Pope Benedict XVI sends first tweet

The Vatican, which already has its own website, Flickr photo feed, YouTube channel and Facebook page has added tweeting to the holy arsenal of getting Christ's message out. Pope Benedict XVI sent out his first tweet (in an iPad no less) Wednesday launching the Vatican's foray into yet another realm of social media. It is amazing to me how connected the world is becoming and it is important that we begin to understand how all of us can use social media to our advantage, whether it is getting the word out about religion or using it as an instructional tool.

danah boyd - social media researcher

While reading through this week's materials I kept seeing the name danah boyd pop up - first in Henry Jenkins piece and then later as the author of the second piece on the history of social networking sites. And finally, I found that Shirk mentions her in a later chapter of his book. I was intrigued partly because she did not capitalize her name and second because most researchers in this field would have to be fairly new to the social media academia. It turns out Jenkins was her advisor at the MIT Media Lab where she earned her Master's degree.

On boyd's website I found that she is known as as a researcher who "examines social media, youth practices, tensions between public and private, social network sites, and other intersections between technology and society." From reading about her I surmised she is fond of the Creative Commons movement and has posted links to all of her published works including her 406-page dissertation. boyd's work is important in helping us to understand social media and how it can be used effectively in instructional design and human performance.

Here is a video of Boyd talking at a 2009 Penn State Symposium on the topic: "Teenagers who are Living and Learning with Social"

Introductory post Web 2.0 Week 1

Hi classmates (and the world),
This is the first entry for my Web 2.0 Electronic Journal.

This is not my first blog. I have created blogs for classwork and personal use. I currently maintain two personal blogs: one on the Gators football team, "Ode to the Gators;" and one ("Michael Arnold Art") as a companion to my Simply Art Online website that showcases my artist of the week. The first blog is for fun and the second blog helps monetize my website by driving traffic there and providing an additional link.

One of the questions posed as a prompt this week is "Do you consider yourself a leader or follower in this realm, or something else altogether? Why?"

This answer can be yes and no. It depends on the context I use when considering the question. If I compare myself to all bloggers who have come before me and the magnitude of some bloggers audiences then I am definitely a follower because in that large of a community I am following the lead of others. However, when I compare my blog activities to coworkers, friends and family then I would be a leader because in those communities I stand out as the exception and not the rule.

Finally, for today's initial post I will answer this prompt: "Discuss what you hope to get out of this class."

First, I will give the expected answer and that is that I hope to further my knowledge of Web 2.0 technology and how it relates to the world of instructional design and how it can be used in the classroom.

On the other hand, I would have taken this class regardless of my major because as a newspaper publishing employee I realize that social media has had a great influence on the future of my occupation. I would like to understand it more, both the social phenomenom it has become and the tools that comprise its network, so that I can somehow manage to advise those in my organization on how they might find a way to coexist without becoming completely irrelelvantto the masses.