Week 6 Reflections- Managing the Fire Hose of the Internet

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Phew! We've made it to the end of the 6-week semester of EME6414! What an interesting semester it has been, and I think Dr. Dennen has done a great job of equating it to 'trying to drink from a fire hose'  because that's exactly what it's felt like! However, it did become more manageable as the semester progressed because I stopped trying to do EVERYTHING and just started doing the things that caught my interest.

I think that's a great life-lesson for social media too. Everyone wants to know what apps are out there so they can stay in the loop. FOMO is a real thing, folks! I think it's impossible to have 100 apps on your phone and give each equal attention. It's like what Rainie & Wellman talk about in Networked- you could have 1,000 people in your network, but it's impossible to keep up with more than about 150 of them. And then, it's hard to have more than about 10-15 in your innermost friend circle. I think social media works the same way. I pay really close attention to about 10-15 apps, but I have 132 installed on my device. If I gave equal attention to them all I would never be able to have a job or family because my life would BE my apps!

Nevertheless, I know a lot more about the popular apps out there, how people use them, and how they could be used for education. I've also learned how to blog regularly (how have I been doing?) and stop worrying about being interesting enough. My blog is my space to share, and I get to do it however I want to. I hope all of the rest of you in EME6414 have come to the same conclusion.

It's been a great semester "playing" with you all, and I hope to see many of you next semester!

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 3, 2018 at 5:18 AM

    Interestingly enough I kicked off my PLN paper with the same fire hose metaphor : ) I do think it is a fact of reality that we have to contend with. There will always be more information out there than we can reasonably consume, always a new app or new website, etc. It can be hard accepting that you can't get to it all, but it's easier to accept when you rationalize that by not doing it all, you are able to do the small amount much better. It took me at least until end of week 3 I think to realize that I was not able to do everything. And I think this is really where a robust PLN comes in to help out. Everyone doesn't have to try everything if it gets split up among the members of a network and everyone reports back what they found.

    I have enjoyed reading your blog and always thought you made very interesting points and connections. I tend to write too much, so I appreciate someone who can be concise!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The OrchidAugust 3, 2018 at 10:31 AM

    I did the same thing. I turned the water down a notch by sipping on fewer sites rather than taking large gulps.

    ReplyDelete

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