Great Google's Forms!

Google Drive certainly trumps Microsoft’s Sky Drive by including the Google Forms option! It’s simple to create a form and then send it via email or share its URL or embed it (as I did with my blog user survey). In addition to collecting responses in a spreadsheet, Google provides a graphic summary of responses.

Chapter 4 Overview: Communicating with........ everyone!

Even though telephones were the primary means of communication in the 90’s, e-mail is now “… one of the most popular online communication tools.” (170) E-mail can be used for both personal and business communications and actually outweighs paper mail! Not all email is legitimate. Some of it may be Spam or junk that you don’t want or need to read. E-mail is faster, easier, and less expensive than other means of communication. To receive e-mails, a user must have an e-mail address. The address must have a user ID, host name, and top-level domain. The user ID identifies the receiving party while the host name identifies the receiving party’s server that houses the account.

http://tinyurl.com/c8n5cfz

Social Bookmarking is PEOPLE (with apologies to Soylent Green)

Social Bookmarking doesn’t deal with the resources themselves; rather it creates bookmark links. The beauty of these sites is that it allows people to add descriptions to the resource links in the form of free-text comments, a tally of votes that indicate the resource’s value from the perspective of other people who have used it, or tags or keywords. Sometimes, the bookmarking site creates tag clouds to group individual tags into relationship groups. The more a tag is used, the larger the font in which that tag is displayed.

Tag cloud
http://www.winnefox.org/blog/tagcloud.gif

“From the point of view of search data, there are drawbacks to such tag-based systems: no standard set of keywords (i.e., a folksonomy instead of a controlled vocabulary), no standard for the structure of such tags (e.g., singular vs. plural, capitalization), mistagging due to spelling errors, tags that can have more than one meaning, unclear tags due to synonym/antonym confusion, unorthodox and personalized tag schemata from some users, and no mechanism for users to indicate hierarchical relationships between tags.” (Social Bookmarking) For example: learning-organization, learning_organization, learningorganization are all used as tags by Delicious users in addition to learning:organization and think of the possibilities when you turn the singular noun into the plural form: organizations! Without the fixed vocabulary of traditional databases, this could become quite a tiresome search!

It's not just WHAT you say but HOW and WHERE you say it: Netiquette



http://bit.ly/T9yNW8



While NETiquette IS just common-sense courtesy, it is amazing how many people seem to forget their manners when they go online. Therefore, a review of the core rules as outlined by Virginia Shea almost twenty years ago is a good place to start your review. For some reason, people find it easier to be less than polite when they are on the Internet, which is why Rules 1 and 2 are so important.

A great resource that covers all the major Internet forms of communication is NetworkEtiquette.net.

Rebekah's Web 2.0 Tools User Survey

Please provide feedback on my blog!

What's a QR code? [Belated Mobile Devices posting]

While doing my mobile devices research, I came upon this video, which I wanted to share.

Reference:

What's a QR Code? May 20, 2011. ConnectMe QR. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. http://youtu.be/b8EpazIwFys.

On Finding the ‘Sweet Spot’: Taking Charge of YOUR OWN Development (both Personal & Professional)

One of my Google Reader Subscriptions is Harold Jarche’s blog. (You can tell from his banner what he’s all about.) On October 19, he was interviewed by Robert Paterson, who recorded their discussion as a podcast. [If you want to listen to the podcast]

Jarche and Paterson spoke about the changing nature of work: its Increased complexity; the Impact of automation (robotics eliminates jobs); and the Trend toward outsourcing (using labor at the cheapest rate). Work that has become more important includes: Creativity, Development of New Ideas, and Problem Solving ability. (These spring from that ever-increasing complexity.)

Another change is that we will most likely not remain in our present positions or be with our current employer for the balance of our working lives due to: uncertainty, volatility, innovation, evolution. Work is changing and evolving. Jarche quotes Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors the connected mind.” And training alone is not the answer. Jarche has observed: “Training is a solution looking for a problem” and believes that we get 5% of our skills from training and the rest from informal learning. He also notes that “Learning is not dependant on teaching” and advocates the practice of ‘free-range’ learning.

Are You LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has been referred to as “Facebook for professionals.” And, since “Success is not just about what you know; it’s about who you know,” LinkedIn is a way to connect with some of those ‘right’ people. Most of the articles I read recommended the same ways to leverage LinkedIn and the connections made through that network into opportunities. The best summary was LinkedIn's own - How to Network Professionally Online, which offers ten suggestions:

1. 100% complete = 100% more likely to get noticed: “Your LinkedIn profile is your online business card, your résumé, and your letters of rec all in one.” According to Doyle, “The more robust your profile, the more you will get noticed.” “It should have all the same information that is on your resume including your qualifications, your experience, and your skills” (Doyle) You can just copy and paste from your résumé. Doyle also recommends adding a headshot: “Do be sure the photo represents the professional you and isn't too casual” and selecting an industry (often used by recruiters). Include links to your website or weblog if they represent the ‘professional’ you.
2. You’re more experienced than you think: “Think really broadly about all the experience you have, including summer jobs, unpaid internships, volunteer work, and student organizations. You never know what might catch someone’s eye.” Doyle recommends adding the Volunteer Experience and Causes field to your LinkedIn Profile and notes that “41% of the professionals surveyed stated that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience.”
3. Use your inbox: Start with people you know. “Start building your LinkedIn network by uploading your online address book and connecting to friends, relatives, internship colleagues, and professionals you know in the “’real world’.” MindTools recommends requesting “an introduction to people in your extended network through your mutual contact” or forwarding your profile page to contacts on their lists.
4. Get personal: “customize your connection requests with a friendly note and, if necessary, a reminder of where you met or what organization you have in common.” And selectively solicit recommendations with a personalized request. Doyle believes that “Recommendations from people you have worked with carry a lot of weight. To a potential employer, a LinkedIn recommendation is a reference in advance.”
   

   
5. Join the “in” crowd: join LinkedIn Groups to meet people who share common interests. Make use of Groups You Might Like (GYML).  Walsh led me to join e-learning 2.0, a group discussing instructional design techniques and technologies of eLearning.
   

   
6. Lend a (virtual) hand: Answer questions or make comments through group discussions, mention when you’ve read something really pertinent, forward job listings if you know someone is looking. And take the time to write recommendations for your contacts.
7. Update your status early and often: “Stay on other people’s radar screens by updating your LinkedIn status at least once a week—you can do this directly on LinkedIn or by linking your Twitter account and marking tweets with #in. Mention events you’re attending, projects you’ve completed, and other professional news.” Doyle notes you can change activity feed viewer settings.
8. Question (and answer) everything: seek advice and answer questions through LinkedIn’s Answers . “With tools like LinkedIn Answers and groups, you can establish trust with those in your network and improve your reputation, while keeping up-to-date with industry news and trends.” (MindTools)
9. Do your homework: Before an interview, “Access Company Pages to research organizations and their employees, and use Advanced Search to find things you have in common with people you’re meeting.“
10. Now step away from the computer...”: When possible follow up with real contact. “Set up phone calls, attend live events, and send snail mail notes to people you interact with on LinkedIn. Remember that online methods should supplement, not replace, in-person relationship-building.”

Find more ‘Do’s & Don’ts’ in Ryan’s article.

Some Interesting LinkedIn Graphics

To LinkIn - NOT to LinkIn - WHO LinksIn?

To LinkIn or NOT to LinkIn? [Didn't I ask the same question about Twitter?] Some people get their networking in other ways; some people don't feel that they need to network; and some people [me included] don't have enough hours in the day to do so regularly. Were you LinkedIn before taking this class? What benefits might it offer you? I'm still sitting on the fence and honestly don't have the time to actively use LinkedIn on a weekly basis!

http://higheredcareercoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/linkedineducatorsinfographic-e1333421900838.jpg

http://8.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/linkedin-infographic.jpg

SOURCES:

Cook, Sean. "Why Educators Need to “Get” LinkedIn." Higher Ed Career Coach. N.p., 3 Apr. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2012. <http://higheredcareercoach.com/2012/04/03/why-educators-need-to-get-linkedin/.

White, Charlie. "How Are People Really Using LinkedIn? [INFOGRAPHIC]." Mashable Social Media. N.p., 9 July 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. <http://mashable.com/2011/07/09/linkedin-infographic/>.