Weekly Report & Reflection Post #3

As mentioned in my previous post discovering RSS feeds have been a great help.  One article that came about today that caught my eye was about the minimum wage in Ontario being increased to $11per hour.  The article dives deeper into the situation analyzing whether or not this will be beneficial for the province or detrimental.  This hike of wages is an increase of 75 cents and is the first increase to minimum pay since 2010 in Ontario.  Premier Wynne explains that Ontario will now join Nunavut to introduce an $11 per hour minimum wage.  With this wage increasing, there is speculation that the amount of unemployment may go up in teenagers and young adults.  

Having this article come straight to my Feedly account is great.  I enjoy keeping up to date with the news of Canada and the world and to have a variety of different newspapers in one location is so easy.  I don’t know how I managed my time before such an organizer.  

That being said, I believe that my reader can be considered an information organization tool in my PLE.  The reader brings in information from a variety of different sources and makes it easily accessible to the user.  What the best part is that the sources can be just about anything from news to blogs and podcasts.  It can almost act as a search engine confined to a set of selected sites.  Finding relevant information to an assignment or paper would be easily found with the use of a reader and proper sources linked to it.  Going forward I can definitely see myself using and maintaining such a tool in the future for both personal and professional purposes.

My Experience with RSS Feeds

Discovering RSS feeds are great as I was always checking my usual sites for new information but now I have the information come to me when there is an update.  I enjoy following the NHL and keeping up to date with hockey news.  Therefore the NHL headline site was one I was always checking but now I have it set up in my Feedly and receive updates through this site.  Getting used to Feedly may take a little while but I already see the benefits of it!

One of the articles I found intriguing was about Referee Trevor Hanson.  For 5 years I was a minor hockey referee and we would wear visors on our helmets in order to blow the whistle.  Well I always had a slight fear of taking a puck to the face when reffing for the older players.  This article is about the unfortunate event of Hanson being hit by a puck in the nose. An awful experience I wish never to experience!

Personal Learning Environment

In the next 5-10 years I would like to see myself in the corporate world with a steady job and my CPA designation completed.  I will be graduating from my undergrad this June and hopefully have an opportunity to further travel to countries I have yet to explore.  In order to reach where I want to be in the near future I have to be open to the types of working experiences I accept.  With the market being difficult to find jobs, I realize that I have to use tools such as LinkedIn a little better.  Employers have begun using this tool more often to recruit and network with new graduates.  I am hoping this class will provide some pointers on how to develop those skills.  Once I have those skills I believe I will be able to turn them into a habit and hopefully turn it into an interview.  With an interview I will have the chance to turn it into a job and reach an important stepping stone to where I see myself in 5-10 years.

Bourque, N. (CC) 2014.

In creating my PLE (personal learning environment) I discovered how much I rely on the internet throughout my daily life.  Upon completion of my PLE and review of Josh Bernoff’s blog post, I discovered that I can categorize myself under the joiner and spectator portions of the Social Technographics ladder (Bernoff, 2010).  The joiner section of the ladder is defined as those who are updating social media profiles while also visiting the pages of others.  I am not an avid Facebook user however I can say that I log in at least a few times a week.  After being on exchange and a variety of trips, I use this tool to connect with my friends from all over the world.  However in this ladder example I am also described as a spectator.  Spectators are those that read the blogs, tweets and watch the videos of others online.  Whether it’s for educational or just personal purposes I follow friends and others through their blog and video postings.  It’s amazing being able to share experiences and stories one has discovered for the entertainment or learning of others.

Bourque, N. (CC) 2014.

Bernoff, J. (2010, January). Social Technographics: Conversationalists get onto the ladder. Retrieved from http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2010/01/conversationalists-get-onto-the-ladder.html

Week 1 - Maintaining a Positive Digital Footprint

Brodsky, M. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.digitalfamilysummit.com/2012/safety-protecting-your-digital-footprint/

Only being in my early twenties, I like to think of myself as more of a “digital native” more so than a “digital immigrant” (Ribble, 2011).  That being said, I am quite familiar with sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  With these social media sites gaining so much attention in the news about privacy laws I try to limit my digital footprint.  However, the clip Digital Dossier (Treyvaud, 2008) really puts it into perspective as to how much personal information is stored on a daily basis about people on the internet.  The clip really outlines how, in today’s technological age, one’s digital footprint begins even before they are born with hospital documentation.  I really try my best to monitor how much of my information is out on the internet and I think that is why I have never through of trying blogging.  By having personal reflections posted online for anyone to read just exposes more information about myself to the world.  However Tina Barseghian (2011) makes a good point in her blog “Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog” as a blog creates the opportunity for an individual to create a positive digital dossier for themselves.  There are always negative stories in the news about how people for comments they make on their social media pages.  Therefore, I am hoping that having this blog will allow me to create an even more positive presence for myself on the internet so that if anyone were to search my name only positive links appear. 

Netiquette, or digital etiquette, can be defined as “the electronic standards of conduct or procedure” (Ribble, 2011).  In order to establish and maintain that positive digital footprint mentioned earlier, it is important to stay within the guidelines of netiquette.  The key rule outlined by Albion.com is to “Remember the Human” (Shea, 2011).  The rule outlines that when commenting on a post by someone else, the author is an actual human so one may defend their view point but not go to the extent of being rude to the other person (Shea, 2011).  Therefore netiquette and having a positive digital footprint go hand in hand.  If one follows the guidelines and is respectful of other bloggers, a positive digital footprint is sure to follow.  

Once I completed the Digital Driver’s License Exam, I was intrigued by the section on digital law.  Digital law is defined as “the legal rights and restrictions governing technology use” (Ribble, 2011).  I am interested to dive deeper into this section to really gain a grasp on who owns the rights to information once placed onto the internet.  Therefore digital law will become my focus for the next few weeks in this course.

As touched on earlier, Treyvaud’s clip of the Digital Dossier really provides an understanding of how much personal information is out on the internet and who has access to it.  Everyone in today’s age has a digital dossier, or footprint, and it is developed before birth.  Therefore it is how we go about using it and maintaining it that determines whether it becomes a positive or negative tool for ourselves.  Although social media sites have been used to bully and ridicule other people, Barseghian (2011) states in her blog that blogging is a great way to develop that positive footprint and avoid the negativity.  By following the netiquette guidelines set out by Shea (2012), anyone can avoid creating a negative image for themselves.

Ribble, M. (2011). Digital Citizenship in Schools, 2nd Edition. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

T Barseghian. (2011, August 30). Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/08/six-reasons-why-kids-should-know-how-to-blog/

Treyvaud, R. (2008, Aug). Digital Dossier. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79IYZVYIVLA

Shea, V. (2012). The Core Rules of Netiquette. Retrieved from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Introduction

As a new member of the blogging world, I would like to start by introducing myself.  My name is Neil and I am a senior student at Brock University pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Accounting.  Throughout my University career I have had a variety of coop placements and even took advantage of studying in the Netherlands for 4 months.  Going on exchange and traveling to thirteen countries opened my eyes to traveling and what the world has to offer.  While visiting a foreign country, I find it interesting not only to discover what the differences are between the various cultures but what are similar as well.  It speaks volumes about how small the world is when one culture participates in similar traditions as another located on the other side of the world.  However, all good things must come to an end and while in my final semester and seeing how reliant today’s world is on the use of technology I decided to learn more about the digital world and how to use it to my advantage by taking Learning in Digital Contexts. 

In beginning this course, I am excited to be exposed to the blogging world and am eager to start learning more about how to take advantage of the digital world.  As someone who enjoys traveling, I hope to take what I learn about blogging from this course and share my stories and adventures with my family and friends from afar.  However blogging is not the extent of the learning from this course.  I am interested to see what webcasting has to offer and as well as working with cloud computing.