Digital Mapping
Digital Mapping
Residents vs. Visitors?
In this blog post I explored my online presence and created a digital map of what that looks like for me. I needed to analyze which apps I use most and determine if I am a visitor of that app or a resident of that app both professionally and personally. Now before you get confused like what does that even mean, let me tell you. In an article written by David White he defines a resident as "the individual going online to connect to, or to be with other people, this mode is about social presence". David also defines a visitor as an "individual who decides on the task they wish to undertake, for example, discovering a particular piece of information online, completing the task and then going offline or moving on to another task. In Visitor mode individuals do not leave any social trace online". Now I had to analyze and determine if I am a visitor or a resident to these apps that I use on a daily basis and create the visual.
My Digital Map
I'll be honest, at first I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to complete my digital map. Some thoughts I had were:
- Would I have enough?
- Would it be too little?
- Am I going to forget something?
- Am I really a visitor or a resident?
- Can I be both a resident and a visitor?
- How difficult is this going to be?
- When am I no longer just a visitor and move over to a resident?
Thoughts on my Digital Map
Taking a look at my visual for my digital map it showed me that I am more of a personal resident web user. When reviewing my digital map I was not so surprised at the results for my personal use but realized I am pretty much not a professional resident to anything other than school and work related items at the moment. This made me realize that I definitely need to redirect some of my time that I am currently spending on apps. I know soon I will be a professional resident to something but I am just not there yet and that's okay. When looking at my digital map it definitely does not change on the weekends it's pretty much the same, the apps that I use on a day to day basis is Amazon, Spotify, and Google. I am excited to enhance my digital presence when the time is right in the near, very near future.
Hey Jillian -- I hadn't even considered the streaming platforms for my digital presence, but thanks for reminding me! I guess since they are apps on the TV and I don't really watch them on my phone, they fell by the wayside. I also had similar questions to yours --- and even if I'd be able to make a quadrant on Google Drawings, but alas we did it! As a sixteen year veteran who didn't grow up with much technology in her school days, it's such a different world for our students. I would think they would probably have more "residents" apps especially in the world of gaming and remote learning, than we would, just a theory!
ReplyDeleteDo film projectors count as technology? I didn't have much technology in my classroom, but I am on the older side. When I was in grade school, the tech was the TV/videocassette player, Speak n' Spell (for young grades), and the Apple II, which was located in the "technology" room. I honestly don't understand how kids learn without a textbook in front of them. On the same token, I can't imagine working without technology. It is an integral part of what we do, now. And teaching technology is so important. I don't think we could go back. It would be an interesting experiment to create a school that went without technology. What results would we see?
DeleteHi Jillian!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog post a lot in general, but my favorite part was your bulleted list of questions you were thinking about. Although they might appear to be simple at first because you wrote them so well in such friendly language, a lot of your questions are really incredibly deep and got me thinking SO much! I also thought about some similar things when doing my map - the "Am I really a visitor or a resident?" and "Can I be both a resident and a visitor?" questions also gave me such a hard time. There were several apps were I kept second guessing or analyzing my role, and as I write this, I'm still not even sure - but it's very fascinating to think about!
Jillian: I'd be interested to know what you are looking at to fill out your professional/resident section. What needs do you see in your classroom. Because I'm in high school, there are fewer products available, but still a lot out there. I've been looking at Writable.com, which is part project management, part collaboration tool, part word processor. It lets teachers set up writing assignment and even include flow charts and graphic organizers. Teachers can observe the student's progress and make comments. Students can write in a variety of genres, such as argument, instructional, and narrative. The site has thousands of prompts in a wide variety of subjects. Or teachers can input there own. There are plenty of ways to collaborate with other teachers, and the site can generate reports on a variety of benchmarks. I think it would be most useful for high and junior high schoolers, but the site does have an option for elementary school. What have you found interesting?
ReplyDeleteHi Jillian,
ReplyDeleteLike many others here I also really found your list of questions thoughtful and they overlapped my thinking as well! Specifically, I connected to your question "when am I not longer a visitor and move over to a resident?" I wondered the same thing -- how much engagement or personalization does it take to make that switch? Just because an app knows me does that make me more than a visitor?
I think about the joke that as soon as you say something aloud you begin getting ads for it sent to your phone -- just because an app thinks it knows me based on a profile, does that make me more than a visitor (or maybe it just means that I am visiting too much).
Thanks for a thoughtful and relatable post!
I love that you listed the questions that came to mind when you began to think about your digital map. Thanks for sharing them. I was also happy to see that this reflection has you noticing aspects of your digital space that you'd like to change. Good for you!
ReplyDelete