1) The document discusses how social networks and Web 2.0 tools can positively transform research, teaching, and service for academics if they build serious academic lives online. 2) It explores concepts like knowledge, the human thought process, coding languages, and how media and society have shifted with increased access to digital tools and networks. 3) Examples are provided of how networks can increase the power of audiences, support learning, and enable teaching/learning online through meaningful collaboration and sharing of information.

1. Why Social Networks Matter
Dr. Alec Couros
OLA Super Conference
OSLA Spotlight Speaker
February 2012
Toronto, Ontario

2. #sc12
#tlchat
#libchat

3. me

4. Outdated Faculty Profile

5. The Blur

6. An Open Educator

8. eci831.ca

9. “Web 2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect
and reimagine what they do as scholars. Such tools might
positively affect -- even transform - research, teaching,
and service responsibilities - only if scholars choose to
build serious academic lives online, presenting semi-
public selves and becoming invested in and connected
to the work of their peers and students.” (Greenhow,
Robelia, & Hughes, 2009)

10. Open Doctrine

11. journey
(quick version)

12. Knowledge

13. knowledge
• what is k?
• how is k acquired?
• how do we know what
we know?
• why do we know what
we know?
• what do humans know?
• who controls k?
• how is k controlled?

14. human thought/ideas
human language
source code
high-level language
(e.g. C++, Java, PERL)
low-level language
(assembly language)
code irretrievable
machine code
(binary)

15. @jonmott

16. From
NAGPS
(2011)
via
h4p://bit.ly/oIwVut

17. From
NAGPS
(2011)
via
h4p://bit.ly/oIwVut

18. From
NAGPS
(2011)
via
h4p://bit.ly/oIwVut

21. Openness

22. “Open Education is the simple and powerful
idea that the world’s knowledge is a public
good and that technology in general and
the Worldwide Web in particular provide an
extraordinary opportunity for everyone to
share, use, and reuse knowledge.”
(William & Flora Hewlett Foundation)

23. Free/Open Content
“describes any kind of creative work in a
format that explicitly allows copying and
modifying of its information by anyone, not
exclusively by a closed organization, firm, or
individual.” (Wikipedia)

25. 25

26. 26

30. media shift

31. Shifts in Media
Early Day of PC in Schools Today’s Social/Mobile Reality

36. Shifts in Society

37. “The average digital birth of children
happens at about 6 months.”
“In Canada, US, UK, France Italy,
Germany & Spain ... 81% of children
under the age of two have some kind
of digital profile or footprint.”

38. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkuropatwa/4285762190

39. Consume

40. Produce

41. Remix

42. Share
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolmansaxlil/4802611949/

43. myth of the digital native

44. Children and young people are described as ‘the
collaboration generation’, eager to work together
towards common goals, share content and draw upon
“the power of mass collaboration”. This combination of
individualisation and collaboration is often presented
as giving young people a propensity to question,
challenge and critique. These are individuals who
“typically can’t imagine a life where citizens didn’t
have the tools to constantly think critically, exchange
views, challenge, authenticate, verify, or debunk.
The Digital Native - Myth & Reality, Selwyn (2009)

45. Are We To Believe This?

46. Or This?

47. Or This?

48. “... age is not a determining factor in students’
digital lives; rather, their familiarity and
experience using ICTs is more relevant.”
“... the notion of ‘digital natives’ is inaccurate:
those with such attributes are effectively a
digital elite. Instead of a new net generation
growing up to replace an older analogue
generation, there is a deepening digital
divide ... characterized not by age but by
access and opportunity.”

49. Postliterate are “those who can read who choose to
meet their primary information and recreational needs
through audio, video, graphics, and gaming. Print for
the postliterate is relegated to brief personal messages,
short information needs, and other functional, highly
pragmatic uses such as instructions, signage, and time-
management device entries - each often highly
supplemented by graphics. The postliterate’s need for
extended works or larger amounts of information is met
through visual and/or auditory formats.
Libraries for a Postliterate Society, Johnson (2009)

50. in practice

51. Categories of Tools

52. Blogs & Wikis

53. Simple Blogging

54. Microblogging

55. Social Bookmarking

56. Info/File Management

57. Media Sharing

58. Social Networking

59. Social Curation

61. Networks

62. Network Literacies
• “Understanding how
networks work is one of
the most important
literacies of the 21st
century.” (2010)
Howard Rheingold

63. Politics
http://www.anduro.com/calgary-mayor-race.html

64. Services

65. Reputation

66. Meaningful Projects
“Dear Photograph:Thank you for everything we had.”

68. Protest

70. Human Connections

72. God bless you and your family
through this difficult time.

73. My best attempt, I only
removed the tubing, left
colors and levels alone. I
am sorry for your loss.

74. I color corrected the
skintones a bit as well.

75. minor lighting, a 6 x 4 crop for printing in standard size &
removed some of the background.
well done fellow redditors !!!!

76. Hope nobody thinks this is in poor taste... please accept
my warmest wishes and deepest sympathy for your loss.

77. Fixed
the
chair

78. OK black background gone. Sorry it took so long, had
to start over. Thanks again to wahoorob for doing the
hard part.

79. Sorry for the late help. I went
for simplicity. Enjoy - and I
hope you remember her well.

80. Tools + Networks

81. Example #1: Power Of (Global) Audience
ps22chorus.blogspot.com

83. Example #2: Learning Through Networks

89. Example #3: Teaching/Learning Online

93. big ideas

94. Digital Fluency

95. Framework for Student Learning, Government of Alberta (2011)

96. “Technological fluency means much more
than the ability to use technological tools;
that would be equivalent to understanding a
few common phrases in a language. To
become truly fluent in a language (like
English or French), one must be able to
articulate a complex idea or tell an engaging
story -- that is, to be able to make things of
significance with these tools. ”
The Computer Clubhouse: Technology Fluency in the Inner City, Resnick, Rusk, & Cooke (1998)

97. The Difference Between Digital Literacy & Digital Fluency, C. Briggs (2011)

98. The Difference Between Digital Literacy & Digital Fluency, C. Briggs (2011)

99. “... our ability to use digital technologies to have the
intended positive effect on people & situations.”
“... the more fluent a person is, the better they
are able to predict the outcome of their actions.”
The Difference Between Digital Literacy & Digital Fluency, C. Briggs (2011)

102. Sharing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolmansaxlil/4802611949/

103. On Sharing ...
“it’s about overcoming
the inner 2 year old in
you that screams
mine, mine, it’s mine.”
(Wiley, TEDxNYED, 2010)

105. Identity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaumedurgell/740880616/sizes/l/in/photostream/

110. Best Job in the World

115. http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/3356252350/

116. Relationships

117. 21st Century Learning Networks

118. 21st Century Learning Networks

119. @shareski

123. Don’t limit a child to your
own learning, for he was born
in another time. ~Tagore
http://couros.ca
couros@gmail.com
@courosa