Time to Reflect

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Via Wikimedia Commons Blog Photo

As a student at the University of Arizona, I have learned so much about collaborating in online communities over the course of the Fall 2017 Semester. At the beginning of the course, I had never blogged before, I had not given much thought to how groups form, nor about how online communities use collective intelligence. Now as the semester is coming to a close, l realize that I have began to implement key points from the UA ESOC 211 into my everyday life. For example, in one of my favorite blog posts from September 7, 2017, I discussed Tuckman’s 5 Stages of Group Development and how I have seen the five stages in my life. This has continued to be a reoccurring topic throughout my semester at the U of A, as many of my classes required collaboration both online and offline with classmates. In my other favorite post on September 28, 2017, I wrote about Fair Use. In work and school projects, understanding copyright, Creative Commons licenses, and fair use have come in handy. This class also gave me the opportunity to reply to other members of the class. Two occasions in particular stood out to me. The first response I made that I wish to reflect upon was to Ryan Cohn’s blog on November 9, 2017 on Wikiality. The second was a response to Alan Castillo’s blog on Artificial Intelligence. 

Both of these student’s blogs continued to influence my blog, as well as myself throughout the semester. Ryan’s blog was very interesting to read, as he included many movie references within his blog writing. He devoted a few blog posts to specific movies, relating them to concepts from our class. Alan and I tended to write about similar topics, so it was fun to see differing opinions on the same topic. You can check out Ryan’s blog here and Alan’s blog here. 

Overall, I think Ryan Cohn has the best blog of the class. As I mentioned, he used many pop culture references in his writing. This made his blog interesting to read. He included references to movies such as Ocean’s Eleven, Baby Driver, and Moneyball. Other times, he talks about important topics, such as the Wikipedia’s gender gap.

Running a blog has been a learning experience. I have never run a blog before taking UA ESOC 211, but have loved learning to write on this platform. Thanks for reading my thoughts this semester!

 - Hannah Leigh Johnson

Image by Adrianemporio

Via Wikimedia Commons Blogger Photo

ZONAZOOniverse

Image by Grant Miller for the Zooniverse

Via Wikimedia Commons Zooniverse Photo

Zooniverse is a website designed around citizen science. In Katherine Xue’s article in the Harvard Magazine she defines citizen science as, “enabling ordinary people, often without formal training, to contribute to scientific research in their spare time.” Later in the article, Xue also states that, “Technology may have provided citizen science with diverse avenues to narrow the gap between amateurs and experts, but further progress—if that is indeed the movement’s goal—will require dedicated effort on both sides.” 

I recently participated in a Zooniverse citizen science project, classifying animals from Africa. Agreeing with Xue’s statement, I noticed this online platform allows for collaboration between expert researchers and everyday individuals, who may in this case be considered amateurs. Zooniverse gives those expert researchers the opportunity to crowdsource from across the globe, which then does help close the gap between amateurs and experts. 

In my case of participating in a study on African animals, I collaborated with eleven other active participants. When collaborating with one individual through a message board, I realized how amazing technology is, allowing researchers to crowdsource, as well as participants to collaborate. Citizen science is an avenue of online collaboration I had not previously given much thought to, but after participating, I strongly encourage you to check out Zooniverse and participate.

WikiWOMEN

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Via Wikimedia Commons Wiki Logo

Wikipedia is improving its brand reputation. Research such as Buzzfeed’s study on Wikipedia versus the Encyclopedia  Brittanica showed there was not a huge difference in the number of errors on entries from these two encyclopedias. One thing Wikipedia needs to now focus on improving is the number of women involved in the creation of this online source.

In 2011, the Wikimedia foundation stated that less that ten percent of its contributor base identifies with the female gender. This leaves me asking why there is such a huge gender gap?

In an interview with the New York Times, long time Wikipedia contributor Kat Walsh stated, “The big problem is that the current Wikipedia community is what came about by letting things develop naturally – trying to influence it in another direction is no linger the easiest path, and requires conscious effort to change.” 

Now in 2017, we need to be taking conscious effort to fix Wikipedia’s gender gap. I can now say that as a female, I recently created an account with Wikipedia and contributed to a page. I hope that other females will see the lack of women contributing to this global website and will join me in getting those numbers up.

To read more on Wikipedia’s gender gap, check out this article from the Digital Pedagogy Lab.

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

"Fake" News

Image by Daniel Lobo

Via Wikimedia Commons News Photo

Locally, elections have been happening in Tucson this week. Thinking back to the 2016 presidential election, I find myself with so many questions about what really happened when it came to political social media. Candidates and political parties were not the only ones sharing “facts” about the election. 

Many fake news sources began publishing information on the internet about both U.S. presidential candidates Trump and Clinton. Buzzfeed found that more than 100 of these fake news sources were being run from a small town in Macedonia. This particular hub of fake news published mainly positive news about President Trump. 

Buzzfeed noticed that right before the election, more people were engaged with the fake news sites than the real news sites. This is something that has not affected past elections, but certainly will come into play in future elections. 

To learn more about fake news, the Buzzfeed study, and the U.S. Election of 2016, check out this video from PBS. 

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Blogs out for Harambe

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Via Wikimedia Commons Harambe Photo

After a 3 year old boy fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, Harambe the gorilla became infamous. Harabme was then killed, leading to reactions from individuals across the world choosing sides with either the parents of the child or Harambe himself. In light of this situation, the dark sense of humor that lurks on the internet came out in the form of memes.

Right after the news of Harambe’s death, memes started showing up on the internet. While the gorilla died, he was portrayed as a legend who lives forever. His name became a punch line of its own. His story was compared, although rather different, to Cecil the lion. In some memes relating the two famous dead animals, they are seen fighting each other like the wild animals they are in heaven. 

While many thought the Harambe meme would not stay relevant, it has continued to appear throughout social media websites.

To read more about the legacy of Harambe’s meme, check out this article by Brian Feldman, or this youtube video.

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Thank You, Etsy

Image by Etsy Brand Design Team

Via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Etsy

Part of collaborating in online communities is collaborating with people from all backgrounds. The online marketplace Etsy realized that even though their main consumers are female, they did not have enough female software engineers. In fact, by December of 2011, only one of their 40 newly hired software engineers was a woman, making a total of 35% of their technologists female. 

My first thought of how to make this workplace more equal was to just hire more female coders, but Etsy found an even better solution. They decided to invest in training women, with the hope of hiring them in the future. This “Hacker School” had over 600 applications from potential students for the Summer of 2012. 

Eventually, this 600 was narrowed down to 23 actual students. By the end of the summer, eight were hired by Etsy and five were female. The “Hacker School” grew in the summer of 2013 with the support from Dropbox, GitHib, and PhotoShelter. I am excited to see companies like these embrace what movies and documentaries, such as Code: Debugging the Gender Gap, are fighting for. 

To read more on how Etsy is supporting women in technology, click here.

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Still Smarter than Siri

Image by Apple Inc.

Via Wikimedia Commons WitherOrNot Siri

Everyday, I find myself using the “Siri” function on my iPhone. I ask her to call my fiancé, to text my boss, email a fellow student, and how long it will take me to get home. Although she seems to be very smart and helpful when completing these tasks, sometimes I wonder if Siri is as smart as she seems.

The answer us undeniably no. Siri is able to complete these tasks because she is programed a certain way. If I say “Call Mom,” she will call my mom, as that is my mom’s contact name in my phone. Although, if I say “Call my fiancé,” she will not know who to call and will not be able to complete this task as she does not know which contact in my phone is my fiancé, as the words “my fiancé” is not his contact name.

Check out a list of commands that Apple’s Siri can complete for you here.

Like all other computers, Siri can follow a set of programed algorithms. If we stray want to use her function, we have to follow those algorithms to complete our desired task. While computers can use elements artificial intelligence (see this BBC video on artificial intelligence to learn more), it is up to us to program these computers with our own human intelligence to follow our commands and achieved the desired outcome.

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Civil Inattention

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Via Wikimedia Commons Media Scrolling Photo

Sociologist Erving Hoffman defined civil inattention as the various ways individuals physically within a close area internally distance themselves from those around them, while acknowledging their presence, by not involving through conversation or interactions. If you would like to learn more about this concept, read about Hoffman’s definition here, or watch this brief video.

As many of my interactions with others happen online, I realized I also practice a great deal of civil inattention not only in real life with those physically near me, but over the internet as well. More often than not, I find myself scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, acknowledging the presence of those “friends” or “followers,” yet I do not actually interact with them. I don’t even pay attention to who is posting or what they posted. Once in awhile, a piece of content will catch my eye, but rarely will I engage by commenting or sharing the content. If I do engage, it will be through a small gesture of hitting “like” or “love”. 

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Creative Differences

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Via Wikimedia Commons Teamwork Photo

Previously in my blog, I discussed Tuckman’s 5 Stages of Group Development. This week I collaborated with five other University of Arizona students to present on these stages, using the 2003 Paramount Pictures movie School of Rock as our example.

If you are unfamiliar with this movie, watch this preview. 

To present on this topic, our group had to go through all five stages, which are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. We formed as five students who barely knew each other. We stormed when choosing an example for the presentation. We normed when we finally settled into our roles and were able to preform this week. Now that our presentation is over, we are adjourning.

Including my group, a total of six groups went through this process. While many also used popular movies to exemplify Tuckman’s 5 Stages, two stood out. One was a group using a sports team forming, while the other used the TV series Friends. 

Each group was not only able to be creative with this project, but were able to demonstrate presentation skills that will continue to be used throughout their lives.

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

That’s Not Fair(USE)

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Wikimedia Commons Anti-Copyright Image

Everyone has ideas. While some ideas are new and different, many ideas are based off of someone else’s. If you plan on copying, distributing, performing, or remixing a previously published idea, you need to be careful of copyright laws. 

If you are unfamiliar with copyright, check out this video. 

Just because something is copyrighted does not mean you cannot use it in your own work. You can either get permission and cite to use someone else’s work, like Taylor Swift did with the writers of “I’m Too Sexy” in her new song “Look What You Made Me Do”, you can wait 70 year’s after the author’s death, you can find another piece of work to use from before 1923, or you can use that work under the terms of Fair Use. 

Something is considered fair use if: the original work was not considered creative, the people or company that hold the copyright are not affected, it is for educational purposes, your work does not use the main point of the the copyrighted work, or if you do not have intent and ability to make money. 

While it is perfectly legal for me to learn and play Taylor Swift’s new song at a place like Guitar Center, if i begin to upload a recording of me playing this piece of work to YouTube and monetize my video, I am no longer protected by fair use. 

Spreadable as the new Viral

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Wikimedia Commons Social Media

In this week’s University of Arizona “Collaborating in Online Communities” class, we talked about content spreadability. We read Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture by Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green. 

This book states that spreadability “refers to the technical resources that make it easier to circulate some kinds go content than others, the economic structures that support or restrict circulation, the attributes of a media text that might appeal to a community’s motivation for sharing material, and the social networks that link people through the exchange of meaningful bytes.” (Page 4) 

To me, the term spreadability is a more fitting term for this class than using the word viral, or sticky. I personally believe that the term viral shows how rapidly a piece of information is shared and that sticky is for a piece of information to be created for mentality and one media platform.

As a social media intern for a local company, I strive to make every post spreadable. I want each piece of content I post to be both easy to circulate and share, as well as meaningful for those who read it. Staying with how this reading defines the word spreadable, I also strive to let each post have the ability to be located in many places, invite new individuals to contribute to what I post, especially as they share it, and have limitless avenues of direction with meaningful participation. 

Web 2.0 has allowed the creation of spreadability. If you do not know what Web 2.0 is, watch this video. The internet is no longer static. Websites are generated to be user friendly and user generated, allowing content to be spread anywhere in the world. 

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

E-Collaboration

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Via Wikimedia Commons Virtual Collaboration

This week in the University of Arizona class “Collaborating in Online Communities,” we reviewed Harvard Business Review’s article “How Successful Virtual Teams Collaborate.” The author describes collaboration as the “secret sauce” for creativity within teams. He then addresses that virtual collaboration can be extremely difficult to successfully achieve and what lessons have been learned from both successes and failures. 

First, he addresses that you must adjust for size. Second, your group cannot be afraid of social media. Third, he recommends to play games to learn to do what is best for the team. Fourth, groups should train for collaboration. Finally, remember that roles are more important than goals. 

I have seen these five key points to improving virtual collaboration in my personal life. While interning for a local clothing company as a social media content creator, I had to learn to collaborate virtually with a team. 

A few months into my internship, our company expanded from one store in Tucson, to a second store in the Phoenix area. As staff doubled, we had to adjust for size and a hierarchy. This made collaboration harder to achieve, as coworkers now had to be flexible and collaborate online to achieve store goals. 

Due to this expansion, we could not be afraid of using social media to connect more with each other. Internally, each coworker added each other on Facebook to be able to connect with each other outside of work. This also came into use when the Tucson employees needed to contact the Phoenix employees. 

Our team also enjoyed playing online games, such as FarmVille through Facebook, where we learned to help each other when in need. We would do what was best for someone else in hopes of strengthening our team. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Farmville, you can watch this video about "FarmVille 2: Country Escape."

Meeting with the author’s third point of training for collaboration, we each worked on our networking skills online with designers and customers. This helped our team as we would improve our virtual communication skills, which we could apply when communicating with one another. 

In our team, we each had a specific role with a very broad goal of improving sales. As mentioned, my role was to create content for social media. I had to learn to virtually communicate with the employee in charge of monitoring the performance of our posts. While we did not know how to improve sales, we could collaborate to market our store to customers. 

We did not start off as a perfect team. We did not collaborate in person well, let alone virtually. By the end of my internship, we learned these lessons, improving sales, as well as each individual. 

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Teamwork Twirling

Image by BACsop2000 

Via Wikimedia Commons Baton Twirlers

In the University of Arizona class “Collaborating in Online Communities,” it seems logical to learn about Tuckman’s 5 Stages of Group Development (see link). The stages are as follows: (1) forming, (2) storming, (3) norming, (4) performing, and (5) adjourning. 

In my personal life, I am a competitive baton twirler. I competed as a soloist, as well as on a team. In the team setting, I saw Tuckman’s 5 Stages occur. Our team, the “Tucson Twirlers,” was originally formed by one coach teaching several soloists. As the soloists came together as a team for the first time, we looked to our coach for direction. We avoided controversy, which is normal for  the first stage, forming. 

Storming, stage two, began to occur when the twirlers began to fear failing. Conflicts on how choreography should be executed arose. Team members had different opinions on the type of music we should be competing with. Team members even had personal conflicts with each other, as girls who once competed against each other as soloists now had to put their differences aside and become a cohesive group. 

After spending several months to resolve conflicts and find a balance of power so each member could contribute equally, we finally hit the third stage of norming. 

A sense of interdependence finally arose on the day of competition. Our team had officially reached the fourth stage of performing. We had the same goal and had were able to solve problems on our feet. When one member was slightly out of sync and seemed off, we adapted to make the routine work. 

Our team competed for thirteen years on the state, regional, and national level. In 2016, the Tucson Twirlers reached the fifth stage and adjourned. We each said our goodbyes to the team, but continue to appreciate the sport we loved.

For those who may not be as familiar with what team baton twirling looks like, you can watch Team France, the 2014 World Champions, here. 

-Hannah Leigh Johnson

Collaborative Communities and You

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Via Wikimedia Commons Community of Practice Picture

A key function of collaborating is the ability to learn from your community. Every person is a part of a community. These communities may be based on where you live, the school you attend, your workplace, or even a hobby of yours. Communities of practice are one type of community. 

First, I asked myself, what do I consider a community of practice? Researching a little deeper, I found this video, explaining what a community of practice is. 

This week, the University of Arizona class, “Collaborating in Online Communities,” read an excerpt from Etienne Wenger, Richard Arnold McDermott, William Snyder’s book, titled Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Page 4 (see link) states, “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” 

I think it is important to recognize that you can be a part of more than one community of practice. Personally, I am a part of a pageant community of practice, a dance community of practice, a religious community of practice, as well as a community of practice here on campus. I am continually collaborating both online and in person to gain knowledge, practice,  answer questions and receive answers, as well as act in a supporting role in these communities.

Communities of practice are sustained by people devoted to their work, seeking further knowledge. They give users a chance to share their knowledge and practices with which they are currently or previously engaged in. To be a successful community of practice, you need to collaborate with your fellow members. 

- Hannah Leigh Johnson

Opening Up

Image by Masur
Via Wikimedia Commons Collaboration Photo

In a class titled, “Collaborating in Online Communities,” it came as no surprise when the first reading asked what collaboration is. To collaborate, one must have the intention to be open to other ideas and concepts, as well as having an open platform for the world to be able to contribute to your work. 

In everyday life, I find myself stalking my friends on social media and personal blogs, commenting on their posts and seeing who they tagged in photos to further contribute to their pages. Although, sometimes the page they tagged is “private,” where I then have to either request to follow or not contribute at all. Personally, I feel that if I have to request to follow your page, you are not open for others to contribute to your work. While some may argue this setting is for security and privacy (see video: Social Media: A Loss of Privacy?), others, like myself, may view this as a media turn off, as I can no longer be a part of what is happening around me without permission. 

In The Social Media Reader by Michael Mandiberg, it states, “Terms like “sharing,” “openness,” “user-generated content,” and “participation” have become so ubiquitous that too often they tend to be conflated and misused.” (Link: What is Collaboration Anyway?). 

I agree with the statement Mandiberg wrote. I believe people only have one definition of the word openness. This is the complete opposite of any definition that exists, as you must be open to more than one definition. How would you define openness in terms of collaboration and media? 

- Hannah Leigh Johnson