I like to share. That’s not a secret. I’ve been thinking about it a fair bit lately. Several people keep it in their radar and it seems to be a consistent theme for me.
I like to play. That may be not be much of a secret either. If you follow me on twitter, you’ll know most of my tweets are pure drivel. At the same time, I actually do a lot of reflecting as I explore various new ways of sharing. I recently began using Qik to stream video from my phone. So far my videos have consisted of me wandering around my house and even sitting with my neighbour in his hot tub (It sounds worse than it was).
The thing I’m wondering about is, even though we live in a publish, then filter world, do I have a responsibility in what I share? I’m mean do I restrict what I share or do I rely on the user to determine what they do and want they don’t want from my stuff? Currently you can subscribe to this blog, my family blog, my work blog, flickr photos, shared reader, youtube videos, Facebook, wikis,and probably a gazillion other spaces where I’ve got content splattered. That’s a lot of Shareski, way more than anyone wants or needs.
When I’m working with teachers who initially want to set up blogs for their students, one question always comes up. “How do we tell the published, edited work from the everyday writing? Outside of using some tagging or categorizing or even separate spaces, it’s tough. Parents or outsiders looking in, might see a myraid of work from seemingly gibberish, text messaging type language to more polished, formal writing. Is that the parents/viewers job to discern? Can they tell what’s supposed to be exemplary and what is simply reflection or practice? Should we be posting play or practice?
So back to me (it’s always about me ;-0). I’ve recently begun to use a few different video hosts to put my personal stuff on. I have 216 subscribers on youtube. I’m guessing most are interested in my education videos, not ones of me hitting golf balls across a frozen lake. So I’ve tried filtering that out for people. I realize that most experienced web users are comfortable opting out of subscriptions and content, but what about those who don’t? Do I need to help them? Inevitably the blurring of play, personal and professional gets in the
way I don’t know what goes where. Should I care? Should I filter or is
that your job?
Let’s get this discussion started.
An interesting question; we’re also in the middle of wrestling with this issue.
We’re trying to separate the “personal” stuff from the “business” stuff, but in this day and age there is a fuzzy line between where the person stops and the business begins.
We’ve built our business on being accessible real people, but not every customer wants to hear how upset I got watching last night’s hockey game. So we’re trying to keep our blog (and our YouTube page, etc.) focused on theatre and education. Many of our customers have evolved into real-life friends, and so the more “personal” stuff is shared on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Craig Masons last blog post..Congratulations to Franklin Academy!
Careful–you ae starting sound like a school librarian with all your categories and such.
Cathy Nelsons last blog post..Have camera – Will travel
Hi Dean
Should I share less? Should I care less? That is the question. Like yourself and no doubt many of your readers I share via my web site, blog, Twitter, Flickr, etc. I have Delicious and Diigo accounts yet they are fairly academic.
My blog is reasonably tame I guess. The other day I wondered whether or not I should post a photograph of a glass of beer on Flickr? What if one of the senior staff in the regional office see it? Will they think I am an alcoholic? I drink a beer about 4 times a month, if that. i did think twice however.
Anyway, I have filtered or censored my site. A year or so ago I removed a number of photographs my wife and I had taken during our time in Singapore, Taiwan and other parts of Asia. We had seen some, let’s say, racy stuff, during our travels and when out with friends. We took photographs and I bunged them up online. I have taken most of them down. I did feel concerned that my employer’s employer might wonder. I may work there one day. Who knows?
Curiously I tend to be more “out there” when I am commenting on other individual’s blogs and less so when writing on my own blog. You only need to read some of my comments on Clay Burrel’s blog to see that. I ask myself ‘why’ sometimes. That is a type of filtering.
I have thought about filtering my life online. My blog categories do some filtering for me. Perhaps I should offer individual feeds for each category. People can choose to subscribe to my posts about teaching, the Illawarra or Sootie. ^_^
My readers can do the filtering. I think some of them actually enjoy learning that there is more to me than just another classroom teacher. I enjoy reading blogs that show diversity in the subject matter. The Otterman blog by my friend Siva and Alan Levine’s blog spring to my mind. You never know what to expect.
If filtering makes the publisher feel comfortable then filter. If it makes no difference to how they feel then do not worry. The important thing is to feel happy with what you do in your life.
John Larkins last blog post..Resources links updated
Goodness, share whatever you like. I’ll take care of filtering on this end.
p.s. I’m not one of your YouTube subscribers (I subscribe to something like one channel) but I would definitely watch you hitting golf balls across a frozen lake.
Stephen Downess last blog post..Toolkit: Making the Case
Share more. When you filter, share to delicious.com but not a blog. Social bookmarking sharing needs no filtering, in my view, blog sharing needs a little bit.
Tweet often.
Let individuals be their own filter.
Sharing –> networked learning with few limits.
Why limit the potential learning of others in your learning community who may share your interest in a particular topic?
Wesley Fryers last blog post..Mac using Netflix Users: Start your engines!
I prefer Shareski Unfiltered. It’s much more entertaining. Besides, who else will show me golf on ice videos?
Scott S. Floyds last blog post..I interrupt the regularly scheduled post to bring you…. Me.
I actually do want to see that golf swing! I better practice more.
I teach elementary school and I think that affects my opinion greatly. My online presence is split in three: personal (mostly unfiltered, inappropriate, and separate from school), professional (loud and opinionated), and school (sanitized and dull). Writing should always have a purpose (even if that is to play and explore) and I try to teach my students to know their audience. Shouldn’t we? Should I use less parenthesis?
I would definitely be disappointed if you shared less! I’m confident that I can filter out what I’m not interested in. As John Larkin said “My readers can do the filtering. I think some of them actually enjoy learning that there is more to me than just another classroom teacher.” The mixture of personal and professional helps build a connection with your readers.
Having said that, there is no doubt that we all self-filter to some extent. I’m not going to post about, hypothetically speaking, how hungover I was, or how I think so and so is stark raving mad. Those things could be hurtful to so and so and to me eventually. Our students, on the other hand, have not developed their own filters very well yet. That’s where we come in as guides to help them make good decisions on what to post and what not to.
I think the only downside to sharing as much as you do is that you might receive some unwelcome advice on your golf swing–it is me or does anyone else think Dean was standing a little too far from the ball?
Claire Thompsons last blog post..May I Have A Word?
I definitely don’t think people should share less. I do think we need a social media culture shift. It is time for the rules to change, for etiquette to take a back seat to personal filtering. This will be difficult for people who are new to social networking. Those of us who have been around a while and are promoting it, need to also educate people that they have the right to choose the people they follow, the media they enjoy and the content they desire. The language of social media, has led many to feel pressure to conform to certain protocol. For example, I have seen social media introduced to students who are encouraged to follow certain people. They are then introduced to tools, where they proceed to subscribe to all content produced by the recommended individuals. When they leave the learning environment, they are at a loss as to what to do with their subscriptions. I imagine many simply abandon their readers.
The culture needs to change to a point where it is not taboo to “unfriend” people, to break connections and to self-select contacts. As content producers, we need to be okay with people unsubscribing. We need to pay less attention to blog statistics, numbers of followers, and “friends.” Ranking tools and tools that track drops are enemies to this progress. Yesterday I began dropping Facebook friends. I realized most of the people I’m friends with on facebook, never communicate with me through facebook. Many of them, I only friended when I saw we had many friends in common. I discovered very little useful content is produced in facebook. I perceive much more personal value in following people on Twitter, and reading their blogs. I’m struggling with the choices of whom to keep. It shouldn’t be a struggle. I imagine it’s much worse for people who are new to the game and feel stronger social obligations.
No, don’t filter what you produce, but when you have the opportunity, let others know that you aren’t offended if they stop following you. Let new participants know that they have control over the information they consume. Let them know it’s okay to share and let others do the filtering. Don’t worry about whether or not we want to hear about your dinner or golfing. If we don’t, we have the right to tune out. You should feel comfortable enough to publish what you feel adds value, even if it’s only to one viewer.
Jens last blog post..Plagiarism and Creative Writing for Young Children
This post really hit home for me. These are issues I have been helping nascent edubloggers at my school work through for themselves and their students. In the purest part of my heart -I contend that the mix of work & play made possible by technologies of 2008- is really exciting.
I think finally seeing the human side of our teachers and mentors is a terribly positive thing. There is just no way this doesn’t aid and assist engagement with the folks you work with and for.
I say keep up the flow… let the smart (?) folks who read your blog apply their own filters to what they see and hear. We come here for information passed through your personal filter as it is. Isn’t that we all are really doing when we enter the edublogosphere? We seek the blogs of different people for the different filters they provide on the current thinking of edtech, etc.
Keep it coming…
Sean
Sean Nashs last blog post..Increasing Our Level of “Vitamin A”
I always say that it’s your perogative to share what you wish; it’s my perogative to read (or not read) what I wish. I’d echo much of what Jen says above as well. Keep sharing as much as you want to.
Share away! What better way to learn and get to know you? I am able to filter (or be amused, whichever is the case.) I have not looked for you on you tube yet, but next time I have a moment to spare, I want to see that golf ball and the lake!
Louise Maines last blog post..Is this legal?
I agree with Jen, but it takes time not to be offended when people unfriend you. Recently I was unfriended by someone I felt was a great contact and it made me feel a bit self-conscious.
Having said that, I am learning now that the more I share, both personally and professionally, the deeper connections I am making with people. If we agree that the purpose of many of these tools is to share and make connections, then we shouldn’t self-censor. If we are spouting too much gibberish we will lose followers or readers, but we may just pick up a few that contribute more to the communities we are trying to build.
Here are some more of my thoughts: http://intrepidteacher.edublogs.org/2008/11/15/microbugger/
Jabiz Raisdanas last blog post..MicroBugger
“My online presence is split in three: personal (mostly unfiltered, inappropriate, and separate from school), professional (loud and opinionated), and school (sanitized and dull).”
This point from Mark is exactly what I’m struggling with personally right now:
I’ve got multiple personalities online. It’s certainly doable, but it’s exhausting to manage. How many twitter accounts should I have? How many blogs? There are services like Facebook that prohibit multiple accounts, so technically I shouldn’t even have a personal, Friends-only account and a professional, public account.
And, even though it’s technically doable, it’s not really fun or useful to keep them entirely separate. In my personal life, I still want the random Internet folks I encounter to know what my job is, in case they’ve got a problem or question I can answer. And I talk with my peers about my personal life and hobbies…but doing either of these things online and in writing might be a fire-able offense?
I can either change who I am, not share who I am, or juggle multiple personalities and hope that the people who would be upset aren’t clever enough to piece it all together.
What Stephen said.
Which is why the whole filtering thing is so important. We need to edit both ways, what we share, what we consume. Both are a process that evolves as we read and write.
And both are a process we have to model and teach our kids.
Will Richardsons last blog post..“The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have”
But Will, if you’re asking me to filter, that’s different than what others have said. Most say, “share whatever, I’ll filter”. That seems to be Shirky’s premise, “it’s not an information overload problem, it’s a filtering problem”.
I do agree there’s a modeling piece here which is what you talk about when you question if posting every party picture to Facebook is really appropriate. Most employers aren’t filtering that information.
I was thinking more in terms of minutia rather than inappropriateness. I post hundreds of photos to flickr and I’m sure 99.9% of them aren’t meaningful to anyone outside my family and friends. That’s where I still struggle. Right or wrong, I view much of my audience as community rather than network and I assume they might be interested in me sharing about my dogs. I realize that’s not how everyone feels but again, as Shirky mentions, when kids post details about their lives, it’s not intended for everyone. It may be available for everyone to see but they don’t see it that way. What I post might not be inappropriate but it certainly isn’t all that important.
Still thinking.