User talk:Lauraf303

Wiki Exercise 1
After having a look at my Facebook page using the 'View as public' feature, I found that anyone could find out where I go to university and what I study, what high school I attended and the year I left, what my twitter username is, the year I was born, in depth details about recent trips I've taken and all in all probably too much information for someone to find after only needing to search my name. All of this information is available to anyone with access to the internet, anyone could stumble across my account and paint quite a strong picture of my life to date. Even coming to this realisation, I'm not really all that sure how much I am bothered by this. It has been something that is so routed in my life for the past 10 years since opening my Facebook account that it feels normal that all of this information is available. It doesn't feel like I've made an active choice to share this information with everyone, it feels more like I've just been adding the information that Facebook constantly prompts you to. I haven't went onto Facebook one day and thought 'I must tell everyone when I left high school', I've been complying with the information that Facebook asks you to provide.

The 'Always on' culture that we now seem to live in has brought itself to a point where even when we are not actively using social media, our presence is still there. For me there is no real sense of invisibility online, someone can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Vero, Snapchat and even Spotify without me having to also be engaging in them. When I make decisions to come offline, that doesn't take the online version of me offline as well.

Although being able to change the privacy settings on the information that I choose to put online, I don't feel I have full control of exactly who can view information about me. It becomes hazy when it comes to people tagging me in pictures, location check-ins or even just in some picture they've found funny. Although that tag is there to gain my attention to something they have posted, it also shares information about me with not only all of my friends, but also theirs and dependant on their privacy settings, sometimes more.

When I'm thinking about the information available about me online, it does pose questions as to why so many people are actively giving all this information away about themselves, yet if a stranger was to come and ask this information from them they'd maybe be more reluctant to volunteer it.

1. Laura, Really liked your opening statement about your use and realisation of social media, I too feel the same way about access to my information, I have just compiled and got on with my life rather than thinking about where it's going, or who's using it. Again, very conscious and perfect point on the fact that are we ever really offline? Studying the 'always on culture' has been very interesting and eye opening to my self and I'm sure our peers, it really brings to life how long we are online and how much of our life media and culture takes over. Another great point on the fact that even though you may feel secure, or may believe your profile to be locked to only who you chose it, you are right in saying that someone, somewhere can access your profile, its the 21st century after all! Particularly like your closing statement as I feel we should all pay head to it, a lot of us throw our information into the world wide web without hesitation, but if someone we didn't know or never met came up to us and asked for ever detail of your life, would you really give it? Further, if you didn't, would they simply follow your profile up and access it there?

Very interesting analysis! Keep up the good work! JoshCoates12 (discuss • contribs) 11:04, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Laura!!!

I loved the line "When I make decisions to come offline, that doesn't take the online version of me offline as well. " I never really thought about it that way before- that even if we were to delete all information of ourselves online there would still be traces of us logged in the history of the internet. Not only that, but when we are away from our phones, computers and tablets people can still be viewing us without us even knowing- looking at all our past posts and contributions- it's pretty creepy to think about, really.

I never let facebook know when I left high school too, but it still seems to know? I never logged in where I went to school either but it still knows that also.

How are you doing anyway? I'm excited for this creative writing reading on Thursday! I hope they're good! I've been reading more fiction lately and have been really enjoying it so it couldn't have came at a better time!

Do you read much fiction?

Digitalmediafiend (discuss • contribs) 17:08, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Hey!

Thanks for reading my post! Again until I was doing this assignment most of these things didn't really cross my mind- facebook just seems to know a lot of information that it seems to cultivate from somewhere but who knows where. It's way more important to think about the privacy settings on tagging as well as people can find a lot of information about you purely through your associations. I don't know if you've ever seen the programme Hunted on Channel 4? Well there was a part of that I remember where they were able to find out the school that someone went to years ago just through looking at someone that had tagged them in a picture and then were able to trace their location because of the connection on facebook. It's scary!

Also yeah I'm really looking forward to the creative writing thing! I think it's going to be interesting- I vaguely know someone who will be doing a reading so that will be good to see. I wish I could read more fiction than I currently do but don't have as much time to as I would like to. I spend quite a lot of time listening to audiobooks however on my commute to uni which is quite fun but not quite the same as sitting down and reading a book. I've literally in the last few days started a book called Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine which is so far pretty interesting but will probably take me a couple of months to finish!

How about you have you been reading anything interesting recently?

'Hunted' is one of my only 'guilty pleasure' shows. It is so intense. I always have a good laugh at how seriously the contestants take it when they get caught though- screaming and trying to pull away from their captors as if they had forgotten it was just a TV show and they weren't actually going to prison.

I actually just finished reading Dodie Clark's book! To be honest, it was very aesthetically pleasing but I think it would have meant more to be if I had read it a few years ago rather than now because I don't think it is really targeted at 20 year olds and I definitely felt that. I haven't found my next book to yet yet, however. I keep picking up books and getting 20 pages into them without caring about them enough to read on. Reading is easier when you're actually interested in the book for sure.

I've never heard of that! Its better to read one book across a few months than no books at all!

Have you been watching any good films lately?

Digitalmediafiend (discuss • contribs) 17:18, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

I always think I could go on Hunted and do well but in reality I would probably end up turning myself in after the first day because I wouldn't be able to deal with the pressure of it! It is a really interesting look into just the amount that we can be watched and how difficult it is to go completely off the grid.

dodie is one of my favourite people ever, I really enjoyed her book! I read it all in one afternoon when it came out, she's just so brilliant. You're totally right though, it was maybe written to target a slightly younger audience but its interesting to have read it being the same age as her and have similar perspectives on things she's went through that I perhaps wouldn't have when I was 15 for example. You're right as well about it being aesthetically pleasing, although everything she does is I guess!

The only thing I've seen in the cinema recently is Isle of Dogs, which I thought was pretty great- it looked amazing but I think there was just something within either the plot or the characters that didn't quite sit right with me but overall I still really enjoyed it. I watched the film version of Misery as well the other day as my dad had told me he'd thought I would like it and I'd never seen it before. It was a little slower than I wanted it to be but still again enjoyed it nonetheless! I had seen the family guy parody episode of it before so I vaguely knew what the story was going to be, it's a film that builds tension really well!

How about you have you seen anything interesting lately? :)

Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 10:36, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 12:54, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

2. @Lauraf303: Hi Laura, your piece on online visibility made me come to the same realisation as you did yourself; the idea of subconsciously submitting information for the entirety of the users to view at their own leisure is something that none of us, in this day and age, take into consideration the risks involved in doing so. Although, I am quite like yourself when you said about not being so bothered by it as it has become something I do without even thinking about it. Taking into consideration the theory of 'always-on' culture, it is hard to establish a time when I was fully offline in any means as well, as it appears the majority turn to any sort of media platform whether it be for work purposes or for the pure pleasure of it. I really enjoyed reading your piece and found it interesting that others have the same mindset when it comes to sharing information online. Amm00137 (discuss • contribs) 18:50, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

3. This post really got me thinking about how normalized that social media and our lack of internet privacy has become. A few years ago, I looked at my public profile from a strangers perspective and also didn't really care about how much was on show. However, I ended up making my Facebook private to friends only but more due to the consequences such as identity fraud rather than being personally bothered. Relating to Edward Snowden's leak on how the public's activities were being constantly monitored and were accessible, my friends and I weren't surprise. We had gotten used to lack of privacy and our information relying back to us through advertisements. We have learned to trust our distrust of the online world.

The point you made on the fact that their is an online presence of you that doesn't come offline really scared me (perhaps too much Black Mirror which would be interesting in itself to look at through the topic of 'Always on culture').

The ironic issue of online reality is that we don't see other's a people but more of just an online presence hense why some individual's share everything to everyone without a care but would never dare do the same in person to a stranger. There is a depersonalizing quality to social media. Even though we see photos and tags and locations of others, it all seems false, controlled and constructed at times, which is arguably true considering how people's online identities are portrayed differently to how they are in person.

Overall this was a very engaging piece, well constructed and very thoughtful!

--Stirsb00027 (discuss • contribs) 23:56, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise 2
Baron, N. (2008). Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (pp. 213-236). Oxford: Oxford University Press. In this piece, Baron looks at the 'me' centred world that social media creates, and is a fairly early exploration of the minute to minute updates that people can give on their lives. Baron talks about research by neuroscientists that looks at the brain activity of respondents and their ability to multifunction. This is then related to how users of mobile phone's brain function is reduced when they are using their device and trying to do other things at the same time. A big limitation of this piece is the fact that it was published in 2008 so some of the research that is mentioned may perhaps now be outdated. The piece also talks about technologies that either no longer exist or don't exist to the full extent that they did ten years ago, for example, MySpace and Blackberry. This article will be one that I refer to in my research as it directly links to a lot of the topics that the research is pertaining. Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 00:02, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Something that always seemed to put me off social media when I was younger was how self-centred it all appeared. I was sure people would think I was ridiculous if I thought they cared what I was thinking or doing right then, and that's why I put off getting it for so long. The research Baron is looking into here is very interesting, and definitely relevant to always on culture. You point out that the article is now outdated due to the advancement of technologies, which makes me wonder how much the results would have changed? Is brain function still reduced due to mobile phones, or because more of our lives are centred around phone, does it no longer make a difference. This is a good annotated bibliography and gives a good insight of the research presented in the article. Jfm00011 (discuss • contribs) 00:16, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

That's an interesting thought about how self centred social media can seem, I never really thought of it that way. I actually find it really interesting that you didn't engage in social media until you were older, for me I almost feel like I had no choice in the matter- like there would be a serious case of fear-of-missing-out if I didn't have any social media, but actually I'm not really sure what the benefits have been. Other than maybe knowing what people I went to school with had dinner or what the weather is like for someone I haven't spoken to years. That's not information that I really needed in my life at all now that I think about it. The reason I got facebook in the first place was after spending a month in China on an exchange with my school back in 2009 because I wanted to keep in touch with people I had met from other schools that were also taking part in the exchange. At this time not very many people I knew had facebook, I was almost a bit of an innovator in bringing facebook to Bathgate, so I guess thoughts of self-centrism weren't really on my mind from the outset. I hadn't got it because I really wanted to share with people how I felt every waking hour but for more of a social and connection basis. I'm curious about how/if your attitudes to social media changed after you got it or if they stayed the same? As I said, I think it's really interesting that you didn't get it till later- for me it was a sense of conformity. I applaud your ability to steer clear of it for so long! Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 23:54, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

I, too, got into social media because I was moving away from home. Only to Wales, so not quite as far as China, but having social media was a great way to not only keep in touch with people, but to keep up with their lives as if I were still living near them. I definitely don't have the same opinion that social media is completely self-centred, as I now understand how it can be incredibly useful as a way of staying connected. Social media is whatever you want it to be, whether that is a way to broadcast your life to strangers, or simply a way to stay in touch with the people you care about. Jfm00011 (discuss • contribs) 19:47, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

I think I would agree with you about it being a useful way to stay connected, because even just on a base level I think it would be very difficult to be at university without Facebook. I rely on group chats etc for a large majority of my information about any of my modules, but especially for voicing concerns regarding when stuff is due and what is required etc. Even all of the information that I get about the ongoings of the university itself is found out for me through social media. When we had the snow a couple of weeks ago I was constantly refreshing the uni's facebook page to find out if classes were still on, I'm not sure that information would have been as readily accessible to me without social media. So for me definitely now it's more of a pro than anything but I'm definitely still aware of the cons of it. Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 05:44, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

I found your annotated bibliography very interesting, especially since I too am doing 'always on culture' as my essay topic. I never thought of the scientific side of this area however. I am partial to being on my phone at all times so the 'minute to minute' reference made me consider my own media usage. I was wondering if you would like to look at more dated topics as well? My own annotated bibliography referred to the development of this culture through history but not as much about today's technology. I think I will also need to find more up to date research in order for the essay to stand up within today's society; I may also look at this source thanks to your annotated bibliography.


 * 1) Amw00036 (discuss • contribs) 10:43, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

This is really interesting, I find that social media research is often very limited on it's date. It shows how fast faced the digital age is, research conducted 10 years ago already is limited due to changes to social media. I think that was a very good point to make. I agree that staying connected is important in modern day society in order to keep up with times. As you have identified there have been many changes to being online in the past 10 years therefore in order to keep up with a constant advancing society having an online identity is key to not 'fall behind'. Lis00059 (discuss • contribs) 11:13, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise 4
Wikibooks is a collaborative website where different people can work together to create different textbooks about whatever subject interests them. During the process for this essay and the wiki exercises, I used wikibooks and it was the first time I’d ever encountered it as a platform so naturally it did take a little bit of time to adjust to as it’s very different from anything that I have used in the past. It is a platform that highlights the visibility of a user, by clicking on the contributions part next to their username, you can see everything that they have ever commented on the platform. Although your interactions are very visible, you can still remain fairly anonymous as you aren’t necessarily completing a profile of yourself with all your information or uploading a picture of yourself either. All of your contributions are tied back to your account however, or if you don’t choose to create an account, they all link to the ip address of wherever you’re posting from. In terms of the collaborative research essay that took place on the platform, there were a lot of features that were useful. It was good that we had the discussion page so that we could just essentially make a bank of our notes which was a great place for us to refer back to. I found communicating sometimes quite difficult on it as sometimes if you were using the reply to function to the whole of your group, people were trying to reply at the same time, so it was only updating with the most recent persons comment. On the other hand, sometimes you weren’t getting a reply straight away due to the different notification settings people had on, which I can relate back to danah boyd’s argument about always being connected to a network (danah boyd, 2012, pp. 71-72) There is a sense still that because you have made some contact on this platform that there should be instantaneous contact which I guess was quite ironic given the nature of our essay. It was good for getting to see other people’s work and seeing the ideas that they had come up with, it was often interesting to see if it mirrored or differed from what we had found from our research. The platform obviously gave the opportunity to leave comments on other people’s essay pages and create conversations about research and essay questions that wouldn’t necessarily happen offline. In this sense it has been beneficial and engaging to be able to have done this. Wikibooks has created a community online between different users on this module as it has allowed users to communicate in ways they likely haven’t and with people they perhaps haven’t communicated with either. Despite our essays being on different topics, they have all been under the umbrella of digital media so have found their similarities and how relevant they are to one another. There have been conversations sparked because of this, as it is all about a similar theme and a common interest for everyone. It has created a digital commons as the information shared and distributed is created communally, but it is also used by members of the same community.

boyd, d. (2012). Participating in the always-on lifestyle. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The social media reader (pp. 71-76). New York: New York University Press. Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 23:32, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 23:59, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK: DISCUSSION, ENGAGEMENT, CONTRIBS

 * Engagement on discussion pages of this standard attain the following grade descriptor for contribs. Whereas not all of the elements here will be directly relevant to your particular response to the brief, this will give you a clearer idea of how the grade you have been given relates to the standards and quality expected of work at this level:
 * Good. Among other things, good contributions will make a clear point in a clear way. They will relate concepts to original examples in a straightforward fashion. They will make effective use of the possibilities of the form (including formatting, links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons). They may also demonstrate a broader understanding of the module's themes and concerns, and are likely to show evidence of reading and thinking about the subject material, discussing this in a transparent way with fellow researchers on the Discussion Pages. The wiki markup formatting will be very clear.

Students should be engaging at least once a day, for the duration of the project. The following points illustrate how this engagement is evaluated.


 * This was clearly not the case here – only 7 days registered as having logged a contrib. However, when you did engage, these were significant entries in terms of moving the project forward, and an appropriate level of engagement is in evidence.

Evidence from contribs to both editing and discussion of content (i.e. volume and breadth of editorial activity as evidenced through ‘contribs’). These are primarily considered for quality rather than quantity, but as a broad guideline: o	Each item on a contribs list that are 3000+ characters are deemed “considerable” o	Each item on a contribs list that are 2000+ characters are deemed “significant” o	Each item on a contribs list that are 1000+ characters are deemed “substantial” o	Items on a contribs list that are <1000 characters are important, and are considered in the round when evaluating contribs as a whole because of their aggregate value


 * Several contribs registered as being under 1000 characters, with a mix of others that are “significant” and a couple that could be regarded as “considerable” contribution to the project. This is sustained, dedicated engagement.

•	Engagement with and learning from the community on Discussion Pages o	Evidence of peer-assisted learning and collaboration o	Evidence of reading, sharing, and application of research to the essay o	Evidence of peer-review of others’ work


 * This was the strongest element of your contribution. You clearly pushed your arguments and encouraged others to comment/respond, helped others in their work, and there’s plenty of evidence of reading, application and discussion of ideas. Your contribution to the book pages and discussion pages clearly stand out.

•	Reflexive, creative and well-managed use of Discussion Pages o	Clear delegation of tasks o	Clearly labelled sections and subsections o	Contributions are all signed


 * You were clearly collaborating on the discussion pages. Some of the organisation here is a little haphazard, but overall the discussion is easy to follow. You have also signed where necessary, so it’s easy to see where your contribs fit into the overall discussion.

•	Civility. Your conduct is a key component of any collaboration, especially in the context of an online knowledge-building community. Please respect others, as well as observe the rules for civility on wiki projects. All contribs are moderated.


 * You conducted yourself well. Good work!

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 12:10, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Instructor Feedback on Wiki Exercise Portfolio
Posts and comments on other people’s work, of this standard, roughly corresponds to the following grade descriptor. Depending on where your actual mark is in relation to the making criteria as outlined in the relevant documentation, it should give you an idea of strengths and weaknesses within the achieved grade band overall.

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.


 * Making more use of the wiki functionality and markup would have gone a long way to improving fluidity and functionality of posts. I suspect that, if you become more familiar and proficient with the platform, that this would have made a considerable difference.


 * Re: responses to other people’s posts – these are especially good. Lots of engagement in evidence generally. I like that you have framed some of your responses as questions to solicit discussion (this is, arguably, what discussion pages are all about!) and also that you have engaged in discussion in an open and critical way (that is to say, you've responded to what other people are saying and are contributing meaningfully to discussion - arguably the civic element of wiki that you ought to be thinking about, which you clearly are).

General:
 * Reading and research: evidence of critical engagement with set materials; evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material v- some very good work in this regard in evidence across your portfolio.


 * Argument and analysis: well-articulated and well-supported argument; evidence of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position); evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections); evidence of independent critical ability. Again, some excellent contributions, and there is a genuine sense that you are keeping an eye on how this pertains to the collaborative essay work throughout your discussions.


 * Presentation: good use of wiki markup and organisational skills. This aspect could have been improved, but generally, you did satisfactorily well

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 10:39, 9 May 2018 (UTC)