Digital connectedness: maximizing the potential of your network 

Sue Beckingham FSEDA (@suebecks #cll1213)SEDA and Sheffield Hallam University

“People need to learn how to connect to new people on a regular basis. No person has all the knowledge needed to work completely alone in our connected society. Neither does any company. Neither does any government.

We are all connected AND dependent on each other.”

Harold Jarche

Connectedness

Yes we can do this face to face but technology can help to extend our

reach

students

colleagues

family

friendsspecialism acquaintances

business advisors

service providers

Connections

YOU

YOU

students and

alumni

colleagues

family

friendsspecialism acquaintances

business advisors

service providers

Strong Connections

bossesco-workers

subordinates

school/uni, hobbies, neighbours, work etc

parents siblingschildren

students and

alumni

colleagues

family

friendsspecialism acquaintances

business advisors

service providers

Weak Connections

YOU

Exchanges could be between...

lecturer and student

student and student

student and employer

administrator and CEO

educator and

journalist

researcher and

funding body

lifelong learner and

lifelong learner

Knowledge from a network perspective is about

connecting experiences, relationships, and

situations.Jarche 2013

Purposes of Networking

•buying, selling, getting a job, getting a contract, advertising, etc.Transactions

•business, music, friendship, romance, hobbies, college, etc.Relationships

•campaigns, aid, human rights, climate change, politics, etc.Awareness

•medical, recovery programmes, mental health, self-help, etc.Care

•learning networks, research, personal development, etc.Knowledge

•music, video, sports, etc.Entertainment

•online religious practice, religious groups, spiritual paths, etc.Religion and spirituality

The Tracker Model (West in D'Souza 2011)

A “social network” can be defined as a set of nodes or actors (persons or organizations) linked by social

relationships or ties of a specified type.

A tie or relation between two actors has both strength and content. The content might include information,

advice, or friendship, shared interest or membership, and typically some level of trust.

Castilla, Hwang, Granovetter and Granovetter. 2000

The strength of interpersonal ties is a combination of the amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding and the reciprocal services which characterises the tie Granovetter 1973:1361

(Hoffman and Casnocha 2012:06)

However… weak ties can uniquely serve as bridges to other worlds and thus can pass on information or opportunities you have not heard about.

Six degrees of separation theoryAnyone can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances and that we are just six introductions away from any other person

1st 2nd 3rd

YOU

The Power of 2nd and 3rd degree connections

1st 2nd 3rd

YOU

Three degrees is the magic number because when you’re introduced to a 2nd or 3rd degree connection,

at least one person in an introduction chain personally knows the origin or target person

We can make these connections through social networks and social media

Danah Boyd 2013

Social Media Scholar and Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research

“Social networks aren't technologies. They're relationships between people. And those relationships might be mediated through technology, but it's the relationships that matter more than the technology.”

Social Media:

• is a listening tool• a conversation facilitator• a stakeholder connector• a personal learning

network• a news channel• a social networking

channel

Social Media:

• can enable connections• is a two-way enabling

dialogue providing opportunities for feedback and interaction

• is now an integral component of how we can communicate with our communities and connections

Social Media gives humans an instant

connection to communicate with

others.

Social media is "used to describe the type of

media that is based on conversation and

interaction between people online.

Where media means digital words, sounds &

pictures which are typically shared via the

internet

International School Bangkok http://isb21.wikispaces.com/

 21st Century Literacy Skills 

Graphic literacy i.e. infographics 

Navigation literacy i.e. internet geography

Context and connections literacy i.e. PLNs

Focus literacy i.e. time for solitude switch

Multitasking literacy i.e. appliances, people

Scepticism literacy i.e. ‘crap detection’ 

Ethical literacy  i.e. trust

Ra

inie

an

d W

ellm

an

(20

12

:27

2-2

74)

New Literacies for Networked Individuals

I know I’ve got it filed somewhere….

We now have a universe of information and data available at our finger tips

BUT… Are we seeing all that we could? Beware online "filter bubbles"

Eli Pariser 2011 – Screenshot from TED talk

57 signals Google looks at

Invisible algorithmic editing of the web....

Is personalising what you see but potentially narrowing our

worldview

Informatio

n overload???

“It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure”

Clay Shirky

FilterBy developing good connections with shared interests,

collaboratively we can filter what is relevant to us

In pairs discuss how you currently find experts

Tip:For a future exercise answers could be collated in a shared Google Doc

How do you create and maintain

new inks and connections?

“Networks of people are being mediated such that people are easily able to see who is connected to whom and leverage loose ties to achieve all sorts of work-related goals.

Individual knowledge is often less important than being connected to the right people.”Danah Boyd 2013

Triadic relationship

Diadic relationship

Complex relationships

mentionmap

Go to LInkedIn Maps

Log in with your LinkedIn username and password

How to create visualisations of your connections

Note: you may revoke authorisation for these apps from the settings on each tool

Your virtual rolodex

A quick look inside my PLN Toolbox

Academia

Couros 2008

Many Educators have been networking and sharing for some time. How do we help get more on board?

http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/

Jane Hart

A tagged collection of web 2.0 tools you can search

http://www.go2web20.net/

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

Sir Winston Churchill

Sue BeckinghamEducational Developer

Sheffield Hallam University

@suebeckshttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/suebeckinghamhttp://gplus.to/suebecks

Changing the Learning Landscape – Where are we now with digital literacies?University of Exeter