Online Communication Tools

I have recently been looking at the different types of online communication tools that are available on the Internet and peoples intranets.

Although I am not a novice of using the Internet and communicating with family and friends, I have to admit that I was never aware the complexities of them all.

Where do I begin?

Social Network Sites

I have been using Facebook for about a year now and I love it, I am able to use it to communicate with my family and friends, meet up with long lost friends and start up forgotten friendships. I really like using Facebook, but I am aware of the cons against it as well. I think that one of the biggest issues there is against Facebook is personal details being on full show to people who are generally looking around the site, however I have found that if you limit your personal security then this shouldn't really be a problem. The other issue is the amount of emails that get sent to you for people sending you hugs, drinks, fish the list could on. This was a problem for me some time again, I would check my read all my emails in the morning and by the evening I would have 50 more. I looked into this as it was really getting on my nerves and I found that you could unsubscribe to these emails (which I have done now!)

Blogs

Blogs are a way of keeping an online diary, I knew that they existed but I never had the need to create one before, that was before I enrolled on the BALTR degree. I think that it is a really good way of jotting down your thoughts and feeling at the time of entry. It's also good for reflecting on them as well. I have already started re-reading my entries and thinking about for much my skills are already developing. I think that the biggest downside of this for me is that I have to think about the things that I am going to write before I write them, I know that people are reading it and following it and it is not just a private diary that I am used to carrying around in my handbag! However blogging is certainly easy to use and it is becoming very addictive and I'm sure that given time I will just log on and type and not have to plan how I'm going to type, I am looking forward to this day!

Online Community

I have never used an online community site before and now I have to contend with FirstClass! I think that is certainly has it's good and bad points. I like the feeling that we are all a big community, supporting each other, offering advice and guidance. It's good for getting clarification for your ideas and your understanding of topics etc. It is very easy to use and to just drop in and out of, however because we are all new to it and the course, we all have so many questions to ask and we're all offering advice that now matter how often you drop by, there always seem to be a lot of posts to read and answer. I sometimes think that I have an understanding of what I'm doing and how I'm going to do it or present my work, then I read all the posts and I start questioning myself and doubting my thoughts. I'm sure that I'm not the only one feeling like this and I would never stop posting replies and questions on FirstClass as I think that it is definitely a learning tool that I will become to love and the more confidence I have in the work that I am producing the more that I will see FirstcClass as the vital learning tool that it is.

So for now it's goodbye from me and goodbye from my blog!

Hectic Week!!

I thought that last week was going to be heaven and that I was going to be able to really get stuck into my uni work, you see my husband and children were all away for the week. But my school had other ideas! We had an open evening, meetings and my timetable got changed. I now have 5 new classes and I have had to establish where they all are with their coursework and what tasks they have all done.

I have created excel spreadsheets for each of the classes but all this took so much time!! By the time that I got it all finished, my husband and children where home and we were celebrating my daughters 4th birthday!

I have (hopefully) finished my typical working day and my organisation chart. I have looked at my role, using the Internet and job description to help me. I am looking at the relationships and I have started looking at different online communication tools! I have managed to get some sleep as well!!

I also read the George Osborne speech, which I found fascinating, I am also planning of posting my comments about that on FirstClass very soon.

I am wanted to post my thought about different online communication tools in the next few days, so fingers crossed I'll get that done.

Check back soon!!

Online and Beyond

Over the last fewe days I have been thinking about the ways that we all communicate and how the internet has had a big impact on most peoples lives. I got to think that it would be a great help to some people, getting them in touch with relatives, friends etc. Some house bound people could also use the internet to help them establish a little bit of independance, just by doing their oen shopping online.

I realised that I was maybe looking at this through rose tinted glasses and that I needed to take a much more critical look at it! I started thinking about the ways that the internet can hinder people, I immediately started to think about chat rooms and children using them. Knowing the dangers that can be there, I asked myself "what would I do if my son/daughter wanted to join a chat site", very easily I answered my own question, as I helped my nephew join a site after I had explained the dangers, the rules and the expectations that we had of him using the site.

I think that we need to keep a careful eye on children using the internet, but I also think that they need to feel trusted in using the internet, chat sites etc to allow them to feel independent. If children are always told not to do something, they will go out and do it anyway and twice as bad!!

Using these sites should be done with caution and an understanding of what is out there but also with the knowledge that it can be helpful in many ways and is a part of todays society!