Weekly Report and Reflection Blog Post # 4: Bookmarking

Bookmarking sites on your computer is a very useful tool used by everyone, including university students. Having the ability to save a particular page on your computer that you can revisit over a period of time is very helpful when doing school projects or writing papers. However, it is easy for bookmarks to get lost, or unintentionally deleted from your internet tab. Speaking from experience, I recently updated the software on my Apple Macbook Pro, and when my computer restarted, I noticed that all my previous bookmarks were gone! This was a very frustrating time for me because I had important websites bookmarked on my computer from the previous 2 years of school. After loosing all these bookmarked tabs, I was in search of a solution to this problem. It wasn’t until this week’s session that I learned about a program called “Diigo

(Modern Science Education, 2015)

”.

Diigo is a system that allows you to bookmark tabs, highlight pages, make sticky notes on websites as well as create categories to organize your work. What makes this program so special and convenient is that it can be accessed at any time anywhere you go; either on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Through Diigo, you can build your personal library in the cloud, with links, pages, notes, pictures etc, never to be lost, and ready to be accessed anywhere. Of course, those digital highlights, sticky notes and screenshots you added while going around the web automatically go into your library. Once in your library, you can create categories to organize your findings. Upon exploring the functions of Diigo, I created several categories in my library such as News, Media, Freestyle Skiing and many more.

            Diigo is a system that will be helpful with my future at Brock University because I am not the most organized student. The internet is an essential and very crucial tool when it comes to doing school work, so having the ability to be organized is a must! With categories to put my findings in, I will be able to locate certain things at the click of a button. For example, if I am writing a large comparative paper, it may be beneficial to have a Diigo category for each topic so that I can easily flip back and forth between the two.

After exploring RSS feeds last week, it is important to note the significant difference between that and Diigo. Although both platforms act as an organization center for websites that you find interesting, they both do much different tasks. For example, an RSS feed will constantly give you updates with fresh new content that a website has to offer. Whereas a database such as Diigo will

only hold the website and content from when you saved it last. On the topic of RSS feeds, an article that I found interesting this week on my Feedly account was about a Brock University student who was named amongst the top 36 entrepreneurs in Canada. This article stood out to me on Feedly because in the small article box, I could recognize the student in the photo.

(LinkedIn, Curexe. 2015)

Johnathan Holland is a Brock student that came in and talked to my class last semester about a company he founded called Curexe. Curexe provides international payment and currency exchange services for its business clients. I would never have spotted this article if it wasn’t for RSS feeds and the use of Feedly.

Weekly Report and Reflection Post #3!

What item of interest from your feed reader can you share with others through a blog post? How did this inform your own learning?

As stated in my last post, I have been exploring RSS feeds. This weeks learning activity was very informative for me, as it was something I had never been familiar with before. For starters, I was faced with the challenge of using an internet platform that I had never used before (Firefox). After some time exploring the importance of RSS feeds, I began to realize its importance. RSS which stands for Rich Site Summary, is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. RSS solves a problem that most people regularly use the web are faced with. It allows you to easily stay informed by gathering the latest content from the sites you are interested in. Therefore you save time by not needing to visit each site individually. Upon exploring RSS feeds, the article that stood out to me was one called 8 Differences Between 'Entrepreneurs' and 'Employees'. This sparked my attention because of my entrepreneurial background as a proud owner of Andy's Home & Lawn Service. This article states 8 points: 

(FighterMC, 2014)

1. Entrepreneurs improve their skills; employees improve their weaknesses.

2. Entrepreneurs may produce lousy work; employees are perfectionists.

3. Entrepreneurs say 'no' to opportunities; employees embrace them.

4. Entrepreneurs delegate; employees practice 'DIY.'

5. Entrepreneurs mono-task; employees (try to) multitask.

6. Entrepreneurs thrive on risk; employees avoid it.

7. Entrepreneurs believe in seasons; employees believe in balance.

8. Employees are threatened by smarter people; entrepreneurs hire them.

(Walker, 2016) 

I found this article to be informative because when I grow up, I know that I want to be an entrepreneur. Having a reader is going to be an extremely useful tool to use when ever referring to articles for school and even just for my own enjoyment. This can benefit my knowledge since there is a multitude of information now at my fingertips. Following trends around the world and being able to focus on important and logical topics can influence my digital literacy in understanding valid sources. 

My Experience with RSS Feeds

(Welch, 2004)

Hello,

This weeks learning activity had us explore RSS feeds and work with a website company called Feedly. I found this third party website to be very interesting and very useful. Feedly allows users to organize and quickly read news stories of all different types. It works similar to social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter where you have a news feed that is constantly giving you live updates of current things happening. For example, I followed the RSS feed BBC News on Feedly. This allows me to take a quick glance at the top news stories from all around the globe. From here I was able to click on a story that interested me about China ending the 140 word twitter count. This story sparked my interest because of its relevance to this course. Although the Chinese version is called Sina Weibo, it is merely identical to twitter. For quite some time now, Twitter has been debating on dropping the word count limit so that individuals can create longer posts. Looking ahead to week five in this course, I see that we will be making a twitter account. Having previous experience with Twitter, I can personally express my hatred for the word cap.

(Werner, 2002)

It is hard to get your full message across when you are only limited to a small amount of freedom. With over 200 million users, Sina Weibo will be a great resource for Twitter to use as a pilot project. If expanding the word count fails for Sina Weibo, Twitter will know not to do that. Overall, I feel that Feedly and RSS feeds are very helpful because they give you upfront information at the click of a button! 

Blog #2: Personal Learning Environments

Walker, A. (CC) 2016

Hello,

In this weeks blog, I will be discussing my personal learning environment (PLE). The article titled Models for designing your personal learning environment outlines a personal learning environment as a self-directed and evolving environment of tools, services and resources organized by a person seeking a way to accomplish lifetime learning, to create, and to connect with others of similar interests. Building a strong PLE helps to accomplish and plan out future goals. In the next 5-10 years, I have specific goals that I would like to accomplish, and the use of my PLE will be crucial. My first goal is to get an internship at a reputable company in my fourth year of school, followed by finishing my university degree in sport management. My second goal to accomplish within the next 5-10 years is to continue to grow my landscape company Andy's Home & Lawn Service into a recognizable well known business. With over 100 clients in 2015, I will be looking to double this number in the next 3 years to expand my customer base. The use of my PLE will certainly help me to achieve this goal through the organization and communication sector. Having the ability to be organized is extremely important when running any form of business. Following my PLE,  the use of my I-Calendar and Iphone NotePad will be essential for running my business. The notepad will help me keep track of important tasks, and the use of my I-Calendar will remind me of upcoming events. Secondly, having a strong communication platform will assist me in gaining more customers in the future. Through the use of email and text messaging I will be able to stay in constant contact with all my customers to develop personal lasting relationships that will help grow my business.         

Walker, A. (CC) 2016

The second portion of the week two assignment had us design our own personal word cloud. I designed my word cloud based upon the week one assignment where we discussed our digital footprint. After looking at my word cloud, I was able to have a better understanding of words that I use more frequently than others. As seen below, my ability to use "communication" is going to help me build my personal digital footprint. I look forward to developing more word clouds in the future so that I have the ability to see my strengths at a quick glance. I am also excited to continually develop my learning in digital contexts and look forward to next weeks blog post. 

Digital Footprint- Andy Walker

       A digital footprint is the image that you leave behind across cyberspace and begins when you are born and continues until after you pass. Whether it's on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or another different platform, the content that you display or leave behind contributes to your digital footprint. Your digital footprint can also be affected without your control if someone adds content of you such as pictures or posts on your behalf. So this begs the question: Do I want a digital footprint? My answer would certainly be yes! Having a positive digital footprint will help your professional image in todays technologically advanced society. That being said, it would be very important to make sure you do not have a "negative" digital footprint, as it would affect you in the wrong way. When making a post online, you must remember that what you say/post can be viewed by anyone in the world who has access to a computer.

(Richardson, 2013)

      The video "Youth and Media- A Digital Dossier" displays the creation of a digital footprint without you even knowing. The first step anyone should do when learning about their own digital footprint is to put yourself in the position of an employer. If an employer wanted to learn more about you, a quick Google search may often be more than enough. So give it a try, Google your name and see what comes up; you may be surprised. Although you may not be intentionally posting anything inappropriate, everyone interprets things differently. That is why it is important to use privacy settings so that your posts can be filtered and only seen by the right people. For example, if you have any pictures on Facebook where you might be displaying alcohol, it might be in your best interest to filter the privacy settings so that only you and your close friends can view that post.

When developing your digital footprint, it is important to know the meaning of the term "Netiquette". Netiquette is essentially the do's and don'ts of online communication. The first rule of netiquette is to "Remember the human". When you communicate online, all you see is a computer screen. However it is important to remember that behind every computer screen is an individual who is reading and viewing any post that you make. Therefore you must take this into consideration in order to ensure the content you post is not offensive.

Upon completing the secondary digital license exam, I realized that throughout this course, I am going to need to work on digital literacy and digital communication. Digital literacy relates to the teaching and learning of technology. With so many online platforms in todays society, it hard hard for me to have advanced knowledge on each one. Therefor I must work on developing my skills on all online platforms. Secondly, digital communication refers to the exchange of information online. I need to improve on this because I feel that it is very important to make sure all your content online is displayed in a professional manner.

Andy's Introduction

Hello my name is Andy Walker and I am currently in my third year at Brock University pursing a bachelor's degree in sport management. My strong passion for sport as well as business is what lead me to take this program.

Despite being a full time student, I am also a proud owner of my own landscaping company, and this is my story:

At the young age of eleven, I was determined to make enough money to purchase a new hockey stick. When the opportunity arose to cut my neighbour's lawn for $20, I immediately jumped on this offer. It was from this day forward that I continued to grow "Andy's Home & Lawn Service" into what it is today. As a first year student at Brock University, I am able to manage over thirty residential and commercial lawn care customers, keep my marks up and play on three intramural sports teams. This shows that I have an extreme level of work ethic, and I am certainly not the type of person to give up. The Sport Management program allows me not only to gain further knowledge about the sport industry, but is also teaching me effective business and managerial skills. 

(Walker, 2016)

(Walker, 2016)

Over the last ten years of owning this company, I have learned many advanced business practices that cannot be taught in school. However taking this course (ADED 1P32) I believe that my knowledge of the online world will be greatly enhanced. In todays technologically advanced society with over 3 billion people using the internet worldwide on a daily basis, it is imperative to learn all of the uses for it which includes blogging.