Boden Chen's List: Social Network

• centrality
• connectors, mavens, leaders, bridges, isolates
• David Krackhardt
• broker
• network centralities

  • for social network analysis, it can be used to draw conclusion on the degree students take control on learning.

  • in the case of Knowledge Forum analysis, it can be used to measure the focus degree of discussion.

3 more annotations...

• What things are adults doing with social that that enhance individual growth? Based on observations and interview we will provide a general categorization of the factors that enhance individual growth for adults participating in social media forums.
   

   
   
  1. The Learning Factor: With all the hype, craze and media coverage of social media, i.e. Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, many adults are drawn to the medium to learn what the hype is all about.
   
  2. The Connection Factor: Once adults enter networks and learn the “tools of the trade” many are amazed to find the presence of other adults they know and many they don’t already engaged with the medium.
   
  3. The Affinity Factor: Adults begin to find association with groups, causes, forums, media and other affinities which relate to their interest both personally and professionally.
   
  4. The Business Factor: There is an exponential growth of business opportunities that adults are learning to facilitate using social media as the medium to reach relevant and relative markets.
   
  5. The Creative Factor: Adults, and their businesses, are applying creative ways to use the technology behind social computing to extend its value to both personal and professional needs.
   
  6. The Expectation Factor: When you consider the creative possibilities of social media adults expect the formation of some economic and social value to be derived from their participation whether currently or in the future.

• You

   

  If you’re into social media for you, you’re in it to better yourself. Perhaps that’s through gaining attention, building your network or developing your skills. Either way, you’re in it primarily for yourself.

   

  Them

   

  If you’re into social media for “them,” you’re in it for the community. You do it to help others; for a feeling of belonging. Perhaps that leads to personal benefit down the road, but right now that’s not the objective.

   

  The Game

   

  If you’re in it for “the game” (not meant in a negative sense), you recognize that there’s a system at play. You’re likely coming at this from a business perspective and trying to figure out how that system works so you can work within it as best you can.

   

  Julien’s thought was that if you focus on one of these three motives and become an expert at one, you will be more successful than if you spread between the three.

• I’ve created some “Twittiquette” for PCA/ACA coordinators and participants (here’s a sample flyer).
• After being at a range of conferences with a lively Twitter backchannel, I think that it’s less invasive (and more productive) when people tweet via handheld devices. Not to be technologically deterministic here, but I find that it’s harder to connect with a room full of people hiding behind laptop screens. It’s harder for the speaker to connect with the audience and/or even make eye contact when the gaze is directed at the 15” or 17” screen. Based on personal experience, I find my tweeting via handheld to be more purposeful and selective, and while that’s obviously not true for everyone, I wonder how specific technologies shape (and will shape) conference cultures of listening and intellectual exchange.

• unconferences
• Readers will have noticed that the litany of invitation-only gatherings in my second paragraph was punctuated with Twitter hashtags, which are themselves a public invitation to aggregate perspectives and join in conversation.
• Twitter has played an important and occasionally transformative role at every academic gathering I have attended since early 2008.
• That participation can take a number of forms.
• Twitter provides a mechanism for users to refer back to important conversations or to weave threads together from multiple, related gatherings.
• Twitter also allows invited conference-goers to spread a wealth of ideas being voiced behind closed doors.
• The voice from Twitter cries: “Elitism! Hypocrisy! How can you be discussing [pick your poison: the public humanities, the future of scholarly communication, the changing nature of the disciplines] in a cloister? Who are these privileged few? And why weren’t we all invited to attend?”
• Five problems with Twitter use at closed gatherings
• Twitter changes a conference dynamic in ways that may be invisible to some participants.
• Next comes the concern that Twitter damages one’s ability to engage and converse in the room, or that it lowers the level of discourse.
• It clearly relates to the ethos of the academic Twitter demographic — mostly consisting of tech-savvy, early-career scholars or #alt-ac professionals
• These groups need to find ways to move forward together within the new norms of scholarly communication, and in a way that enhances shared work and promotes meaningful interconnectedness.

10 more annotations...

• After reading a few tweets today expressing confusion about a conference hashtag, I realized it would be nice to have some guidance as to how to go about choosing a hashtag for an upcoming conference. Here’s a step-by-step:

   

  1. Pick a short hashtag that adequately represents the conference. If your organization is called “National Association of Student Personnel Administrators,” then #naspa would make sense. While student affairs/higher education professionals have preferred adding a year, there is evidence to suggest that including no year in the hashtag is more frequent throughout the Twitterverse. The goal is to pick as short of a hashtag as possible that will describe the event. You don’t want to cut into people’s tweets— they only have 140 characters available, after all.

   

  2. Do a Twitter search of the hashtag you selected. If nothing comes up in your search, then do a little bit more checking: Ask your colleagues attending the conference and the conference organizers if they are aware of a hashtag for the event. You don’t want to duplicate effort. If there is no other hashtag in use for the event and if the hashtag you selected isn’t already in use, stake a claim. Send a tweet stating “I claim the #myhashtag for the 2010 My Hashtag National Conference.”

   

  If the hashtag you picked is already in use by another organization, cause, or person, go back to step 1.

   

  3. Contact the organizers of the conference and tell them you have claimed a hashtag. Ask them if they would please promote the hashtag to their members and conference attendees.

   

  4. Promote the hashtag everywhere. Tell your colleagues who are attending the conference, post it on your blog, and send it via the conference/organization listserv, if any.

   

  5. Enjoy using your newly created hashtag to engage conference participants.

• • Wireless access at venue – this is something that I imagine is frequently mentioned on feedback forms at venues without wireless access. Over the last couple of years it has become more common to have access to wireless network throughout events, and is therefore expected by many. Wireless access would have enabled more people to be able to tweet during the day, as many bought along devices which required wireless access. It had been hoped that the venue would have wireless but unfortunately that wasn’t the case – it may be something to place more priority on when choosing venue if future events are likely to include tweeting etc. during the day.
   
  • Wider promotion of hashtag – the hashtag was mainly mentioned on Twitter, but if you weren’t already following people like myself or the conference organisers it may not have been obvious. It was also publicised by email but looking back, it could have been more widely promoted. Details of the hashtag would be useful on the conference details page, in the delegate pack, and on the welcome screen as delegates arrive. It should also be mentioned at the beginning of the day with housekeeping information.
   
  • Twitterfall wall at venue – I know this wasn’t possible for this particular event, but I do think it’s something to consider for future events. It was used successfully at the Librarians as Teachers event on a large screen near the back of the room. This way it doesn’t interrupt the main presentations or distract people’s attention, but can be looked at during the break, even by those without mobile phones or laptops with them. It can also be interesting for speakers to review the tweets made during their session. If breaks are held in a different room, this may be a more appropriate place to display the tweets.

  • I might develop a visualization tool for the coming KBSI.