My very own OPLN? Where do I sign up? On second thought….
I have found Twitter to be an interesting discovery tool for all things pop culture and sports, 2 of my favorite subjects. My new concern is making this work for all things librarianship. I credit this class for getting me on the path. I am not a Twitter person; maybe I’m a bit of a Luddite. So to view this new (ish) technology through Maniapoto’s eyes gave me some hope. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement: “You won’t know what you don’t know until you come across it and an OPLN can help you find things you didn’t even realise you were interested in.”
Her OPLN was very…busy. It’s a lot to digest. She mentioned earlier in the article that OPLNs “help us to function better in all aspects of our daily life: at home with family and at work.” I strongly disagree. I can see the professional benefits and learning about various topics can help with different situations. But I don’t think it’s good to be so involved in my online network that I forget the people that matter most – the living, breathing, real family and friends around me. We can use these tools to connect but I don’t think technology automatically makes things better. What about the digital divide that doesn’t allow everyone to connect with the masses? I suppose some believe that it’s okay for those people to be left behind and if they can’t plug in, so be it. I’m not saying that’s what this author is advocating. I just don’t want to get carried away by the wonder of the machines. Unplug people!
(ducks incoming tomatoes) Yeah, yeah get off my lawn.
I think you’re displaying a healthy critical perspective on technology! It should make sense for individuals. Some folks have a good local support system and that should take its proper place in one’s life for sure!
In a perfect world, the use of OPLN technologies would be to optimize one’s contacts in order to seek affinity with those groups of people who compliment your local support group. As a student, you have good local support people, but as a worker you may have greater challenges (for example, many libraries only employ 1 cataloger, so to seek out others, it’s likely you’ll need to go online).
At this point, let’s explore
I agree that these OPLNs do seem a little overkill for everyday/personal use, but I think they’re definitely useful to me as a student/professional who has to manage several different blogs/accounts/new sources (things that are required of me for school and otherwise) all at the same time.
Good points all! Very thoughtful! In my own world as a professor (which, for now, is also your world as a student), I try to use tech tools thoughtfully (i.e., for a course-related purpose). For Twitter, it’s a channel for me to let all my students know about new readings on Metadata that I want y’all to know about.
btw, it’s interesting to note that for this same function (getting readings to students during the semester), I used to use delicious.com, which was one of the 10 Top Failed Social Media sites that we talked about on Twitter!!
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/r-i-p-top-10-failed-social-media-sites/57554/
I can understand wanting to read a few blogs here & there but I just don’t have the time anymore – and it’s not because I don’t care about the subject matter, it’s because there’s so much out there! I’d much rather have a face to face conversation with someone (just like in library reference – it’s easier to help someone in person than via email) – but for what I’m doing now (cataloging, library school), there is no one to talk about it in person so i rely sometimes on OPLNs. I just have to make sure it doesn’t take over my entire day (as it can do sometimes which is a shame).