User talk:Esser.h

Lent period 2.0: Smartphone Fast Challenge (Wiki Exersice #1)
Lent starts every year on Ash Wednesday. Fasting means that people from different denominations abstain or reduce from food or bad habits for seven weeks. Apart from chocolate, alcohol, meet and co. there is just one thing that has become indispensable: our smartphone. The sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle describes that we are „tethered“ to the technologies we consume. Always-On, 24/7 connected to our communities and events in the world – that is important and we identify with this. How must it feel to abstain from our phone?

I found a blog entry of Bethany Wash, a 21-year old journalism student that accepted the challenge and spend one week without her phone. Before I have read the entry about her experiences I considered what this challenge would mean to me. My first thought: absolutely challenging or even a little bit more than this? Nevertheless, it seems to be a good opportunity to remember that a life without our phones is even possible. I look back on the time as a kindergarten child. I had no phone at all and I promise you I have never missed something – my social life seemed even easier than today. Nowadays it would be challenging for me to stay in contact with my friends or even handle my weekly schedule without my phone. It is more convenience to use my phone and have access to the world wide web on a small display than having a diary, directory or different notebooks. I use my phones several hours a day. Hours that I could spend on doing things that I appreciate and do not have enough time for in my busy student life.

Bethany´s experiences show what it feels like to go one week without a phone. She felt empty without it as if she had forgotten an important limb. She was facing challenges that seem somehow stupid, like knowing what to buy for dinner if the shopping list is on the phone rather than on an old-fashioned post-it. More importantly, she noticed that there is a big lack of face-to-face communication in her “real” social life. Friends didn’t really pay attention to her in discussions because they were distracted by their phones. This behavior was scathing and unsettling at the same time. Her experiment shows – it’s not impossible but strange and clarifies how addicted we are. Would you accept this challenge too? --Esser.h (discuss • contribs) 13:12, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Marker’s Comment

 * An excellent post, making really use of the medium and reflecting upon what we are trying to accomplish with this task. The idea that you have to address some of the key concerns of the module and begin a meta-commentary with others on wikibooks regarding some of these issues is commendable. Keep this up!


 * A post of this standard roughly corresponds to the following grade descriptor:
 * Excellent. Among other things, these entries will probably demonstrate a complex, critical understanding of the themes of the module. They will communicate very effectively, making excellent and creative use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons), and may be written with some skill and flair. They will address the assignment tasks in a thoughtful way. They will make insightful connections between original examples and relevant concepts. They will be informed by serious reading and reflection, are likely to demonstrate originality of thought, and will probably be rewarding and informative for the reader. The wiki markup formatting will be impeccable, usually, but I think in your case there could be more effective and dynamic use to include more embedded links and citation.

RE: Comments on others’ work

 * These are on time and provide an excellent example of how the format can be used to exchange ideas and discuss work-in-progress - lots of content, scope and reference to module themes is made explicit. Remember that your comments on other people's work is weighted as heavily as your own post when it comes to grades - in this case your comments have, if anything, enabled you to pull your marks up a little. Good work! GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 16:46, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Comments
Hello Esser.h, I really like how you are connecting a case to a relevant theory concerning this issue and how you think about doing this kind of experiment by yourself. It seems to be a relevant aspect for our everyday life too, so thanks for sharing this with us! --Handkel (discuss • contribs) 13:17, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

I really like how you made the effort to link your topic with the current module, and will read the blog post you spoke about. I was tempted to take up this challenge, but chickened out! Facebook has too powerful a hold on us! --WiKirsten (discuss • contribs) 21:51, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Visibility and Online Footprint (Wiki Exersice #2)
I am that kind of user you would call a “social media Neanderthal “. I have a very critical attitude towards, in my opinion, the little sort of social compulsion and obviousness to be present on social media platforms. Up to 1 ½ years ago I was not present on any of those platforms. But during my first semester at the University, I noticed that I had no access to important news or information regarding my studies or friends because nearly everything was only shared online. No matter how hard I tried to convince them to share important stuff via email – in the end, I failed.

Because of that, I decided to create a Facebook and WhatsApp account. Those two social media accounts were the most relevant ones regarding my expected value. According to my critical attitude I minimize my online visibility and activity. On Facebook, I share only a few and particular chosen information about myself with just a handful of well-selected friends. The only picture, my “friends” can see is my profile picture and I only released a few comments and posts until now. I do not want anonymous people to get access to my private life, political attitude and other things or that a silly post or picture could have a negative impact on my future career. In comparison to this, I have a less sceptical attitude towards my WhatsApp use. This is based on the feeling to have even more control on what and with whom I share stuff (although it is inconsistent). Nevertheless, I am aware that I share even more data than I could or would like to control because this is the official currency I have to pay.

On the website Europe versus Facebook I found a really interesting list that shows how and what kind of data Facebook records. While reading this content, you should keep in mind that this is an anti-Facebook, data protection website. In addition, there is a personal analytics tool for Facebook provided by Wolfram Alpha that generates an analysis of our activity and shared social data. For me, the report underscores how visible someone is and what Facebook could gather from our data just to provide user generated content. Always keep in mind that even the result, you get through this analysis, is a fraction of personal data that Facebook and other social media platforms record, analyse and process in their interest.--Esser.h (discuss • contribs) 23:49, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

Comments
I was fascinated reading this because we are completely opposite! I have had a Facebook account since 2009 but I would say it has only been in recent years that I have become an avid user on it. I do think however, it is quite sad that if you do not want to be apart of any social media that society sort of expects you to be. Your example of the university is so true because often when you are doing group work someone will set up a Facebook or whatsapp chat with the expectation that everyone has these. I guess in todays generation when someone says they do not have a Facebook others are confused and do not understand it.

In regards to control online I think it is obvious that you have very little control over Facebook- well you yourself might have control but you cannot control what your friends tag and post on your page, yes you can remove things but what if you haven't been online all day and it has already been seen by everyone? I completely understand where you are coming from and I think it is amazing that you choose not to be so active on social media because it shows that not everyone in our generation needs to be so technology driven- good job! --Amy Wardle (discuss • contribs) 13:43, 23 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your comment. I think it´s great to see that even if you are the completely opposite of me somehow appreciate my attitude. Because as you already mentioned in your comment many people do not understand my point of view. I completely agree with you that we cannot control what other people or friends share of us online. For me, this is a frightening thing about social media. Nevertheless, I guess that everyone should know for themselves how much they want to share, so I can definitely understand your attitude. --Esser.h (discuss • contribs) 17:24, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

I can completely understand how you feel towards Social Media, especially the control aspect of your argument.

I've had a Facebook account since 2011. So compared to most of my friends, I arrived late on the scene. Although I had never thought of it, just like you the only reason I created my Facebook account was because of peer pressure and being out of the loop when it came to organising social events. People also found the fact that I did not have a Facebook account quite weird, and as a teenager, the last thing you want to appear is "uncool".

You sound like you have always had a mature attitude towards your online presentation - I am only starting to see the importance of it. I have spent a lot of time going back and deleting embarrassing posts, but we learn from our mistakes.

As to your comment about control, I think you are completely right. The sheer amount of data that is collected by these companies is not only an invasion of privacy, but quite frightening. Which, in turn, makes me feel completely out of control with regards to where my information is stored and who it is shared with.

However, I do think that Social Media, used correctly, can empower the citizen and can also engage them more in the world around them. Jackgpounder (discuss • contribs) 10:05, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Information Overload! (Wiki Exersice #3)
Since the term “information overload” was introduced by Alvin Toffler in 1970 it has increased rather than decreased in relevance. As we are a networked society driven by the always-on mentality and a huge amount of data every day it really becomes an issue. Thereby arising an overstimulation that provokes stress as well as difficulties in concentration. The overload requires the ability of multitasking but the human mind is not designed for this complex skill. Instead, we are fraught, work less effective, what will lead to dissatisfaction on the output. This has also been revealed by many surveys e.g. by an analysis of employees working behavior. As I wrote in my last week´s exercise, I am not really driven by social media networks rather than news blogs or news apps. Being the reason, why I switch my phone to silent during the lectures, meetings or studying for the university as I noticed that I was too much distracted, which caused inefficiency and less satisfactory. Due to my work for an agency I have to deal with a lot of emails and newsletters (nearly 100 messages every day), so I installed 8 different filters to pre-filter my email traffic.

Nevertheless, the information overload is also taking place on a different level. The internet, as a kind of open source and term of collaboration, is a never ending collection of content. Even if you google something you are immediately overloaded with information. If you are researching something on Google there is a special algorithm driven by nearly 200 signals that will provide you thousands of information within seconds. But to get the information you are really looking for is somehow impossible because Google turns out to be more likely a promoting service for companies rather than a provider of independent information. But, as Clay Shirkley argues "it's not information overload. It's filter failure." To avoid the problem of the information overload at the google research I make use of special terms and tools to be more precisely (List – only available in German). For example, if you are looking for information retrieval search engine evaluation Google will provide you at least 4.520.000 hits. If you now want to narrow you will have to search like this: „information retrieval“ intitle:„search engine“ intitle:evaluation filetype:pdf, you will only get 59 hits. This underscores how easy you can avoid an overload of useless information and save worries and stress. To sum it up, it becomes even more difficult for me to handle the information overload but somehow I try to find a good balance to be less distracted.--Esser.h (discuss • contribs) 03:40, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Comments
Hey, this is a really interesting entry! It's a good point you make about our brains not being able to handle the amount of information that we have to process on a daily basis, and this is definitely something that affects our work. It seems you can handle this information overload a lot better than most people haha, I think the increase of people using mobile phones has had a huge impact. I personally know I'm completely attached to my phone and it's almost constantly in my hand! That little tool you put in to help with gathering more specific information on Google is also great, and definitely something I'm going to try in the future. Thanks for posting! Eilidhmcauley (discuss • contribs) 22:00, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

You raise some exceptionally valid points here. The point you raise about Google, I particularly agree with. To me, there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to find the exact piece of information that I am looking for.

Also, I agree that technology can be a huge distribution from work, and although it has helped me in many ways - it can be more of a hindrance rather than a help.

My emails are an absolute disgrace, I have over 500 unread emails, simply because they are irrelevant. I do actually find this weirdly stressful, so I think you have the right idea.Jackgpounder (discuss • contribs) 08:41, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikibook Project Reflective Account (Wiki Exersice #4)
The Wikibook project was an innovative and quite revealing kind of assignment. On the one hand, it provided me a deep insight in the context of An Internet of Everything? and it´s different but still interrelated topics that clarified and strengthened my know-how. On the other hand, the work on the project gave us the opportunity to apply a lot of the lecture themes in practice without even doing it intentionally.

Before we started the work on Wikibooks I never really participated on the civic web like that (with the exception of social media activities which I minimize). I guess because I debt on the efficacy of my participation in both ways: political and civic. I am more passive online rather than active even if I have access to all the stuff that is required to participate. But over time, I changed my opinion because I got aware of the notion that we turned to be Prosumer, as described by Alvin Toffler. Due to the project we blur the notion of the professional-amateur divide as well as the top-down media system practically. We did a lot of research, review and analysis on different topics and edited the data with all the markups to our collective “book” chapter. This engagement, which was essential to our work, combines collective abilities and activity of each member to something greater than the sum of its parts. With hindsight, the process underscores the phenomenon of “cognitive surplus” which became obvious on the discussion pages of each chapter as this tool provided us the chance to exchange know-how, ideas for certain topics and subtopics or useful literature as well as support concerning technical aspects. In my opinion, a successful collaboration needs to be well structured especially due to our group work with all the other seminar groups. Therefore, I found it very good that we created a resource list, special discussion sections and a content table with the feature to coordinate who is going to cover a topic and exchange ideas. It was very neat and useful for me as I had the chance to ask people who had specialized on a certain aspect and I got feedback that offered me a new and critical insight for covering my topics that I might not have discussed at first. The face-to-face group discussions as another exchange-tool were a good idea but turned out to be difficult to continue during the project. We have met after the lecture to discuss our preferred topic and managed all organizational matters. But in the following of the process, it was not easy to stay in touch as we were covering different topics and, therefore, had more contact with people of other groups that were sharing subtopics with us.

Reflecting our whole wiki process, I suggest that it fulfills Henry Jenkins idea of participation. In addition, it underlines that we made use of collective intelligence and created an outcome with civic value. Overall, it was a good example that shows how the internet can be used as a civic web. What do you think guys and what was your experience?--Esser.h (discuss • contribs) 19:37, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Comments
@ Esser.h Good reflection and account of your experience, much of what you said I had reflected on myself. In particular though, i am glad you gave a mention to the importance of special help pages or comments section. I found these sections to be the most valuable tool in terms of my own experience. Your passage was nicely written, and good job of utilizing aspects encountered from the lectures and this module. TheDoctor1888 (discuss • contribs) 11:08, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

I like your point about unconsciously demonstrating the points of the lectures without realising it, and I think that shows how much of digital media's theories are interwoven in our lives. I benefitted from the types of help pages you mentioned and I think discussing in the context of Wikibooks rather that in Facebook messenger was very helpful in getting used to the new medium. I agree about how Henry Jenkin's idea of participation is reflected in our work as well! --WiKirsten (discuss • contribs) 10:16, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Hi! I really liked your comment about the wikibook project. I think the same as you about the skills that we have developed and the increasing of our knowledge in the items we have been researching. I also found very useful the discussion page of the wikibooks to develop our project, even though I rather talk face to face with all the group members. I had a good experience with it, and it was useful discovering a little bit more about the civic web. Nuriaj95 (discuss • contribs) 17:36, 7 April 2016 (UTC) @ Esser.h This was an interesting reflective post from a 'first timer' of working with and on a civic web. And I liked how you explored the journey you went on - in a sense- how you research and went from a passive to an active participant. I has the same feelings when working with my group also - and understand how you spent most of your time discussing with those on the discussion page instead. The examples from Jenkins, and the ideas of participation, assist with your explanation and exploration of the project. Overall, it seems that you have definitely progressed and explored new ideas and have new knowledge to move on with. Good post, well done. MLCRooney (discuss • contribs) 10:36, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Marker’s Feedback on Wikibook Project Work
You are the main contributor to a number of key sections in the book chapter (UGC, forms and platforms and the Introduction section). Together with some general formatting and organisation, these form significant contributions to the page overall. Edits are very well written, informed through reference to relevant scholarship, and multiple citations included. Some very good, consistent and sustained engagement in discussion on discussion pages, and as part of the exercise portfolio – where your comments are generous and insightful. Excellent work.

Wiki Exercises


 * Excellent. Among other things, these entries will probably demonstrate a complex, critical understanding of the themes of the module. They will communicate very effectively, making excellent and creative use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons), and may be written with some skill and flair. They will address the assignment tasks in a thoughtful way. They will make insightful connections between original examples and relevant concepts. They will be informed by serious reading and reflection, are likely to demonstrate originality of thought, and will probably be rewarding and informative for the reader. The wiki markup formatting will be impeccable.

Content (weighted 20%)

 * Your contribution to the book page gives an excellent brief overview of the subject under discussion in your chosen themed chapter. There is an excellent range of concepts associated with your subject, and the effort to deliver critical definitions, drawing from relevant literature and scholarship, and your own critical voice in the building of a robust argument is very much in evidence. The primary and secondary sources you found about the chapter’s themes cover an excellent range and depth of subject matter.

Understanding (weighted 30%)

 * Reading and research:
 * evidence of critical engagement with set materials, featuring discriminating command of a comprehensive  range of relevant materials and analyses
 * evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material to an exemplary level
 * Argument and analysis:
 * well-articulated and well-supported argument through considered judgement relating to key issues, concepts or procedures
 * exemplary evidence of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position);
 * comprehensive evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections);
 * considerable evidence of independent critical ability

Engagement (weighted 50%)

 * Evidence from contributions to both editing and discussion of content of an exemplary quality (i.e. volume and breadth of activity as evidenced through contribs)
 * Excellent levels of engagement with and learning from other Wikipedians about the task of writing/editing content for a Wikibook
 * Reflexive, creative and well-managed use of discussion pages using deployment of considered  judgement relating to key issues, concepts and procedures

Overall Mark % available on Succeed

FMSU9A4marker (discuss • contribs) 14:58, 3 May 2016 (UTC)