To Web 2.0 and Beyond

This week, all 3 of my final assignments for both courses I am in have been released and of course, I have been battling those feelings of overwhelmed and stressed. I have been trying to reflect on PLNs, refresh myself on what they are, what they can look like and the PLNs I have built.  For those of you feeling similar sentiments, I hope this blog can help you refresh yourself on PLNs and help you begin to reflect on the PLNs you have built.  Defining and Understanding PLNs: First stop, a Wiki definition from the page: Personal learning network "A  personal learning network  is an  informal learning  network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a  personal learning environment . In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection"  We first encountered PLN during week 3 and watched this video on P...

  This week, I read the chapter, 'Networked Work' in  Raine and Wellman's (2012) Networked. If you didn't read this chapter or just did a quick skim, you are in the right place.  The chapter begins with a trip to the past, where workplaces were filled with workers (mainly men) sitting in their own offices, working 9-5 jobs, interacting face-to-face. Pens, papers and the occasional phone call were common and work itself never came home. Now, we flash forward to the workspace today, where networked work and organizations are commonplace.  Networked work in Networked Organizations Raine and Wellman (2012) identify 5 related trends:  With the rise in globalization of work, consumerism and travel, workers and companies are able to connect with more colleagues and customers  There has been a shift from atom work (work in material economy: mining, making, transporting) to bit work (selling, describing, analyzing through words and pictures). There has been a rise...