Author: joanvinallcox

Joan Vinall-Cox, Ph.D. is a lifelong learner, retired communications professor, rabid reader and poet who has taught in both the college and university systems. Her Ph.D., in 2004 was an Autoethnographic Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry focused on moving from technophobia to technophilia. She is a widow from a happy marriage and a mother to a strong and kind daughter. Her interests include Centering Prayer, Multiple Intelligences, Attention Deficit Disorder and its connection to creativity, Jung, Campbell’s Monomyth, and Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry

Wikispaces Resources

~ joanvinallcox ~ 2 Comments

Some morning I get up and when I check my email, I groan. I keep signing up for newsletters from sites that interest me. I can ignore my Bloglines and Google Reader with their collections of "stuff I should keep up with", but newsletters are more "in my face". So I sign up and groan when they show up in my inbox. Sometimes I am very cursory, and leave some unopened or even (gasp!) delete some on the basis of that initial phrase that gmail reveals in the inbox.

Almost did that this morning, but …

Wikispaces is one of my two favorite wiki platforms and I have some sites I manage there, so I opened it.

And went to their blog –

And, knowing the generous compulsion teachers have to share goodies, I checked out the two links. They are AMAZING!

Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools – http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ – is beautifully organized and lists hundreds of webapps – most, if not all, free – with brief descriptions. They have all the ones I know and respect, plus many others. It's a wonderful resource!

Then there's Getting Tricky with Wikis – http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com/

I'm always finding my reach exceeding my grasp on the web – I have enough imagination to know what I'd like to do, and not enough technical know-how to do it. That's why I got into wikis in the first place. Well, if you want to expand your wiki abilities – this is the place to find explicit, detailed, copy&paste-able instructions. Lots to play with!

So, despite my morning grumpiness, I'm glad I opened my Wikispaces newsletter this morning, and glad I signed up for it originally.

JNthWEB Consulting – http://jnthweb.ca/
Social Media & Learning
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/

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My therapist – Twitter

~ joanvinallcox ~ 2 Comments

When I started on Twitter, in January 2008, I added many ‘friends’ I was already following in other social media, and some of my fellow freelancers from the Halton-Peel Communicators Association. My social media friends I had discovered from blogging on Elgg (now Eduspaces), a network aimed at academics studying education and learning. I browsed blogs in Elgg and found people to follow. I loved the social quality and having ‘friends’ online. Anyone who followed me, I followed back, ’cause that was the custom and the polite thing to do. And I tried to read all their blogs (and felt inadequate when I got behind). Despite knowing how to scan and skip when reading other blogs, I felt these people were my friends and I had a social responsibility.

When I joined Twitter in January 2008, I initially followed the same practice. It was actually a relief because I allowed myself to follow fewer blogs, and just keep up in micro-blogging. In the morning, I would go to Twitter and search back to the last post I’d read before going to bed the night before, then I dutifully read up to the current posts, if I had time. Every time I had a break, I went to Twitter (less fattening than a blueberry muffin) and tried to catch up.

It was onerous, especially as I kept following back the people who followed me. I began to compromise. I only read posts that had links. I chose favorites among those I was following and set them up in their own group, so I could follow the condensed version. I noticed that some of the people I chose to follow, didn’t follow me back. I commented in presentations on the asymmetrical structure of Twitter, as opposed to the reciprocal structure of Facebook. Yet every time I got the email announcing someone was following me, I clicked on the Twitter link but I began getting hesitant about following back.

I looked at their most recent tweets, and if they didn’t really interest me, or looked like pushy sales stuff, I began not to follow back. Some just looked like they were exploring, and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings, but I couldn’t see the benefit from following them. So I didn’t. The ones I regarded as sales broadcasters I began to enjoy not following. I felt assertive. I felt like I had boundaries. (Yes, I read a lot of those self-help books ;-> ) I felt strong refusing them.

One day I clicked on the link of someone new following me and looked at the posts, and then looked closely at the avatar. Both were obscene. I’d noticed that there was a link labelled “Block”; I used it. I didn’t want to appear on “her” list of followers. (I’m not sure it was a female; these things can be faked.)

If this is obvious behavior to you, it wasn’t natural for me, an older, Canadian female. But Twitter led me step-by-step into deciding who I want to follow and who I want to totally block. It was gradual, and great. Outside of Twitter, I have begun to openly say “no” when I want to. I’m polite if they are and the context allows it. When someone recently asked to do a guest post on my blog, I looked at her work and was impressed, but realized I didn’t really know her, and I didn’t want to share. So I emailed my unwillingness. I did the same thing when a company asked to place something on my blog. I was complimented, but I didn’t want to include. it. Both people thanked me for my response. (I think many people just ignore them, but their approaches were polite, so I responded in kind.)

In this way, weird as it seems, Twitter has been like a therapist for me; I have learned I don’t have to follow back and I can block rude and pushy followers. And I like that!

http://jnthweb.ca/
https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/

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