. I also have a few mothers-2 I haven't seen or communicated with for over 20 years, who send me pictures of themselves with their offspring.I guess hoping I will comment!!!:)

There is some potential to use SNS for social and political reform rather than just connecting for social reasons. This is something that could emerge in the future. Polls and campaigns do feature somewhat now. It is possible that discussion boards could be linked to VLEs for examining and exploring issues, and maybe even polling for consensus. I am a little sceptical about younger children and teenagers who might not like this invasion of their social space for educational reasons...

Collaboration on Wikipedia

I had a look at the tennis wikiproject, which seems to have been going on for years!!!! The site itself does not purport to being democratic, so why bother with collaborating at all? Wikipedia says this is not a political arena, but the way these projects are put together is very autocratic. Consensus, the 4th pillar code of conduct for wikipedia asks that a consensus of opinion is found, but no polls are usually undertaken, and this is not measured. Silence or failure to respond on a discussion board implies consent. In any event, arbitration committees and the board of trustees could have the final say in any changes, so why use consensus? Wikipedia ask writers to behave in a certain way indicating that editing and achieving the changes you desire should not involve bullying, manipulation or dishonesty etc, but this will depend on individual characteristics, and some people are just like that. Im not sure why people get involved with this, but there is some evidence from the discussion boards that professional journalists participate, I guess because of their love of writing.In terms of knowledge, it is very challenging to attempt to authenticate the material.

If it is sourced then how would you know how reliable that website or book is, and what could be deemed as factual? However, confrontational issues in talk and discussion pages do have some pedagogical application. Opinions are different perspectives that open up discussions and provide ideas and encourage critical thinking skills. Confrontation fuels people into action getting them to think in order to refute arguments and justify opinions, which result in much better responses, especially on an asynchronous discussion board.

negative aspects of face to face and VLE teaching

Drawbacks of face to face teaching:

Harder to retrieve and recall teaching content.

Impracticality of bringing together different media

Too much paper. Problems keeping paper records

Less involvement with community & parents

More limited teaching content

Difficulty in accessing and sharing resources

Lack of learning contexts.

Time consuming drawings charts etc

Lack of asynchronous communication

Drawbacks to VLEs:

Lack of flexibility for teaching

Production of simple question types/ assessment tools

Need for thorough forward planning

Systems can be slow, and disruptive

Specialist training for teacher

Compatibility issues with existing websites

Time consuming to implement

Expense of technical support

Design limitations, lack of flexibility

Lack of support and encouragement compared with face to face

Affordances of VLE's

Affordances of face to face teaching

My life and stuff

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. My lecturer, George Veletsianos at the University of Manchester has made me set this up as part of my masters studies on emerging technology and education. I did actually start this blog in December off my own back, but didnt get further than thinking of a name.. and my own name too, not too imaginative! I was hoping for some followers but I only got 1, me...so hopefully more will come in the future.

I must say, I’m not too keen on exposing myself too much, and this is the thing about blogging and facebook and myspace and the rest of them… Why is it necessary to give out your age and birthday all the time on the www. I’ve always lied about my age-when I was younger I was older and now I’m older I want to be younger. Even when I was 25 I was moaning about being half a century. In some cultures like Egypt birthdays aren’t even celebrated-it’s just another year off your life!!!!

As for my life, in the words of Robert Frost “ I took the road less travelled by…” I started very predictably- married young, baked bread and made yoghurt, but always wanted something a bit more interesting or adventurous. Plus I hated the English and Irish weather. Sounds superficial, but the weather has a big impact on mood, or on my mood anyway. Those short grey days of winter. Dreaming of being in some sun-drenched tropical location biding your time waiting until the next holiday came along… not for me. Not that I dislike England, but I always wanted to be somewhere else. I even emigrated to Australia twice…in the Thatcher years. (sorry you Tory voters!)I found out the grass isn’t always greener sure enough. For all the amazing things that have happened and places I have experienced there have also been some rather dramatic events. One time me and a guide were held captive at knife point by 4 men for 3 hours. The place shall remain anonymous because I don’t want to ruin their burgeoning tourist trade.!!!!(But it’s close to where this picture was taken)

The thing that got me out of that scrape was mainly some understanding and knowledge of the culture. But, potentially a great danger because of the anger of the main attacker. I’ve never ever seen someone so angry, and I’ve been very angry myself at times L He turned out to be a transmigrant from Ambon who had lost all his family in the fighting there. I never reported it to the military police located right opposite my hotel because they would have gone right to their village and totally overreacted. Many of these beautiful places don’t enjoy the freedom of expression and safety which people should be so grateful for living in England.

I have also on occasion had the opportunity to help and assist prisoners. This is a cause which I feel quite strongly about. It’s amazing (or is it )how many people will turn their backs on people being held either on unreasonable charges or for good reason but extra harsh custodial sentences. Many say don’t get involved, but I do believe often to my detriment that I should get involved sometimes. I think as an expat British (American, Australian etc) from the western countries get much more respect, even nowadays. Rightly or wrongly certain embassy’s have more say and influence which does effect your way of life living abroad. The downside, and I hate to let the side down, is being a woman, but life would be so much easier if I were a man living in Asia or the Middle East

On a somewhat lighter note, I think animals are by far the best thing for me- Animals and nature. As you can see my photo holding the snake-Okay, I was in Tanah Lot in Bali and not in the deepest darkest jungle somewhere, but the happiness I get from watching or touching animals makes a difference to me. Also, peace and quiet is important. Yes, I do love all sorts of music, but peace and quiet and tranquillity are getting increasingly hard to find in this over-populated world, and this is of great value I think. As for my aims and hopes, well, the fact that I haven’t turned back down the path less trodden is that I’m still learning, trying to get more patient and less angry and hopefully more tolerant of people generally.. and living abroad allows me to do this. Also on the practical side, I am a career ESL teacher and my work means I must live abroad. Besides, England’s too expensive now!!!