Does Social Search + Social Media = Social Commerce?
In Chapter 5 of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman (2013) asserts: “In the future, we will no longer seek products and services; rather, they will find us” (p. 72). While on one hand this idea seems a bit frightening, on the other, it is sometimes daunting to have to make a decision about what to buy when there are so many options available, and it seems rather comforting as well as helpful to be able to narrow down the options based on reviews from friends whom, as Qualman aptly points out, we trust more than reviewers we don’t know.
Qualman explains that this is all part of social commerce, a method of using social media as a vehicle for searching and marketing. Qualman refers to the searching aspect of social commerce as social search. He gives the example of Steve who is expecting a new baby and needs to buy a car seat. From Steve’s social search, he can tell who of his friends has recently bought a car seat, which model they bought, the average price of the model they bought, and many other helpful nuggets that will make his purchasing decision much easier. Steve then conducts a similar social search which helps him to decide which new car to buy.
While social media is certainly a very powerful tool for finding out the product preferences of one’s social network, it does not yet offer the advanced level of searching abilities that Qualman refers to with his concept of social search. While the missing components of the social search Qualman describes may evolve naturally with social media, I wonder whether there will ever really be a way to search for a generic product (like a car seat) and find out how many of one’s friends have purchased that sort of product recently, and then narrow the search by brand, model, price, reviews, etc. This seems to me like it would be complicated and privacy invasive; most importantly, I wonder who would profit from implementing a search like this.
In addition to describing the way social media affects searching, social commerce also describes how social media is transforming marketing.TripAdvisor recognized the marketing opportunity afforded by the Where I’ve Been Facebook application, which allowed users to track places they’ve visited, and tried to buy it. When the asking price was too steep, TripAdvisor decided to develop its own version of the application, Cities I’ve Visited, making use of established and free technology like Google Maps.TripAdvisor’s application quickly soared in popularity, and while they didn’t have specific user contact information, they did have great access to information about popular destinations and the ability to provide links for their users to best selling trips. By creating this application, TripAdvisor developed a value-added approach that provided significant marketing opportunities.
According to Qualman, social commerce will also lead to more sophisticated product placement opportunities for companies. As e-books continue to gain popularity, Qualman believes that brand names will be clickable and the site visits will be trackable. While it may be helpful to be able to click on a product I don’t know about to find out what it does, it might be annoying to have every single product mentioned in a book linked to advertisements.
I found Qualman’s example of the “Tom Sawyer approach,” in Chapter 7 of Socialnomics, especially interesting. Just as Tom Sawyer made painting a fence look so appealing that others begged him for the opportunity to help, ESPN similarly offered people the unpaid, responsibility-heavy opportunity to become a Super Fan and report frequently on their respective teams, and people were so eager to have this opportunity that ESPN had a large pool of applicants to select from. This example offers a bigger lesson about how letting fans contribute to a product, show, or service adds value for those fans and for other fans as well as shifts some of the production and marketing burden away from the company and onto the fans. This seems to me to be an incredible marketing and production strategy which will almost certainly gain traction in the coming months and years.
Rhetoric of Technology and Social Media – Don’t Miss the Boat!
Although “rhetoric of technology” is considered a newer term and area of study, it has taken the world by storm via social media and has become a powerful marketing tool (Clark, 2010, p. 89). I would dare say this term is synonymous with Qualman’s (2009) terms of “socialommerce” (p. 89) or “world of mouth marketing” (p. 99).
To support the rhetoric of technology, we read several examples this week on how technology and social media have influenced consumer opinions and decisions. Some companies jumped on the bandwagon:
TripAdvisor Cities I’ve Visited
And some missed the boat:
Coca-Cola venture into Second Life
Ultimately, I think we can group the ways that social media influences consumers into three categories:
1) Recommendations from strangers. For example, let’s say I’m in the market to buy a tablet. I own a Samsung smartphone which I like very much, so I’d like to see what tablets Samsung might offer. Instead of going to Samsung’s corporate website (which is going to be obviously biased), I decide to look for reviews online. Sites like angieslist.com require payment to read reviews, so I go to Facebook and find a fan page for Samsung’s Note. However, it’s a “fan” page, so most of the comments are probably skewed. I need to know if there are any issues with this product so I can weigh the pros and cons. So, then I look for…
2) Corporate social media sites. I go directly to Samsung’s Facebook page to see what regular consumers, not necessarily fans, say about Samsung products. Of course, this could also be edited to only reflect positive comments, so I move on to a more trusted source…
3) Referrals from friends and family. I see that several of my Facebook fans mentioned buying a Samsung Note recently, so I send them a message to see what they think.
Samsung Note Fan Page
Rott, L. (2013). Snipped from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Samsung-Galaxy-Note3/660984673914124
These readings have caused me to reflect on the company I work for and our use of social media. Sure, we have a Facebook page, LinkedIn page and Twitter handle, but it doesn’t feel like we’re creating a sense of community. Our Facebook page has only three “likes” and they are all employees of the company. We have not heavily promoted these sites and rarely post to them. It seems that our social media boat is half sunk! How do we drive more traffic to these sites and who do we target?
One of our primary audiences that we market to is physicians. I have the exact worry that Qualman describes at the end of chapter seven: “They don’t want to aggregate their hard-earned customers in a public forum because they’re afraid the competition will come in and pick them off” (p. 184). Qualman insists that if a company is worried about this, then there are bigger problems within the company. I disagree. Our company offers a solid product and even better service (yes, I may be a little biased, but let’s put that aside, shall we?). Despite this, our competition is offering what you would call “it’s too good to be true” sort of product and service, bordering on the edge of illegal (at the least, unethical), but because our type of service is still so NEW, many physicians do not realize this. On top of this, we have actually had competitors cull our website for clients as we used to list them for patients (“Find a Physician”). I don’t believe we actually lost any clients this way, but it makes you more careful as to what you put out on the web. We changed our site so now you have to submit a request to get a list of doctors in your area that provide this specialized therapy.
Revised Find a Physician page
Rott, L. (2013). Snipped from employer’s website.
So, what are our options to keep our social marketing plan afloat? Perhaps the mainstream sites will not work for our customers. However, I think we could create an online community through a secure site that we already use with our clients – our customer “portal” where they can log in, access patient educational materials, marketing tools, clinical resources, a calendar of events, etc. We have an area where people can submit and view clinical Q&A. This is mainly a one-to-one communication where they submit questions to us and we respond directly to them. If appropriate, we might post the question and answer for all to see, but not show who submitted it. What if we turned it into an open forum where our clients could talk to each other? I think this would encourage our clients to use the site more and also create a greater sense of loyalty, brand and “family.”
We are supposed to have a meeting soon to discuss upgrades to our portal site…perhaps I will bring this up!
Technology and Social Commerce
One of the common themes I saw through the readings this week was technology. When I first started reading Spilka, it challenged the way I thought about what technology was. I alway thought technology was just the devices and the physical things I could hold in my hand or touch. In reality, Technology is more than that. It is the methods and tools that a society has developed in order to facilitate th solution of its practical problems.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/technology
The Digital Literacy book also defined Technology, but this definition was a bit clearer for me.
With this definition in my brain, it really helped my connect the readings from Spilka and Qualman. For the past few weeks I was having a hard time figuring out how these two books, written so different could be required for the same class and have readings assigned at the same time. I’m now starting to get it.
Spilka really laid the groundwork for the Qualman reading, specifically on Socialommerce. Dave Clark (who wrote the article in Spilka’s book), starts out by talking about Twitter and how it could be used. Qualman takes the concept of Twitter and other social media sites and expands on how people can use this technology for their purchases.
Socialommerce (as Qualman calls it) or Social Commerce is not new. Amazon and eBay are two examples of Social Commerce sites that have been around for a while. Both Amazon and eBay use your current browsing and search history to show you items that you might be interested in. That is the basic concept of Social Commerce. Social Commerce is really just allowing your friends/family/social media circles to help in purchasing items. Social Networks make it easier for people to provide information about what they purchased and why. This could be part of the reason Twitter could be so popular. 140 characters is easy to write about a purchase. That makes it really easy. In addition most online retailers allow you to share about what you bought and the savings you had.
Facebook allows for applications to be created by third-party companies and integrated within Facebook. Companies will often time see a new idea from an exsting company or app and either try to purchase that app or create a new one that is better. TripAdvisor did that with their “Cities I’ve Visited.” They borrowed the idea from Where I’ve been, but allows for pinpointing cities that were visited instead of just countries. With the addition of “I’d like to visit” within the Cities Application, other companies can see where I want to go and advertise to me. Also, friends can see that and indicate if they’ve been there and if they would recommend going. This is also Social Commerce.
I used TripAdvisor (website, not application) for help in planning my trip to New Orleans/Alabama this week. It is good to see the reviews and itineraries of people who have been there about the things to do and things to avoid. I’m traveling with my mom who is still new to Facebook and social media, so she’s nervous about posting that we are taking this trip, so Social Media hasn’t helped.
Steve Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor has said “If you are not constantly evolving along with your customers you are doomed to fail.” Do you know any companies that need to follow that advice?
These are a few of my favorite things/marketing tactics
Scrabble is my favorite game in the world, because of Scrabulous. I had never played Scrabble before, but a friend invited me to play Scrabulous on Facebook and I was hooked. Scrabulous was the only game I ever played on Facebook and I remember the day it just disappeared without any explanation. I never actually knew about the legal battles surrounding it. I never knew that it wasn’t run by Hasbro. I was just disappointed that I couldn’t play it anymore. So instead, my friends and I bought secondhand copies of the original Scrabble game from Goodwill and started playing in person.
After reading Qualman’s account in Socialnomics of Hasbro’s litigious reaction to the game, I am finding myself not wanting to support the company, which may be a little vindictive of me since it was early in the days of social media, and companies have really all had to adjust how they approach marketing. Social media simply has changed how we interact in most spheres, and it isn’t entirely fair to hold a company’s slow transition against them. But really, who wants to have anything to do with a company that punishes people for helping to promote their product?
As Qualman pointed out, Hasbro would have done better had they followed the examples of other companies and had endeavored to “beg, borrow and make better.” Hasbro could have taken a different tactic and been more successful. Companies need to adjust their thinking to understand that advertising happens differently through social media and their response needs to be about incorporating the efforts of their customers rather than attempting to control them.
It is interesting how even as companies are having to adjust their methods of advertising, they really don’t actually change. Qualman points out the rediscovered joys of product placement in his examination of ESPN’s fantasy football podcast. Basically, instead of commercials fully devoted to the product, it is becoming necessary to incorporate advertising into content that the customer actually wants to experience. It reminds me of eighties movies, where product placement was so blatant, though not obtrusive because it was incorporated into the content. Who can think of the movie ET without thinking about Reese’s Pieces?
Qualman posits that we may see a similar kind of product placement in E-books. Then not only would the story mention that the protagonist enjoys Diet Coke, but that it would have a link to take you to a website. I am happy to see that this idea has not come to fruition. While I think that advertising within enjoyable content is something that can be done well, there comes a point where I don’t want to be bothered by clunky advertising. If it infects my e-books, I think I will likely go back to buying giant mountains of books from Goodwill. Perhaps other people would not find it annoying, but the fact that this form of advertising has yet to transpire suggests that perhaps I am not alone in thinking that there needs to be a point where advertising stops.
Are Targeted Ads and Facebook controlling where we spend our money?
I find the concept of socialommerce interesting. I think we all know when we’re on a website that they can track what we’re doing, such as where we’re clicking and how long we’re on each page. In my last job at an order management software company I saw these concepts a lot. In addition to providing a software to help businesses manage their orders, the company also hosted websites. I learned a lot about e-marketing tools because of this. Let’s say you go online shopping and you leave the site quickly without putting any items in your cart. If you entered your email address anywhere or were logged into an account on that site, they can tell you were there and didn’t buy. The company can send a special coupon to use to attract your attention back to the site. But let’s say you went online shopping and abandoned your cart. You can get an email with a different offer that is specific to the item you left behind. Businesses will also send surveys for feedback from their customers, and most will offer a coupon to thank you for your time and opinion. The example below is from New York and Company.
Businesses have so much visibility they no longer should be offering blanket offers because not every coupon or deal is going to influence everyone to buy. Even in this rough economy, people will spend money when they feel they’re getting a good value. I did some quick searching and found a study from The Network Advertising Initiative that stated targeted advertising increased revenue 2.7 times as much as non-targeted ads. Also, it is twice as effective at converting users who click on the ads into buyers. People will also be more likely to spend money on things their friends give positive reviews on and companies that have a good reputation. I do agree that we’re at a point where products and special deals find us. Over the summer I was looking to buy a car. After my first couple of Google searches and visits to different sites, car ads were all over my Facebook page. I didn’t like these ads because I knew what I was looking for and what I wanted to test drive. After I purchased a car the ads were still on my page for weeks. This makes me wonder how individual specific advertising can be productive for things that the advertiser can’t tell I am no longer in the market for. Being I already bought a car, continuing the ads for me are useless. That space could be used to advertise something I might actually spend money on, like the ad on my Facebook page today that’s below. Birchbox sounds pretty cool, anyone try it? I have to love asking for feedback on my blog post that talks about how we use social media to see if something is worth investing in!
Facebook can definitely influence purchases. This morning one of my friends posted she had a waffle and instantly that’s what I wanted. I actually did go out to the diner to get one! Our statuses also allow us to network. Friends of mine are getting married and posted on their Facebook status that they’re looking for a photographer. There were many comments that provided names and links to example work done by the photographers. In this case Facebook did the research for them and instead of finding a photographer, a photographer kind of came to them.
I was surprised to read that there is so much tracking on DVRs. I don’t know why this shocked me because everything is tracked these days, so why wouldn’t my cable company track what I fast forward and what I’m watching and when? I wonder how they use this data. I’d assume some of this has to be used to determine the popularity of a TV show. As a rule, I DVR everything and watch it later so I can skip the commercials. In the reading this week Hulu and their limited commercials are mentioned. The reading states that these 2 minute commercials are more productive than a longer commercial break because people will sit there and pay attention for those two minutes. When a commercial break is longer people get up and do things or fast forward through them. I know many people that are getting rid of their cable and just watching TV online. I wonder how we’ll see either Internet plans or sites change to support this. It makes me think of cell phones and how wireless plans have changed to accommodate a lot of people no longer keeping a landline.
Thinking Critically: All that Twitters is Not Technological Gold
After last week’s immersion in Sherry Turkle’s cautionary tale (Alone, together), it’s kind of hard to return to the full-out celebration of all that is Twitter and technological glitter in Qualman’s Socialnomics. I thought I’d bridge the gap by first considering Dave Carlon’s discussion of “Shaped and Shaping Tools” in Digital Literacy (edited by Rachel Spilka).
Time and Space “Fixity”
The subtitle of Carlson’s piece is “The Rhetorical Nature of Technical Communication Technologies,” and in it he calls for technical communicators to “be critical,” to be rhetorically savvy in their use of new technological tools (p. 87). To study the rhetoric of technology, he offers four broad categories of scholarship: rhetorical analysis; technology transfer and diffusion; genre theory; and activity theory.
In his consideration of rhetorical analysis, he discusses the fact that Twitter “opens up both temporal and spatial fixity” because Twitter is not bound by either time or space (93). Early on in the chapter, he makes the point that Twitter can be “endlessly resorted and reorganized” because we have countless interfaces and points of entry. I wasn’t entirely sure what that last idea meant, so I did some surfing and found this “Twitter Storm” piece by Tom Phillips on Buzz Feed http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/the-29-stages-of-a-twitterstorm).
Tom Phillips gives a nice, humorous rundown about how Twitter can be “endlessly resorted and reorganized,” as Carlson suggests.
Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/the-29-stages-of-a-twitterstorm
I think it perfectly makes Carlson’s point about multiple interfaces and points of entry. You can enter the conversation at any point and, especially if you are someone with a following, start the conversation all over again.
Even laggards, thankfully, can enter the conversation at any time!
But, just entering the conversation doesn’t make us critical thinkers with regard to technology, a point Carlson makes, Turkle makes, and even Qualman makes.
Genres as Regularizing Structures: PowerPoint and Prezi
For example, Carlson asks us as technical communicators to think more deeply about how technologies shape us and how we are shapers of technology. Consider his discussion of genre theory. He cites the work of Carolyn Miller (“Genre as social action”) that genres such as memos, reports, and manuals are not simply formats but rather they are “regularizing structures … that shape the work of members of organizations” (97). As example, Carlson cites the work of Yates and Orlikowski’s examination of PowerPoint “arguing that genres create expectations of purpose, content, participants, form, time, and place” (97) and become regularizing structures within organizations.
I’ve seen so many bad PowerPoint presentations (and I’ll bet you have, too), that I readily tried Prezi a few weeks ago simply on the barest glimpse of hope that, if it catches on, people might add a little zip to what otherwise turn out to be humongous snooze fests where we watch someone read from a screen.
Prezi, like PowerPoint is not simply a format, but rather it is a “regularizing structure.”
Source: http://prezi.com/your/
Prezi does present a shift in perspective as Klint Finley from Tech Crunch points out: “For those not familiar, Prezi uses a map-like metaphor for creating presentations instead of a slideshow metaphor. This makes it possible to create non-linear presentations, or presentations that use spatial metaphors for organizing ideas, like mind maps.” (techcrunch.com/2012/10/30/powerpoint-killer-prezi-launches-new-interface/.)
In my experience Prezi does offer a different way of organizing information, which might present a new rhetorical paradigm for presentations, but I actually think either platform could be used effectively. If you’re not familiar with Prezi, you should visit their website (http://prezi.com/your/) and try it out. I, a renowned technological “laggard,” taught myself in a couple of hours, so you know it must be pretty intuitive.
Cheerleading for cheerleading camp
The concept of “laggardness” brings me to Qulaman, who is always fun to read because, for one thing, he doesn’t laden himself with too much in the way of academic support. But those are the two querulous impulses I always have when I read Socialnomics―timeliness and evidence.
In the first case, I always have an impulse to check out where the anecdotal evidence stands today. For example, Qualman spends a few pages (161-165) discussing Hulu’s success with delivering high-quality traditional television and movies and for employing an innovative advertising model. Yet, today’s news would suggest that what was true when this book was published is no longer true today. You can read here about the company’s latest challenges: “5 ways new CEO Mike Hopkins Can Save Hulu” from Mike Wallenstein at Variety (http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/5-ways-new-ceo-mike-hopkins-can-save-hulu-1200735150/).
A new CEO is being brought in to “save” Hulu, which suggests that it hasn’t sustained the success that Qualman wrote about in 2009.
Source: (http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/5-ways-new-ceo-mike-hopkins-can-save-hulu-1200735150/).
That doesn’t make what Qualman published in 2009 any less true, only outdated, and perhaps what makes it outdated could have bearing on the business strategies and choices Qualman extols. Wallerstein’s advice to Hulu: 1. Get the owners rowing in the same direction 2. Pick―and stick with―a strategy. 3. Time to bid big against Netflix 4. If you’re going to do original programming, do it right. 5. Stop the bleeding.
The other problem, as others have pointed out on this forum, is that Qualman seems to rely a lot on anecdotal evidence. His mother’s friend Betsy’s cheerleading camp (pp. 175-178) was probably pretty meaningful to Betsy, Qualman’s mother, and Qualman himself, but I didn’t find it either particularly informative or easy to follow. What’s missing in Qualman’s analysis is that he can’t seem to direct us to broad conclusions based on quantifiable, reliable data. He can tell stories about this or that success or failure, but he’s not convincing in a broad, academically supportable sense.
Yet, I find him enormously persuasive much of the time, especially when he discusses “finding the right balance between launching every possible idea through the door and ensuring they are not missing out on a great opportunity” (181). He actually lauds TripAdvisor for taking a “deep breath” and re-thinking their strategy with “Where I’ve Been” (p. 106). He also advises companies to “Take time to decide where you will be,” which is sort of the missing element in this 140-character, non-fixity world.
To “think critically,” as Dave Carlson encourages us, does take at least a little bit of time, the most valuable and rare commodity in this twittery, glittery world.
Very ‘pinteresting’: let social media users do the work
In Chapter 7 of Socialnomics, “Winners and Losers in a 140-Character World,” Erik Qualman discusses characteristics companies must now abide by if they plan to break even in a social-media driven world. He provides the reader with examples of companies who have embraced social media and used it to grow and develop their companies. Qualman also shares examples of companies who have the what’s-mine-is-mine mindset and have actually lost business due to their ignorance of social media, or their pure selfishness. I was surprised when I read that Qualman thinks it’s acceptable to let others run your business for you, but his explanation makes sense: “Take advantage of what others who have already done the legwork to help you position your brand throughout the social media space” (p. 171).
A comparison of Words with Friends and traditional Scrabble. Source: http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/10/hasbro-zynga-words-with-friends-board-game/
The example of Hasbro suing the makers of an application called Scrabulous helped Qualman prove his point. If the company would have accepted the application or attempted to purchase it, they would have probably increased the number of customers instead of irritating people who already liked the application Scrabulous. Reading this part of the chapter made me think of a similar application that is now popular: Words with Friends. After doing some research, I found out that a company called Zynga developed the Words with Friends application that users can operate on smartphones, iPads, the computer, and other devices. However, in 2012 a traditional version of the game was released. Can anyone guess who was involved? Yes, Hasbro. I guess the company finally learned its lesson. Although the traditional version of Words with Friends is basically the same as Scrabble, users who like the application (and younger users who may not even have ever played Scrabble) may prefer Words with Friends.
A snapshot of Old Navy’s “Wear Us Out” board on Pinterest. Source: http://www.pinterest.com/oldnavy/wear-us-out/
This lead to me think of how I have seen companies allow their customers to own the brand. I am an avid Pinterest user. On Pinterest, users can “pin” images they like to their virtual [bulletin] “boards.” Users can see what their friends post and can “repin” something that a friend has already posted. Users can also “tag” their followers in a post. When I was off work over the summer, I used the application daily to look at fashion ideas and cookout recipes. In June, I started following one of my favorite clothing brands – Old Navy. Old Navy posts images of models wearing their latest trends, but the company also has a “board” dedicated to real people wearing their clothing called Wear Us Out. Users can “tag” the company in an image, and it will show up on the “board.” Old Navy representatives can also sort through tagged images, and then post the ones they like on the “board” too. I think this is a brilliant idea to attract customers. Of course, the models look good in Old Navy clothing. However, their strategy makes me, as a customer, think that if these real people can put an outfit together with Old Navy clothing, I can too. Old Navy is a great example of a company using social media to their benefit and letting customers do the work.
Where are they now?
Sometimes, while I am reading through actual books (versus articles) in my classes, I wonder how fast the author has to write his book in order to go through the editing and publishing phases to get it out to the consumer before it becomes “old” information. These days I would say they have to write with lightening speed because of how fast technology changes and how constantly new forms of social media seem to be introduced (and then disappear again). In fact, I also often wonder if we are going to see a shift away from paper books in classes specifically because of how fast information changes. Don’t get me wrong, I still learn a lot even when the information is becoming dated, as it is in Socialnomics. It almost becomes more of a history lesson – sometimes you can laugh at the information and other times it is scary how true some of their future predictions have become. For this week I thought it would be fun to explore some of this older information and see what it looks like today.
Chapter four focussed heavily on Barack Obama’s use of social media for his elections, toting is as incredibly forward thinking: “Perhaps due to his widespread appeal to younger audiences, but more likely due to limited funding at the outset of his campaign, Obama embraced social media from the beginning – knowing he had a chance to dominate this medium over his democratic opponents” (Socialnomics, 2009, p. 62). And this quote: “If not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president or even the democratic nominee” as quoted in Socialnomics on pg. 65 by Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post. Eric Qualman was probably correct in this assumption, especially with regards to the younger followers being the ones who were using social media very heavily at the time. Out of curiosity I looked to see where the “follower” counts have gone since this book was written. Obama has gone from 3.1 million fans on Facebook (Socialnomics, 2009, p. 62) to 36 million today. His Youtube channel has gone from over 20 million views, per Socialnomics (p. 63) to 291,711,299 views today. While I did not see mention of how many Twitter followers Obama had at the time this book was written, he currently has 37,736,062 followers. Considering Twitter was a very new medium during his 2008 campaign, we can probably assume that there were far fewer followers back then.
What is interesting is that “Obama has pledged to involve Americans in his decision making, by giving them five days to comment online on any nonemergency legislation before he signs it” (Socialnomics, 2009, pg. 74) but yet I have searched numerous different Obama internet sites and have not found any such options. I have also seen that many of his sites have not been updated with events or activities since 2008. In particular, the Youtube channel has not had a recent video from Obama since the beginning of the year. I think we were all excited to hear that a fresh young President was going to make such great changes – it made him seem more down to earth. It is just unfortunate that his ideas have not taken off like he had said they would. Maybe because he found out how time consuming social media can be and his job is a little bigger than he thought? Haven’t we all been there done that?!
In either case, another topic that Qualman brings up is how Google can predict future trends by looking at its own search trends and advertising click-throughs. This is still something that Google is promoting. I found this fascinating and would love to learn more about it. It still seems that the privacy concerns brought up in Socialnomics are still an issue today and this information is not readily available to the public.
Finally, according to Qualman, “One thing that is surely inevitable is the introduction of online voting” (Socialnomics, 2009, pg. 83). Well, his prediction is still not reality almost 6 years later. Not that it isn’t still a topic of debate among those who are interested, especially Internet security types, but it still seems quite a long ways off. Even Canada is farther ahead than we are in this debate. I, personally, would love to see this one come true!
Books may still be valuable tools but time will tell if their ability (or lack there of) to keep current, without costing the consumer an arm and a leg, will devalue them in the future. Might we see a real digital version that can get updated on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis without buying a whole new book? Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose!
Marketing in this Shiny New World
Sometimes when I read things for class, I start to panic as I realize how woefully inadequate I am to the task of being the perfect technical communicator. When I read about all the ways that I need to market myself and all the areas in which I need to be competent in order to be competitive, I begin to have a minor panic attack. Okay, I am using the tiniest bit of hyperbole. Just a little.
But nonetheless, it can be a bit overwhelming to read things like R. Stanley Dicks’ “The Effects of Digital Literacy on the Nature of Technical Communication Work in Spilka’s Digital Literacy for Technical Communication. The chapter focuses on describing the way that digital literacy has impacted the work lives of technical communicators, which seems innocuous; however the chapter also reads as a cautionary tale of how one must be awesome in order to save their job from being outsourced or seen as unimportant. We must change as the technology and the economy and the markets change.
It is the only way to keep technical communicators marketable. Likewise, Qualman points out in Chapter 6 of Socialnomics that corporations are also having to change for the same reasons. It is interesting, though, that while Spilka promotes adding a variety of things to a technical communicator’s skill set, Qualman’s advice to corporations is the rather the opposite. Qualman contends that the marketability of organizations rests in their ability to pare down their message from claiming to be the best at everything to being the best at something specific.
It is strange to see such seemingly different recommendations in reaction to the same changes. However, I think that below the surface, both Qualman and Dicks are attempting to get at the same point. Because of changes in technology, we have to be smarter and more strategic about how we do our work, whether as an individual or as a corporation.
As a technical communicator, we may have to add skills, yes. But more importantly we need to know how to market them to the organizations for which we work, to help them see that there is one area that we meet a need in the corporation that can’t be met by someone who has not had the same training. So while we may in fact have to supplement our skills, this too is following Qualman’s advice, because even on an individual basis, we need to be able to show our worth in 140 characters, so that managers and organizations at large can’t overlook our contributions.
It is really just a change in marketing for us all. We, as usual, have to know our audience and speak to it in a way that is easily understandable. I think that means that a technical communicator needs to understand how technology and social media has changed not only how customers approach a corporation or a corporation approaches its customers, but also how a corporation understands its employees. Because, let’s face it, we all know that the changes in technology have fundamentally changed how we understand and interact with the world. We can expect that it has likewise affected every relationship we have as well, even if it is between a technical communicator and an organization.
The Politics of Social Media: Country, Company, and Communication
If any of us still had doubts that our lives and our work are undergoing major changes as social media and other technologies continue to grow, this week’s readings might have really struck us hard. While I’ve participated in many of these technological changes as they’ve happened, I was still in awe when I read Qualman and Spilka’s impressions of what the cumulative impact of these transitions will look like.
Qualman expects a significant shift in how political campaigns are run based on Obama’s 2008 campaign in which he successfully utilized social media for getting his message out and increasing his popularity as well as for fundraising. I think this makes sense in the context of increased social media use for advertising because essentially a presidential candidate is advertising or selling himself/herself.
I do wonder whether there is any difference in the demographics that will be receptive to increased political social media advertising. My impression is that younger people, such as college students, tend to be more liberal while older people tend to be more conservative. Younger people also tend to use social media more actively than older people. Thus, I wonder whether conservative use of social media in campaigning will be as effective as liberal use because of the demographics in question and their media preferences.
Qualman generally paints a very rosy picture of social media and its ability to facilitate communication. It seems that his rule of thumb is that businesses should use negative comments to improve their products and their customer service rather than trying to delete them. I think though, especially as social media enters the political realm, that it is not always possible to take negative comments and turn them into a positive outcome.
Yesterday I was reading a Facebook post from the Obama administration which contained a factual update of the latest news about the government shutdown. An alarming number of people commented with vulgar language toward the President in posts that did not contain suggestions or anything else that could even potentially be productive. More people responded to those people by returning the vulgar language; thus the entire thread turned into something negative rather than something informative and productive. While sometimes the fact that anyone can post anything and have it be seen by many people is a benefit of social media, there are cases like this one where it can also be a negative.
Qualman also talks about the shift of product and service marketing from message and positioning focused to more customer-centric via social media. I’m not sure I agree with him here. For one thing, I think marketing has always been more customer focused than he gives it credit for. I think focus groups and market research, which have been around far longer than any of the technologies in question, are great examples about how marketers have always cared about what products, services, and features are important to their customers. Also, I think a company could have the best customer service in the world, but without a cohesive strategy and message, I don’t think they could possibly have a competitive product.
The Spilka reading offers more interesting food for thought about how our lives and jobs are changing as technology evolves. Spilka introduces the concept of a constant deskilling and reskilling where technical communicators will constantly need to get retrained as their job descriptions change. I think this analysis may be rather extreme. Because we now perform “knowledge work” or “symbolic-analytic work,” we think critically, and we work with concepts and information; I think these skills are easily transferrable to slightly different job functions and will not require us to retrain ourselves entirely.
I agree with Spilka’s point that although technical communicators will still be writers, editors, and product experts, our function will increasingly become adding value to information as our work becomes even more symbolic-analytic. It seems to me that the tone in talking about our functions evolving is negative, but I think it’s a good thing since we have a lot more to offer. In my job I already fill the roles of technical writer, product expert, editor, customer support person and usability consultant, and I think it allows me to grow, both personally and professionally, more than a traditional technical communications job would.
Social media fundraises and can make us more productive
I found a lot of things in the Qualman reading this week informative. I didn’t realize Obama raised more money for his campaign and it seems like the credit is going to social media. It does make sense that if you have more donation vehicles available that you’ll raise more money, but maybe those people would have donated anyway, so I’m not sure social media deserves all the credit. I also found it really interesting that we can tell who searches for what and where, such as how Canada and United Kingdom were searching for political news in the U.S. The internet really does provide visibility into our lives.
The Qualman reading also said Obama had a meeting where people put their phones on the center of the table. At one of my previous jobs there was a rule in place that you didn’t bring phones and laptops to meetings. This was the result of too many people going “wait, what?” in meetings. You can’t pay attention in a meeting if you’re on your phone or laptop. Meetings won’t take as long if you don’t have to keep stopping to repeat things either.
One of my friends has a brunch every year for the holidays, and someone actually made a comment last year that it was nice no one had their phone in their hand. You see it way too often in places like restaurants or bars where people are with people in person, but spend the night on their phones.
http://cheese-wheel.com/2013/05/26/put-down-the-phone/
Social media does make us productive though, like the example the reading provides of seeing the wait time to vote. The NJ DMV does this for the inspection wait times. I do wonder if we’ll see online voting though. It would be very convenient, but a lot of things for privacy and accuracy need to be addressed.
The reading also discusses the role of marketing and that marketing has the job to make the customer happy and produce something that really has value. We’re in the age of the customer where online recommendations and reviews really do make an impact. There have been many things online I was going to buy, saw negative reviews and then either didn’t make the purchase or went with a different product. I also have bought something based on a recommendation from something that I bought previously. Money is made in a tough economy when people see value in their spend.
This is why online documents have become so important. The Spilka reading mentions how technical documents aren’t just part of an assembly line anymore. Documents need to be readily available in an easy to access location. We’ve become a society with no patience, so if we can’t get what we want when we want it, we move on. The idea the reading presents of maybe using blogs to replace technical documentation I don’t think will take off. I think a blog can be a great pairing to technical documents, but can’t serve as a replacement for them. The only way a blog can be effective is if someone is monitoring it 24/7 with quick answers, which almost turns the blog into a chat with a live agent kind of thing.
So, what do you guys think? I feel like I covered a hodgepodge of topics, but I liked a lot of the different topics the readings made and wanted to discuss some of them.
Bungee Jumping and Other Acts of Agility
The theme of this week’s readings, for me, was “be nimble!”
The rather sobering cautionary tale, “The Effects of Digital Literacy on the Nature of Technical Communication Work” by Stanley Dicks suggests that technical communicators must reposition, redefine, and sometimes re-educate themselves to become symbolic-analytic workers instead of commodity workers if they are to survive and thrive in the new post-industrial, globalized economy. Chapters 4 and 6 of Socialnomics suggests the same about companies and organizations who want to survive and thrive in the new marketplace.
Dicks’ discussion of the move to a support economy where the “customer will become the center of the support economy universe” (56) helped me to understand better the implications of the Web 2.0 technologies. The customized, transparent, interactive world that customers and consumers are become accustomed to and indeed, are starting to expect, is driving the nature of work in many fields and determining what is and will be valued in the workplace. Technical communicators have to determine and communicate how they are adding value to an organizations’ main mission. They can do this by showing how they contribute to cost reduction, cost avoidance, revenue enhancement, and intangible values, none of which have traditionally been easy for technical communicators to do (61-62).
Another value of this weeks’ readings for me is Dicks’ discussion of management principles. Although I’d heard about most of these principles, either formally or by osmosis, I hadn’t ever considered the degree to which they would affect the profession of technical communicators. (I was a little thrown off by his explanation of the benefits to “employees” at the bottom of p. 64 until I realized this had to be a typo and meant “employers” – how could these benefit employees, I wondered!).
Probably the most interesting and enlightening discussion in Dicks was the explanation and implications of single sourcing work for technical communicators. I could see that this work could remove the “sense of accomplishment and pride that, for many technical communicators, is practically their only job satisfaction” (69). I was thinking as I read it that creating the framework for all those “chunks” of information could be considered symbolic-analytic work and should contribute greatly to the value of the core mission, and it seems like Dicks did suggest some optimism on that point (69).
The Qualman chapters, as always, made for lively and engaging readings, and along with the supplemental site, are still very relevant. I think he is most astute when discussing case histories such as the 2008 Obama campaign and making the case that Obama wouldn’t be president without social media. Obama had such huge advantage over McCain in terms leveraging social media engagement―3.1 million vs. 614,000 fans on FB; 883,161 vs. 217,811 friends on MySpace, and 113,00 Twitter followers compared to 4,650 (62-63). On the other hand, I would have liked to see more on his site discussing the 2012 election, but I only saw one article from March 29 asking “Who’s winning the social media race – Obama or the Republicans?” It had a lot of numbers, but very little analysis, which was maybe the point.
The site features a lot of other content, and I bookmarked it to stay in touch. My favorite this week is “Jimmy John’s: Serving Up Freaky Fast Tweets,” by Kevin O’Connell. Read it here: http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/09/27/jimmy-johns-serving-up-freaky-fast-tweets/. I’m mulling over how to enhance my “digital voice,” which I’d never even heard of just a few weeks ago…
On the other hand, the subject about which I find Qualman least persuasive, and this has come up in previous chapters, is that the digital world is making it possible for people to live their own lives rather than living vicariously through someone else’s: “It is without question ‘cooler’ to say you are bungee jumping off a remote mountain pass overhang in New Mexico than updating your status with ‘I’m watching the latest adventure reality series’ “(122). Anecdotally, I don’t see that at all. In fact, according to a study last July, “Overall, we here in the U.S. spend roughly 20 percent of our time on personal computers liking, tweeting, pinning, whatever it is we do on Tumblr and other stuff on social media, and 30 percent of our time on our mobile devices doing the same” (Popkin). Now, for all I know that is just replacing the television-watching, time-wasting black hole of the old days, but it doesn’t make me too optimistic about bungee-jumping.
You can get this bungee-jumping simulator from Layernet.com on Amazon for 9.99 and avoid finding the nearest cliff to jump off of, which would be my preference, since I have a rather inordinate fear of heights. Will “simulating” life go out with the brave new Internet world? Qualman optimistically hopes so. (http://www.amazon.com/Layernet-40394ping-Simulator-Jumping-Download/dp/B003YDXF2A)
As usual, I find him most persuasive when analyzing business and marketing strategies of the old versus new media, such as the “Referral Program on Steroids” (129). His example of Amazon’s “network universe” versus the network of one’s preferred social media network was enlightening in showing how the “referral floodgates have been opened” (132). So, I think that is my challenge in becoming “nimble” in my current workplace – how can I open the referral floodgates using social media? And, how will I become nimble enough to enter the symbolic analytic technical communicator workforce of tomorrow (which was actually yesterday)?
References
Popkin, H.S. (4 Dec. 2012). “We spent 230,060 years on social media in one month.” CNBC.com. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100275798
Facebook Friends (Businesses’ Best Friends, too!)
This week, I found myself thinking about my Amazon book purchases after reading Socialnomics: “Death of a Social Schizophrenia.” Quite a bit of interesting material caught my attention, and for this entry, I ended up thinking about social media and its selling power.
Qualman notes that Amazon introduced us to the selling technique of “People who purchased this book also purchased these other ones.” I immediately thought about the times I have skimmed the titles of books brought to my attention in this way after having bought another title. Social media has really transformed the way we receive referrals. Therefore, I was more and more interested as I read Qualman’s description of “Referral Programs on Steroids” and how this holds true in my own experience.
The Amazon model provides to users a list of titles they might want to buy based on other people with similar tastes. Yet as users, we don’t know these other people. In fact, “they are an aggregation of thousands of others who happen to have the same purchasing patterns” (131). They are not our friends or family or close acquaintances; only we might share similar buying habits, and that is the connection. It’s a marketing technique.
Qualman describes social media as taking this referral program “one giant step further” because while social media will continue to offer what the universe enjoys, it allows us a much deeper and closer referral program: our specific network. Within our networks, we have circles of trust. Qualman gives to us the example of a friend who normally reads romance who then refers a sci-fi book. Because we know and trust this friend, we may be much more likely to want to read this book after we read her post proclaiming her love of the book. We buy the book; we have just been sucked into the power of social media to make a purchase because of the referral by a known and trusted source. I have done this before. Have you?
However, I have ignored countless recommendations from Amazon. I am little affected by the note that others (like me) have also purchased these others items. It rarely influences me to make another purchase. I might look (window shop), but have never bought in this fashion. If Amazon found a way to connect my friends and family to my purchases, I might be more easily persuaded to buy. Social media definitely “beefed up” the referral program. The implications of this power for companies and businesses are great, and as Qualman writes, “Well, the referral floodgates have been opened my friends” (132).
One of my most recent purchases influenced by social media did indeed come from my Facebook page. Emily Dickinson is a “friend” of mine, and as a result, I was referred to this collection of her letters. I bought it within a week of reading the post. Thus, social media’s referral program within my network worked! Sale complete on my behalf.
I happened to find another book on Amazon while searching for books on the power of friends: Friendfluence. Of course, my eyes then wandered down to the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section, and I did in fact look at the titles to see the buying patterns of those who bought Friendfluence. The book actually does reference the power of social networks. It might be an interesting read.
Technical Communicators, Prepare for the Future(!)
After several weeks of assigned readings, I think it is safe to say that technology changes and social media will continue to play an important role in pop culture, work life, and politics. The internet and social media are here to stay and will continue to affect our lives, but, just like Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, I don’t think anyone knows exactly what impact they will have in the long run. Although, how will technology changes and social media affect technical communicators, exactly?
- Digital and print texts. Due to increased digital literacy, technical communicators will continue to create texts designed especially for the internet. Technical communicators must be able to design texts for print and hypertexts as long as the internet continues growing in use and accessibility. In the future, technical communicators must master skills such as web design, in order to create effective documentation for users.
- Different product, same user manual. Technical communicators will need to be able to adapt their writings because “products being documented often differ from those that are mass produced” (Dicks, p. 58). With the ability to custom order products to fit the customer’s lifestyle and needs, technical communicators must be willing to adapt the way in which they create user manuals or make them universal without being too vague.
- Does this job come with benefits? Many technical communicators will be “officially unemployed but constantly working. (p. 59). Due to the changing needs of companies, technical communicators’ jobs will be contracted positions in the future. To save money and office space, technical communicators will frequently work from home in the future, and employers will hire them on a temporary basis for special projects so that the company can avoid paying for an employee’s insurance and benefits. Working from home can be a big benefit for employees. According to a USA Today article, employees who work from home tend to be more productive and have a better work and life balance.
- Social media. I knew social media would be important for technical communicators after several of the assigned readings dealt with this topic, but I was still unsure of why so I needed to do some research. Technical communicators will need to continue to embrace social media. An article on InformationWeek explains that social media tears down the wall between the technical communicator and the user. Furthermore, social media will encourage technical communicators to spend less time actually writing and more time curating the best wikis and videos to promote to users. This change will somewhat devalue the role of the technical communicator, but will promote the role of community.
I hope these “tips” help you – I know that I will keep them in mind as I start looking for technical communicator positions!
Cell phones: Freedom of speech or public nuisance?
It was great to read about the use of cell phone technology this week. This was an area where I feel like I was behind in adopting. My husband had a cell phone for about five years (granted it was a very basic Nokia with a 30-minute-a-month plan but a cell phone nonetheless) before I finally got one as well. I think I resisted because I saw people with cell phones who were so dependent on them, even addicted in a way. And it affected their social skills. I remember one time while I was in college at UW-L, I drove “home” for the weekend. I went out with some friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in a long time. One friend in particular, while we sat having drinks, sat her phone on the bar and kept checking it and texting people. She was texting people who she saw on a regular basis – she hadn’t seen me in two months! I did not want to turn into that person.
Baron (2008) talks about this in her articles – cell phone etiquette (specifically in Japan but I think it can be applied to other cultures as well). Japan has created a culture where cell phone use is extremely high, yet manners and etiquette are still strongly in place. Cell phone use is strongly discouraged in public places. Are we, as Americans, just further behind in the evolution of cell phone technology use, or is our culture just “louder” and less concerned with offending others?
Although the Japanese have kept sacred the appropriate use of cell phones in public, they seem to be experiencing other negative effects from increased technology use. Caplan (2005) discusses this with respect to compulsive Internet use and decreased social skills. This is what I felt like I was experiencing with my friend that I hadn’t seen in two months! From Caplan’s study, it seems like a vicious sequence of events:
Photo source: Rott, L. (2013). Graph created in MS Word.
Despite my resistance, I ended up enjoying my cell phone – and, what joy I found with smartphones! I feel like I am much better connected and informed now. I also feel the sense of freedom Ishii (2006) describes in “Implications of Mobility: The Uses of Personal Communication Media in Everyday Life” on pages 347 & 348. I am not tied to a landline phone, I can make calls or send emails from just about anywhere, and I am able to look up just about anything I need to, whenever I need to. For instance, if my husband and I go to dinner and we’re thinking about going to a movie afterwards, I can pull up my Flixster app and we can decide before dessert arrives whether or not to go. (And, yes, I almost always order dessert as I have the BIGGEST sweet tooth. Tiramisu is my favorite.) My phone is not so much a phone (combined, my husband and I use fewer than 200 minutes a month for voice calls), but a mini mobile computer.
I have also felt the loss of freedom Ishii describes. Shortly after I got my first smartphone (the Motorola Droid), I had to travel to Chicago for a conference for work. I had traveled for work before, but it was previously as more of a sales support person and I usually attended the conference with a sales manager or sales director who took care of corresponding with the home office and customers while we were away. However, I had recently been promoted to an account manager and was traveling with someone who was very new to the company so I had more responsibility – in my job function and as a mentor to the other employee. So, I needed to stay in the loop while out of town and set up my phone to access my work email.
This worked great during the conference. I was able to respond to client emails and take care of issues that otherwise may have had to wait until I returned in five days. I know this is very common practice now, but, at the time, this was revolutionary for me.
I kept the work email “hooked up” after the conference ended. That lasted about a month before I said enough was enough. I’d be sitting at home with my husband and I’d hear that tell-tale chime on my phone that differentiated a work email from my personal email. I felt compelled to check it. Finally, I decided I needed to leave work at work. Besides, my company wasn’t paying for my cell phone or data package. Was it really necessary to be THAT accessible?
Now that I’m using social media more lately and connecting with my clients in more online venues, I may be starting to change my mind about accessibility. Maybe.
* * *
P.S. An update for anyone who is wondering about my situation with my cable/Internet provider…so, I posted a complaint on their FB page and had a response in 24 hours. Upon the social media manager’s recommendation, I emailed a formal complaint. Communicating just via email over a period of about six days, I had all of my programming fixed (I was missing 20 channels) without having to upgrade for extra cost, my discounts are still in place and I also had an error on my bill corrected. I did not have to sit on the phone for an hour (which I’ve done before) or talk to a variety of customer service reps (they have different ones for different services and none of them talk to each other very well). Victory! I went back to the company’s FB page and made sure to put a very positive comment out there for them. The power of social media!
“Facebook and social media actually makes you more productive”(1)
Hmmm. That was a very provocative statement to make to those of us always looking for an excuse to be on social media of one sort or another! It is also probably the first time I have ever heard the words “social media” and “productive” in the same sentence. In either case, while the author may be stretching it, it does not hurt to look at how social media can make you more productive. The grocery store example on pages 4-5 of Socailnomics might be a little on the over exaggerated side but there have definitely been times when I have put out a request for help on Facebook and have gotten quick and great responses – especially when looking for help when something goes wrong with my house, car, computer, etc. Referrals from friends for services are some of the best out there, especially when you know and respect the person the information is coming from. While shopping for a prom dress for my daughter last year, she would have me take pictures of her in it. Then she would sit there and goof around on her phone, or so I thought. Little did I know that all her friends were on Twitter commenting on which dress she should pick. I guess a mom’s opinion just doesn’t count anymore! Needless to say, the responses were within a minute of posting so it really did not take any time at all for her to make her decision – a HUGE time saver for me!
I also loved the comment “We no longer search for the news – it finds us” (Qualman, 2009, p. 9). This is how I look at Twitter these days. I am following companies or news sources that I find interesting. As long as I have my feed open, I will get the news as soon as it is posted. If the post sounds interesting, I will click on the link to read the full story. While some might find it distracting, I have learned to filter out what I really don’t want to look at, or I can tune it out altogether when I am focusing on other things. At the same time, when I am able to glance at it, I can easily pick the stories I want to read more about and ignore the rest. When I search through regular websites, I most definitely spend a lot more time trying to find the news I really want to read. I will take the hand picked twitter feeds any day.
If there is anything we can learn from our readings this week it is that the world has been and always will be a changing, dynamic place. I am eternally grateful for any and all forms of technology that have come along in recent years. If a company, or a career/technical field cannot keep up with the changes, then evolution has done its job. Survival of the fittest at its best!
(1) Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.
Phase Five (Not Complete) What’s Next?
As I think about readings this week, I am struck by the phases. Carliner notes, “Over the past 30 years, technology has affected technical communications in profound ways” (29). And indeed I stopped to consider this thought and the profoundness of the past 30 years and the ways in which technology has affected us. For a minute, I just thought about my last 30 years, and then I thought about how many of those years I have been using technology. Then I began to think more in depth about the five phases in this development of technology for technical communication. I ended with questions: what makes one a technical communicator? And what phase most affected me in profound ways? What I found to be true is this (and this will date me): I have really only been fully involved in three of the five phases. The first two were periods of my life that were not necessarily times of my life when I was 1) aware of all the world’s technologies and 2) using them in my daily life was not something I connected to my literacy skills in the sense that I was learning how to become digitally literate.
I was growing up in “The Desktop Revolution”, so Phase Two would be the time I began to become literate in the use of computers. By no means was I a technical communicator during this time, an
d I was not “automating publishing tasks” in any way, shape, or form. I was simply a child and then a teenager in the 80’s and the 90’s. So, yes, I am a child of the eighties, and I did not own a desktop computer during this phase of my life, and now reading about this aspect of that time period made me think quite a bit about the technology changes that were rapidly occurring around me. I did, however, immediately connect to some of the technical aspects that I read. As a matter of fact, I felt a certain sense of nostalgia when I began to read about the first PCs in the early 1980s, which used 5.25 diskettes. I remember the diskette clearly and vividly. I know what it looks like, I remember what they felt like, and I held them in my hands when I was in elementary school. What I could not have told anyone until now is that those disks only held 360,000 bytes of information. Then when I read that “by the end of the 1980s, systems had internal hard drives with up to 50MB of storage capacity,” I began to really connect to the phase of my life that I clearly remember using PCs: the 1990s. 
From Phase Three: The GUI (Graphical User Interfaces) Revolution, I remember mostly this major development mentioned by Carliner: “…the movement of the Internet from a limited-use network by those working in the defense industry and at universities, to a ubiquitous communications network” (37). It was this phase of my life that I was just beginning to feel the omnipresence of the Internet. Wow! I had never seen anything like this world of information before, and now to consider the implications of how this medium affected communication really causes me to pause for a moment and appreciate the enormity of the Internet. I also found it quite interesting to reflect on this idea that the “rise of the browser” also created standards for sharing information. Sharing information during this time period was not the same as it is today. The standards for sharing information continue to evolve as we enter new phases of technological advances. This makes me think of Netiquette rules I share with my students. While these go b
eyond standards for sharing information, they arose from the same concept: a set of standards needed to address working in an online environment, much to do with sharing information. Furthermore, even the idea that some organizations did not necessarily want to download the plugins needed to run video and sound at the time intrigued me because now we function in a world where, I find, plugins are accepted as a natural part of the system. There might be some reluctance to download them, but for the most part, anyone using a computer or technological device knows that plugins are part of the deal.
From Phase Four: Web 1.0 came the power of the Internet and the World Wide Web among other things. I fully remember exploring the WWW, and now reading from the perspective of how it profoundly affected the world of technical communication, I am struck by how rapidly people were changing with the technology. Email made its emergence as the primary means of interpersonal communication, and it continues to thrive in the business world and, for me, the educational arena. But now I cannot remember exactly where I read it (maybe from last week’s readings), it seems that more and more often other emerging methods of communication are becoming the mode for newer generations, such as texts, tweets, and live chats. When I think about my own email communications, they have taken over much of my world, and yet, I long for good ol’ face-to-face talking. I have a love-hate relationship with email these days. I love communicating, but sometimes I would rather just pick up the phone or visit the person. Another aspect of this phase that I can easily connect to is the ability to display ever-changing content and increased capability to display both audio and visual content. When I think about how and when I first began using the Internet, I was in awe of the content available, and now thinking about how the technical aspect of it all was developed, I have a greater appreciation. I simply learned then that a hyperlink was a clickable link, and navigation bar was at the top or side of a page. I now know that those features were by design. The interface was changing and becoming what it is like today while I was learning to use the Internet and explore the Web. I could not have told you what HTML code was when I was living in this phase, but I can now. I must select to work in HTML or not in most messages I compose and most assessments I create. Before I would not have had a clue what that meant.
Finally, Phase Five: Web 2.0 is the time of my life I most connect to my technical communication skills. I was fresh out of college in 2001, and I had my first professional job at my current institution, but I was only part-time then. I began working and using a computer daily at work. As I progressed in my career, I became more and more responsible for using technology to communicate with students, staff, faculty, and others. In my personal life, I heard about MySpace, although I did not get it at first….I thought, “What the heck is MySpace?” And of course, I was drawn to social media as a form of communication. Back at work, I was communicating via techn
ology every day, and eventually I learned to use our Learning Management Content System and Learning Management System. And at another point, I was in charge of creating a Writing Center webpage with our college web developer, so I would say I was the content provider for the web page. Honestly, I did not know how to develop web content; I had to learn to do so. I also became familiar with the term Web 2.0 tools much later when I began taking classes in E-Learning and Online Teaching. This phase for me really extended from the mid-2000s into my more recent years. Web 2.0 tools really became present in my life when I was working on my graduate classes here at UW for that program.
On a final note, from Phase Five of my life and technology for technical communication came the blog and the wiki. I am a bit embarrassed to admit I did not know that wiki originates from a Hawaiian word for fast, but now I do. And I always think of Wikipedia first when I hear or read wiki. This makes me find a way to connect to Qualman here. He notes that “Wiki
pedia proves the value of collaboration on a global basis (24). I find that I have spent many phases of my life in collaboration, and more and more, this collaboration involves massive use of technology. For instance, I am now involved in the creation of a MOOC for my college; this is a recent project I have been asked to join. I consider myself a novice, and I am learning more and more as I go. I am not sure I am a proponent of the MOOC, but I am forging ahead with the project in an effort to understand the MOOC and its educational value for varying audiences and populations. I have only just begun, but I can say that from the blog to the wiki to the MOOC, I am constantly moving into a new phase of my technical communication. I have lived through a wiki-world in a sense that everything seems to be moving so fast. Each time I turn around, a new phase is starting somewhere. It just keeps moving, and somehow I keep finding myself blogging or wiki-ing away. BTW, my wiki experience is limited. Yet again, another phase that I must explore more fully.
References
Carliner, S. (2010). Computers and technical communication in the 21st century. In Rachel Spilka (Ed.) Digital Literacy for Technical Communication. New York: Routledge.
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics. Hoboken, New Jersey- John Wiley and Sons.
Social Media…. I just don’t get it….Part 2
While I appreciated the history of technical communication and technical communicators, I just didn’t connect to the reading as much as I did with the Socialnomics reading. I was reading while watching my daughters’ swim class and just went “Huh…That’s me in one sentence.”
It was specifically the comment: “Why do I care?” and the response because you don’t understand. I just don’t get it. (I admitted this last week, see my blog post here.) I go on Facebook and look at twitter, but I don’t post or tweet anything…Well, not nothing, but rarely anything. The New York Time posted an article in Sept 2008 about this in an article called “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy”. This was reviewed in a blog by Lightspeed Venture Partners and describes the phenomenon of posting and reading and keeping up with status updates as “Ambient Awareness”.
“People are willing to keep open running diaries as a way to stay connected because their ultimate desire it to feel accepted.” This comment from Socialnomics really hit home with me. I was not part of the “popular” crowd in high school and didn’t really relate to anyone in my short after high-school career. I believe this leads me to want to be accepted by my peers, but not really willing to put myself out there.
This whole wanting to be accepted thing has even followed me to UW-Stout. I love online learning because I can do things at my own pace and, for the most part, in my own time, but when it comes to discussions (and now blogs), I always feel like what I am trying to relate is not getting through. This relates to the professor communications as well, specifically grades. I had a professor last semester that said “If you are a Grade-obsessed student…”, I replied that I was, but really I just wanted to make sure that my work was acceptable and what was expected.
This maybe another reason that I hesitate about being more active in Social Media is a little bit about privacy. When you are constantly posting about what you are doing, who you are with, how you are feeling, you are really letting down the wall of privacy. Everyone can read that and see into you and your soul (to a point). I’m going to really date myself here….When I was in high school, we had car phones, not cell phones. the phones were mounted inside the car and if you were lucky, it was a portable phone that came in a case larger than most women’s purses. We did have the money to afford one of those, so I got a pager. When I gave the number to my Grandma, she said she would never use it. “You shouldn’t have to be that accessible to anyone.” is what she told me. it kind of sticks to me it this day, even as I know have a cell phone that fits in my pocket. She never did make it to this era of technology, but wonder what she would think about it now.
If I embrace the concept of Ambient Awareness and make the assumption people do care and want to know what I am up to, maybe I need to start posting more updates about what I am doing and where I am going. I probably won’t post every day that I’m going to work or going home, but there are things that I think about sharing, but don’t because I feel that people just don’t care. But it turns out they probably do and I just don’t get it.
Technical Communication is a-Changin
In the Introduction of Rachel Spilka’s Digital Literacy for Technical Communication, she poses three questions about how the field of technical communication is responding to and evolving with digital technology that the anthology sets out to answer. She sheds some light on what being a technical communicator has meant in the past, what it means today, and what it might mean in the future.
Spilka argues that traditionally technical communicators have acted more as individual contributors than as contributing members to a larger team effort but that technology has transformed the field into one which requires us to take on new and broader roles and responsibilities and work more definitively in the context of a team.
I experience this daily in the workplace, although until reading this chapter I had no idea whether this was typical. My main responsibility is to write user documentation for my company’s web based software applications, but I also perform the roles of user advocate, user experience and application design consultant, customer support representative, and editor for anything that the outside world might see. I work directly with the development team, and I contribute in ways that definitely go beyond technical writing.
One of Spilka’s main themes is that we as technical communicators need to be willing to evolve with our field as new technology emerges if we want to stay relevant. I tend to agree with her, but I have encountered somewhat the opposite problem; the users of my company’s software are mostly of an older demographic and seem somewhat resistant to receiving technical communication digitally. I would like to provide our users with interactive web documentation and instructional videos, but they seem to prefer traditional printed user manuals.
Currently, I am using Doc-to-Help, a documentation publishing software that allows the writer to author in Microsoft Word and then apply styles to create web based documentation and print documentation. I think that interactive web based documentation provides an excellent opportunity to serve the users with relevant information in a clear and easily navigable way, but I am struggling with the fact that although I may not need to evolve much to arrive where technical communication is today, many of my users are not there yet. I need to find a way to embrace the emerging technology and changes in the technical communication field while still catering to my user-base and serving them in a way that they find accessible.
In Erik Qualman’s chapter of Socialnomics “Word of Mouth goes World of Mouth,” he provides many examples of how social media and other technology is changing our daily routines from how we amuse ourselves while waiting in line at the supermarket to where we look for world news and updates on our friends’ whereabouts and activities.
I have heard many people echo the “who cares what I am doing?” sentiment about social media, but often in the same conversations, these people express the desire for information about other people that they could easily obtain via social media. I am connected to my phone and computer constantly, and I am on board with Qualman’s arguments about why social media is useful and how it helps us to fulfill the need to communicate with others and keep apprised of their updates; however, I wouldn’t necessarily agree that social media makes me more productive. I think there are likely times when social media saves me time, but I also think there are many more times when I just fritter away valuable time looking through pictures posted by people I really don’t care about simply because they popped up in my newsfeed.
I found Qualman’s JetBlue Twitter example to be a perfect illustration of a situation in which social media is more effective than traditional means of communication. Qualman and his wife were stranded in the Austin, Texas airport when their flight (and all flights for four days) were cancelled due to extreme weather. They needed to get to Boston as soon as possible and tweeted about their situation asking for help from JetBlue. Although JetBlue’s social media customer service was overwhelmed that day, another traveller was able to respond to Qualman and his wife and help them to develop an immediate and efficient course of action that got them a flight home home rather than a frustrating cycle of phone calls that may or may not have have gotten them home. This, I think, is social media at its best.
Changes in an evergrowing sea of information
Spilka describes the change in the role of Technical Communicators from the 1970’s to the 1980’s. They originally created complex technical manuals for trained professionals, but their role changed to creating less complex documentation for novice users who less likely to develop strong computer skills. The technical writing designation also changed to Information Developer. These developers brought about more user-centered communication as well as increased system testing and design to reduce or eliminate experience level issues. This greater focus on system usability, design, and function made it much easier for users and reduced some of the need for complex documentation. The role of Technical Communicators changed again in the 1990’s. They continued to work in groups to develop documentation for users, but they also worked at the client’s location to document the specific hardware and system needs of the client. These role changes were essential due to the changing technology and information climate, but I think the increased focus toward usability testing was very important to the development of technical communication as a career and a discipline.
There were two major changes that occurred between the technical writers of the 1970’s and the 1990’s. The first involved an increase in the use of computers involved in the technical writing process. Early writers to create their drafts, but the final content would be entered into the printing software by designated people. Writers began to use computers more and more over time in the creation of technical documentation. The second change was a shift from print media to digital published media. Previously, most technical documentation was created for a printed paper format. Over time, documentation has shifted to digital based, either in PDF form, or in an HTML based format.
Qualman’s quote contrasting traditional broadcast with the internet was very interesting to me. He is quite correct with his statement. Millions of viewers tune in every Monday and Tuesday to watch The Voice, and each viewer receives the same show at the same time. Broadcast provides a blanket experience for viewers and hopes that the majority of viewers enjoy the experience.
The internet is very different from that. Millions of individuals go on the internet to a site like Facebook, but they each have a slightly different experience, based on their friends and the content they have liked in the past. Even the ads on the side of the page are different based on their current or previous browsing history. After they leave Facebook, there are a near limitless number of other sites they can visit and explore. Often times, a person can flip through the channels and find “nothing on”, but no one can make the same claim about the internet. There is always something to read or watch, but the user has to search for it.
Search engines are great for searching far and wide for information, but sometimes it is difficult to cast a broad enough net to catch what you are looking for without bringing in a lot of things you don’t want. The evolution of language can actually make things more difficult to find, because slang terminology can result in a word meaning two very different things. It also helps to know the correct name for what you are searching for. Is some cases, you may need both to locate what you are actually looking for. I’ve recently started considering building a small boat. There are an absurd amount of boat plans and pictures of homemade wooden boats on the internet, but finding just the right one has proven to be somewhat frustrating. I know what I want to find, I believe it is an Asian inspired small fishing boat, but I’m having trouble finding out what that type of boat would be named or where to find the plans for it. So far my results have yielded a lot of the same types, so I know that I will need to try a different approach. I may get to the point where I take what I know and use social media to try to fill in the rest. I have a couple friends that have also done boat building research, a few that have traveled to and lived in Korea, China, and Japan, and others that just seem to know a lot of random things. If I can’t find it on my own, I may need to post my question on Facebook and poll the audience.
Qualman also mentions that Google has implemented more interactive tools to use when searching that allow users to vote up or down search results. I was unaware of this feature, but I plan to use it in the future when I am presented with a link to something that makes no sense based on my search terms. I will also use it if I finally find what I am looking for on search page 3.
A Late Adopter Explores Tissue Paper and More
Last week, while everyone else was blogging about the assigned readings, I was blogging about the previous week’s readings, and I think you could consider this metaphorical for my “late adopter” status. In any case, I’ll be incorporating some of last week’s readings to catch up.
But first, I will describe my foray into toilet paper. I had just read Chapter One in Socianomics by Erik Qualman, who suggests that people who ask “Who Cares about What You Are Doing?” usually do so because they are frustrated because they don’t understand what social media is about (3). I realized that even though I don’t want to admit it, that pretty much describes me.
So, just as I was done reading, I walked through the living room where my husband was watching a movie, and a commercial for Cottonelle came on where a woman with a Bristish accent was talking to people about their “bums” and getting them to try Cottonelle tissue. At the end, she urges the viewers to “visit us on Facebook.” So, rather than scratch my head and puzzle over the idea that anyone would proactively visit a toilet paper FB page, I decided to do just that. If it’s true that I don’t understand the attraction of social media, then I think I better start learning if I want to someday call myself a technical communicator.
So, the first thing I noticed truly floored me―apparently 325,812 people “like” the Cottonelle FB page and what’s more mind boggling is that at that moment, 2,167 people were “talking” about it. My first reaction was that these numbers paint a less rosy picture than Qualman does when he says that social media is helping people assess their lives and use their time more productively (50-52). But I didn’t come to quarrel, I came to learn.
Other things happening on the Cottonelle FB page: coupons, tasteful jokes and some less than tasteful, conversations about “bums,” and Cherry, the British narrator, answering questions from people that seem rather fake to me (but who knows?). There are also photos of the Cottonelle toilet paper fashion contest where women are wearing their toilet paper creations. I chose not to “like” the page, despite its attractive promise to send feeds to my FB page if I did. My life is too full as it is.
The Cottonelle Fashion Contest is, apparently, a hit.
Granted, this may not be the best example to sample in my quest to understand social media, so I will keep an open mind and, in fact, I’d love some suggestions from readers about fun social media places to visit.
So, I wasn’t convinced by everything Qualman offered but much of what he had to say about the importance of adopting new business models seems very persuasive. In the “old days” (maybe around the mid-2000’s) I remember being frustrated by the number of mainstream news services that forced people to subscribe, so I’ve used alternate, free sources ever since. Today, I did a little sampling and I see that now The New York Times, L.A. Times, Vanity Fair, and Time allow free access to their content, so a lot of people have probably recognized the new business model since Qualman’s book was published in 2009.
Many people engaged the question of online dating and companies’ efforts to become quite nimble in responding to complaints last week, so I won’t delve into that, but the one other concept I wanted to mention was Qualman’s explanation of the “multiplier effect” of social media (41). I probably knew that intuitively, but to have it spelled out that way was enlightening. Twenty years ago, I would explain to staff the notion that when a customer is unhappy, he/she tells 11 people, and those people tell 11 people. What a difference a couple of decades has made.
I found the history of the development of computer technology pretty interesting in Digital Literacy (edited by Rachel Spilka) mostly because it was going on under my nose without me ever realizing it most of the time. I don’t actually remember where or how I first started using Windows but I think it just occurred to me as I was reading how much it changed my ease of use: “Meanwhile, Microsoft, which had worked with IBM to develop the original operating system for the PC and, by version 3.1 of Windows, what was once a minor add-on (to make DOS appear like a GUI) became a widely used GUI product” (36). I have some vague memories of typing in DOS commands prior to that, so Windows was a whole new (and easier) ball game for me.
I became much more aware of technology changes around the late 90’s, and that was because I was doing some public relations writing and working more closely with graphic designers. Most recently our university created a new website and adopted a content management system (Drupal), so I will be able to get some experience using it and publishing info for our website. I got a greater sense of urgency about leaving my Internet footprint after reading Jack Molisani’s “Is Social Networking for You?” because he suggests that people with no Internet footprint will certainly not be taken seriously as a technical communicator candidate (12-13). At the moment, the main thing you will get if you google “Evelyn Martens” is a bunch of photos and articles about a famous Canadian murder trial of Evelyn Martens (not me).
I found the other two articles from last week’s reading enlightening as well. I had no idea there was so much history or so many SNS around the world until I read ”Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship” by boyd and Ellison. I couldn’t believe the number of niche communities that I’d never heard of, such as Ryze, Tribe.net, Cyworld, Hi5, BlackPlanet, Six Degrees, just to name a few. Of course, I was particularly surprised that there are SNS for dogs and cats, “although their owners must manage their profiles” (214). I’m glad they cleared that up. Probably the most interesting example to me was the case of Friendster because of the role the “fans”/”friends” played in both the rise and fall of the company.
It would be novel for me to start a a paragraph with something other than “I never knew,” but I’m afraid that’s still the case with “Always On” by Naomi Baron. I never knew there was so much material for psychologists and sociologists in studying IM “away” behavior or “presentation of self,” though it certainly makes sense upon reflection. What probably struck me most in this reading was the sheer logistical undertaking of collecting and logging millions of messages to study social networking behavior. I also noticed that at the time of the writing of the article, only college students had access, so I’m thinking the numbers may have increased dramatically since then.
So, in conclusion, my take away from this and last week’s readings is that I am going to start checking my FB page at least once a day and try to monitor how much time I’m spending and what I’m doing while there in my own mini-study of my behavior. This will probably not feel very authentic because I’m starting off with the notion that “I’m using FB to see how I’m using FB,” but I’m thinking I may enjoy it more by looking at FB as part of my homework.
References
Baron, N. (2008). Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boyd, d. and Ellison, N. (2008), Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication 13, pp. 210-230.
Carliner, S. (2010). “Computers and technical communication in the 21st century.” In Rachel Spilka (Ed.)
Digital Literacy for Technical Communication. New York: Routledge.
Molisani, J. “Is social networking for you?” Intercom. Society of Technical Communicators. Retrieved
from www.STC.com.
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
The evolution of the web and user experience
It’s interesting to read about the evolution of computers and the web that was in the Digital Literacy for Technical Communication reading. I think we forget with the modern technologies we have and how fast paced our lives have become that we used to have bulky desktop computers that allowed us to check email via dial up, and had to read a printed instruction manual instead of Googling something and finding a YouTube video on it. An example of this is when I was trying to figure out how to change the air filter in my car. I took my laptop out to my car and followed along to a YouTube video of someone doing it. It’s hard to believe the Internet wasn’t always a thing and wasn’t super fast, just a few years ago. Now it seems like we rely on the web for everything.
http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/1848-244223
This is why user experience is so big today. Companies spend a lot of money and are constantly working on their website to make it inviting and customer friendly. If people can’t find anything on your site or don’t find it appealing, they’ll go to another site they do find easier to use. The web competition is huge. I think this is why we’ve seen an evolution of graphics and images on the web. For example, when people are shopping on the web they want to be able to see a zoomed in image of the item they’re looking to buy so they can see the quality, color, material, etc. Take the image below for example, who really wants to spend time on this site to do anything?
http://www.noclipmode.com/2011/02/18/why-do-all-restaurant-websites-suck-so-much/
I had to laugh when I read in the section in the Qualman reading on who cares what I’m doing? I think that often when something happens in my life. I think who cares, why do they want to know? But social media is a way to keep in touch. So while people might not care if I went to Starbucks today, they care that you had a nice dinner with your family to celebrate something. I also liked the point of using social media to kill time. I find anytime I have to wait somewhere I use my phone to pass the time. I noticed even while waiting for a table at a restaurant, parents will have their kids watching TV on a tablet to keep them busy.
We’ve become such a digital world. I’ve seen that in my time as a technical writer. We had to transition from sending printed documentation to building an online knowledge base. People expect to be able to use the Internet to find what they want, whenever they want it.
How does it feel to be a Jack of all trades?
Evolution. Paradigm shift. Keeping up. Catching up. Transformation.
These are the key themes that jumped out at me from this week’s readings. What do they all mean for us as technical communication professionals? They mean that we are adaptable. Or, we try to be, anyway! I know many of us have expressed that we feel we are “sufficient” with newer technologies, like social media, but not experts. I know I definitely have felt like I can barely keep up. Every day there’s a new app or new website to check out, and a billion new Facebook posts and Tweets to read. After the readings this week, though, I am starting to feel a little better because I think our profession has gone through a huge change, especially in the last decade or so. And, as a result, it is one of the most diverse, multi-disciplined professions out there. Before I explain further what I mean, let me tell a little story to help set the stage…
When I was a senior in high school, I was all set to graduate mid-year. I had all of my required credits and I was ready to get out of the small town I had called home for 18 years and move onto bigger and better things. My high school guidance counselor convinced me to enroll in a couple of classes at the local two-year college so that I would technically still be in high school but would be able to get away a few afternoons a week by going to classes at the college. I ended up taking a Visual Basic programming class. Very challenging, but also very rewarding. In fact, after I graduated high school, I fully intended to go into something technology-related. Upon enrolling at UW-La Crosse, I was a computer science major. Well, that lasted all of two minutes when I realized how much calculus and math I would have to take. Yuck.
So, I ended up majoring in communication studies as I felt like I was “good with people” and had decent writing and speaking skills. At the time, I thought it was at the opposite end of the spectrum from computer science. What I didn’t realize, until just recently, is that a communications degree actually calls upon multiple disciplines, including technology, so it was the best of both worlds. And this continues to be the case many years later, more than ever. Like we read in Chapter 1 from Spilka (2010), traditional job titles of “writers” or “editors” have evolved into “software engineers” because the advent of technology required that the disciplines meld together (p. 24, Table 1.1).
This blending of disciplines – communications, writing, editing, designing, technology, and content management – has meant that we have to be a Jack of all trades. We’ve had to take on more responsibilities, learn new methodologies and technologies, consider new audiences and even reinvent our craft at times. Here are the principal areas where I think we’ve had to adapt and grow:
- We’ve had to become better communicators and relationship managers.
- Due to fewer face-to-face interactions, we have had to learn different ways to communicate and forge relationships. For example, my clients are scattered throughout the entire country. I do not make in-person visits, so all of my interactions are via phone, email or webinars. Despite this, I have developed some incredible, loyal relationships because I’ve learned how to use these different communication mediums to my advantage.
- The next generation relies more heavily on technology, many forms of which we are not as familiar with. This forces us to go outside our comfort zone in order to learn ways to reach this different type of audience.
- We’ve had to expand our toolboxes.
- First, we’ve had to learn new devices and various options AMONG those devices – computers (PC vs. Mac) and then laptops; cell phones and then smartphones (Droid vs. Apple); there have also been pagers, tablets, digital cameras, MP3 players, and other electronic devices.
- Second, there are so many different types of software and programs we’ve had to learn – PowerPoint, Publisher, Flash, WordPress, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, etc.
- Third, there’s the Internet and all of the online capabilities – search engines, social media, social networking, discussion boards, blogs, wikis.
- Last, there are so many different options available for crafting our technical communications. I’m referring to fonts, graphics & images, design layouts, software options, videos, color schemes, hyperlinks, content & language. Because of this…
- We’ve had to become better writers/designers/communicators.
- In addition to understanding all of the tools available to us for creating our work, we have to be aware of all the new routes available for delivering our messages. We have to be aware of them and know which ones to use, and when to use them. There are traditional forms like print documents, but now there’s also texting, email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, YouTube and blogs. As described by Baron (2008), do we use asynchronous or synchronous routes of communication? (p. 14). Meaning, do we need them to see the information immediately, in real time, or can it wait until they open the message? Also, are we communicating one-on-one, or do we need to send a message to a large audience.
- Finally, we’ve had to become better information gatherers.
- With so many resources available – blogs, wikis, traditional websites and news sources – we have to be selective and know how to recognize credible sources.
There was a question raised at a 2007 technical writing conference: “What if technical communication were to merge into other disciplines and lose its identity as a field?” (Spilka, 2010, p. 5).
I think, we, as technical communicators, only make ourselves more valuable by being multi-disciplined. Being well-versed and knowledgeable in many areas – having a broad digital literacy – gives us more opportunities to work in different fields. Being too specialized makes you obsolete!
Photo source: Rott, L. (2013). Toolbox image created in SnagIt.
My father, technical communication, hospitals, and my grandfather – What do they have in common?
As someone who is not currently working in the field of technical communication, I enjoyed the introduction of 21st Century Theory and Practice and the chapter by Saul Carliner. I enjoyed reading about the changes of the field that I aspire to join in the near future.
The field of technical communication has evolved so much during the past 25 years, because technical communication is such a computer-driven field. As I read through Chapter 1, I made a mental comparison of my father’s career path. The chapter reminded me of my father’s job, which I wrote about in my technology literacy narrative during the first week of class. A major influence on my technological upbringing, he started his job in 1986 with the job title of Data Processing Manager in one person department at a small school district in south central Kansas. Now in 2013, his job title is Director of Information Technology and he manages over 15 full-time employees who report to him on a daily basis. The reason his job changed, like technical communication, is because it had no choice. You can’t keep going to middle school if you have been promoted to 9th grade. The same is true for technology. You can’t keep using an outdated system when everyone else moves to the more advanced system. The only way technical communication could survive was to embrace every change it ever faced.
GHX company logo from http://www.originbranding.com
To connect the chapter with the introduction of the book, the opening page states only some 2% of hospitals have made the transition to digital (p. 1). I think it is unfair and unrealistic to think that gigantic operations, such as hospitals, can suddenly make the leap from paper to paperless in a matter of years. They were never expected to become digital until recently, unlike technical communication, so they did not take the technology tip and transition gradually. Hospitals have been doing business just like normal. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think hospitals becoming paperless will be benefit the hospitals, insurance companies, and patients, I just don’t see it happening in the immediate future. According to Forbes in January 2013, only 1.8% of hospitals have an electronic record system in place. Many hospitals, according the article, are not ready and are asking for more time, despite the amount of money they have received to assist in their transition from paper to paperless. I worked at a very large hospital in the accounting department part-time while I was in college. The reason I got the job, in fact, was to help transition their invoice system to a streamlined digital process. The hospital was trying to use a new system, called GHX, and there were so many hiccups with the system that they extended my employment by an additional year.
I compare it to teaching my 80-year old grandfather to set up an email account and get a cellphone. It took YEARS for my family to convince him to set up an email account and use a cellphone. After he finally did, it took quite a while for him to be able to use his new technology correctly. Asking people to change from one habit to another, especially when they have been doing things the same for a long time, is unrealistic and requires a great deal of time.
To conclude, I am not surprised that technical communication has made so many leaps in the digital age. Such changes and adjustments are necessary for the continuation of the field. I hope to learn more about the programs and software I will be using when I start working in a technical communication field, but who knows if they will even be the same by that time!
Social Media=Today’s Relationship Cultivator
Social media has changed the world of relationships, both in personal and business relationships. I was struck by two very important concepts: the sphere of influence (something I seem to be hearing about often lately) and the analogy of courtship and dating. The moment I read these ideas in Socialnomics Chapters Two and Three: Social Media=Preventative Behavior and Social Media=Braggadocian Behavior, I stopped and thought about the impact of social media, and I was indeed struck by thoughts about the scope of influence and impact of social media in our times…just like I am struck by the fact that spell check does not even recognize the words “socialnomics” and “braggadocian” as part of today’s word base. Social media has changed the world of relationships and, furthermore, the world of language.
Before I delve deeper into the dating and courtship analogy, it would be beneficial to also bring to attention some key points of Chapter Two; how does social media cause preventative behavior and why is that so relevant to this idea of cultivating relationships or perhaps preserving our own relationships in some way?
I was immediately interested in this idea of “the sphere of influence,” and as noted, “The difference with social media is the speed and ease in which this [responding to customer unhappiness] occurs as well as the sphere of influence.” Qualman introduces us to this concept in relation to how businesses will adapt their behaviors in response to customer dissatisfaction and frustration. Now companies assign employees to find and handle customer complaints via social media. In essence, they seek and find the problem to avoid losing a customer, or better yet, to prevent that customer from posting a video or status that could potentially go “viral” and affect future customer base growth.
I was especially intrigued when I read the section about Comcast, a nemesis of mine. I have had plenty a battle with Comcast, and had I known that I should simply post a rant on Facebook or post a YouTube video to get someone to contact me instead of waiting endless hours on the phone and getting frustrated, I might have done so, but it never occurred to me to complain via social networking. If I knew that the company might reach to me to repair a broken relationship because I might spread bad press to others in my sphere of influence (or followers,) I might have tried it just to see if it worked. I found that Comcast cares (see ComcastCares article). I am still in disbelief that a Comcast member would seek me out when I have a problem. I am not sure I believe this yet. I am left wondering if it would still happen today or if Comcast has grown too big to care since Socialnomics was published in 2009. Should I try it the next time I want to “break up” with Comcast and see if my date comes calling?
Back to the sphere. Social media is much about followers, and the more followers one has, the more influence one might have on those followers. I can see how companies must be in tune with their customers’ use of social media. Company behavior definitely changes in light of this new method of sharing positive or negative feedback.
Those same followers and members of our social media sites can also “see” and read our every move. Social media does force preventative behaviors beyond just companies altering how they treat their customers…as described in Chapter Two, students, teachers, parents, and more must be aware of what is placed “out there” for the world to view. Social networks are “powerful enough to cause an adjustment in personal and corporate behavior on a macro level.” Our relationships have certainly changed in this way. What do we want to share? What ghosts do we want flying out of our closets? We must know and realize what could come back to haunt us now that social media has taken over.
Next, I was immediately drawn into Chapter Three’s “Are You on Facebook?” Is the New “Can I Get Your Phone Number?” section. Wow! Talk about the evolution of dance! How about the evolution of dating? And taking this courtship idea into the world of business makes sense, too.
I was entertained by the idea that we can become somewhat creepy if we present to people that we already “know” them on a first date because we have already “Facebooked” him or her. Qualman notes that the first date could actually feel more like a fourth date now that we do not have to “court” each other because Facebook offers that preliminary information we want before we even get to the dating part. This is not how I grew up dating. I did not Google anyone or Facebook anyone or Tweet anyone while I was dating. It is weird to me to think that might be the norm now for courtship….I guess I am a true face-to-face romantic at heart…but if I could have Googled some of my former dates, I probably would have avoided one or two of them totally.
I really enjoyed this analogy in terms of dating and businesses. Many businesses try to suck customers into their homepage via social media. They become the creepy dates. Qualman writes, “It’s analogous to meeting a pretty girl in a bar and asking if she would like a drink. When she responds, ‘yes,’ rather than ordering her drink from the bartender, you grab her and rush her into your car and drive back to your place; because after all, you have beer in your fridge. This is not a sound courtship strategy….” Now that would be creepy… “Hi, may I buy you a drink? Okay, come get in my car and come to my house.” Thanks, but no thanks! I am not really into jumping into cars with strangers.
I really see that both personal and business relationships have been so very affected by social media, and part of me longs for simpler days with less technology involved in our relationships, but these two chapters really had me thinking about all of this…and I am just so not socially connected compared to younger generations growing up in a world with constant status updates and posts and videos and tweets and all of it. I can only handle so much information streaming into my life from friends and family. I am married, so I get actual updates in person from my husband…no real courtship going on there anymore (just good ol’ husband and wife conversation).
There was so much in these two chapters that I am taking with me. Two more key points that really grabbed my attention from Chapter Three included Assess Your Life Every Minute and The Next Generation Can’t Speak. Social media makes me feel like I must assess my life every minute (and the reading here supported this feeling), but I am so involved in working, schoolwork, and taking care of my family that I cannot keep up with my own social media. I don’t. I am lucky if I check Facebook more than twice a week; it becomes a weekend activity most of the time. Now with my Smartphone, I can do it more easily, but, honestly, I do not want to read constant status updates that feel superfluous to me at times, never mind trying to post the tasks and routine activities of my days and nights. Why post this: “I am so tired I could just fall over right now”? Do my family and friends need to know this? Will I even remember the context of that post long days from now? Probably not. But most of my friends and some family members post these updates multiple times a day. I find much of the “all about me, me, me” braggadocian behavior present in the status updates of my younger cousins (all young adults in college at this time.) I love them just the same; they have less complicated lives than I do, so I even envy their ability to find importance in posting the fact they are going to get a coffee from Starbucks (I end up thinking: wouldn’t that be nice right now?
I did, however, think about how social media allows me to go back and review life’s minutes (I LOVE this idea.) When I do post, they are definitely the moments I want to capture. I love the idea of somehow scrapbooking my year in status updates…I am sure there is an app for that somewhere.
Finally, it is difficult for me to spend much time writing about how the next generation cannot speak because I am teaching them daily. I see it in every form of communication I have with them, and my instinct is to try to help communication then and now meet in the middle somehow. The entire section from the book had me thinking about how to address their needs in every communication arena from chat to email to personal face-to-face interactions. And I could not believe that public speaking is feared more than death these days….Whoa! A fear greater than death…that is a giant fear, and I can actually sympathize because I was secretly feeling better about myself when I read that fact. Put me in an auditorium or room of more than 30 students (whom I can control) and I am “outta” there.
And so, I know two very important things right now: no one is viewing my social media sites in an effort to date me (just not happening). Furthermore, now that I know some businesses might treat people like dates that they wish to continue seeing and courting, I am going to think about how this impacts daily living and business relationships of all sorts. As my grandmother would say if she were here, “Interesting, very interesting.”
P.S. – My grandmother never Facebooked anyone in her entire life, and part of me wishes I had her life in status updates, so I could keep them forever as an example of real “courtship”. She and my grandfather would have had the best status updates…I can “hear” them now!
References:
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
My own social network footprint
I have been using Social Media “forever”, or so it seems, so my curiosity got the better of me. How long have I actually been using different forms of Social Media?
Baron, N. (2008) goes in depth into AOL and it’s instant messaging service, AIM, this is one area I skipped over entirely. I am not really sure why except I think the comment from Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007) “While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online” (p. 214) fits me to a tee. I was definitely one of the earlier adopters of anything Internet related among my group of friends. Many of them found chatting to be more intrusive than productive. My kids were also still pretty young when AIM and other IM services first came out so I did not have much of it going on in my household at all.
I do remember signing up for My Space as one of my first attempts at entering social media, so, down in my archives of password and user names I dug up my My Space account info to see if it was still active. Sure enough, it is. But since My Space has changed and transformed so much since I last visited it, any history of things I have done on there is long gone (although, I am pretty sure I did absolutely nothing on it anyway).
Facebook, which I joined on October 22, 2007, is the one I participate in the most and have the largest circle of friends also participating. I definitely go through phases of more or less activity but I absolutely love keeping up with old friends. I also am “friends” with my kids and while I don’t comment on their pages (or I will get the “don’t be creepy” lecture), I have pulled off and saved so many images I never would have seen without Facebook. I also like to see what they are doing every now and then. Interestingly, all three of them use it far less than I do. This is also about the only site I do any sort of active chatting on, again, primarily because I have the largest circle of friends on this site.
Twitter has been a friend and a nemesis for me! I posted my first tweet in March of 2009 but I probably hawked the site for at least a year before I understood it well enough to participate. At that time I was in real estate and was trying to find a way to make connections with people I wouldn’t normally connect with. For this reason, I would have to disagree with Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007): “While networking is possible on these sites, it is not the primary practice on many of them, nor is it what differentiates them from other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC)” (p. 211). Twitter is one of the Social Media sties that I think is used for actually networking quite a bit (LinkedIn would be the most active networking site). With it’s more “open” concept of followers instead of friends, you can interact with anyone you want to , not just those that allow you to. Where I struggle with Twitter is you really need to be a prolific poster and SME if you want to actually meet and engage with new people. It was too much of a time suck to make it work for me! I still use Twitter as a sort of real-time news site. My daughter uses Twitter more than Facebook and I love that I can snoop without her even knowing!
Finally, I am also on LinkedIn (ok – I really need to change that profile picture – it is a little outdated!). Until recently, I really did not go on LinkedIn very much but I am currently networking and doing research for a new career so I am on it almost every night. I do not use this as a social medial platform but rather strictly as a job hunt and networking site. I also have found the “Interests” and “Channels” options which allow you to read posts from other experts. I find this extremely useful in my job hunt.
While I thought some of the readings were a little outdated, I do think there was some valuable information to be had about habits of those who use social media. At the very least it gives a great historical background to some of the beginnings of social media. Probably my favorite part was reading about Bill Tilly and how this 83 yr old not only uses social media, but uses it to improve his way of life by looking back on his posts and changing his habits. I think we can all use a little but of Bill Tilly in us! (Qualman, 2009, p. 51)
References:
Baron, N. (2008). Always On, Language in an Online and Mobile World. New York, Oxford University.
Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11.
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Customer Service via Social Media: on Tow Trucks and Ravioli
Social Media has been an important part of my reality since high school. My social media experience began with Myspace and soon gave way to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Currently, I do not use Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest, but many of my friends do, so I may consider giving them a try in the near future.
Boyd and Ellison’s article, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” makes an interesting distinction between the terms “Social Network Site,” which they explain as a site that makes use of an existing social network, and “Social Networking Site,” which they explain as a site used with the goal of growing a social network and initiating new relationships.
As soon as the authors made this distinction, I wondered how they would categorize LinkedIn. I was rather surprised when they categorized LinkedIn an example of a Social Network Site. I think LinkedIn might actually be a little of both; while many professionals do use their existing social networks to find people to connect with, the ultimate goal is often to gain a new contact and initiate a new relationship (which seems to me to fit more into Boyd and Ellison’s definition of a Social Networking Site).
Boyd and Ellison’s article provided me with some helpful history of social media, illuminating for me the evolution of social media before I jumped on board. This new background helped set the stage for Erik Qualman’s chapter in Socialnomics, “Social Media = Preventive Behavior.” While reading the section on companies using social media to provide customer service, I was thinking that I don’t often use social media to complain about a poor service experience, but then I recalled a funny (at least in hindsight) story from my sophomore year of college…
Following a multi-day blizzard at UMass Amherst, my car was parked in one of the student lots. No matter how much my friends and I shoveled, my car was simply stuck. We could not get it out of my spot, and the tires just spun. When, days later, we got sick of shoveling and waiting for the snow and ice to melt, we called AAA. The tow truck driver they sent was rude, condescending, and sexist. He essentially told me that I was just incapable of getting my car unstuck because I was a woman.
Image Source: http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/assets_c/2010/12/car%20tow%20snow-thumb-200×150.jpg.
He got in the driver’s seat and placed his foot heavily on the gas pedal. Ultimately, he too failed to get it unstuck, and he had to hook it up to the tow truck and tow my car out of the icy spot. I was less than pleased with the customer service this man and his company provided. Apparently, at the time, I felt that the best way to express my frustration was in an angry Haiku poem containing some choice quotes from this tow truck driver which I posted on Facebook. I mentioned the company, although at the time they did not have a Facebook presence. Interestingly enough, 3 years later, they now have a Facebook page. While my post did not reach the company at that time, it did generate some supportive comments from the UMass community about how unacceptable his behavior was that at least made me feel better.
Thinking back to my social media interactions with organizations, I also remember a more pleasant customer service experience. Every Tuesday at lunchtime during college, the dining hall closest to my dorm served the most delicious toasted ravioli. My friends and I made it a point to get there early enough to ensure that we all got some. One day, the delicious toasted ravioli disappeared! Deciding it was a fluke, my friends and I returned the next Tuesday to find the toasted ravioli had been replaced with vegetable spring rolls.
As we sat at our table in disappointed disbelief, I posted on UMass Dining’s Facebook page asking what had happened to our favorite ravioli. They quickly responded that they were trying something healthier. I thought our favorite lunch was gone forever, but enough people commented on my post expressing thorough disappointment that UMass Dining decided to bring the toasted ravioli for good. This seems to me to be exactly what Qualman was talking about in good companies using negative social media feedback to solve problems and work toward customer satisfaction.
Usage and customer service in social media
I enjoyed the readings this week that covered descriptions and research around social media, as well as answered questions like “why use social media?”. Being a social media user for a few years, I can relate to a lot of the information these readings covered.
The reading from Always On provided a lot of information on studies conducted in 2006 about Facebook. I remember using Facebook in 2006, this was my senior year in college. After meeting someone at a party you’d become friends on Facebook. I also had to laugh when the article mentioned roommates that sit in the same room IMing each other, as my roommate and I did that in our college dorm room. The reading also provides usage stats and how Facebook profiles are used to gain more information about people. I wonder how much these stats have changed in the world we live in today. When I first joined Facebook, I remember friends of mine that didn’t go to college couldn’t sign up for Facebook. They were upset because they felt like they were missing “the next big thing”. Now that anyone can create a Facebook profile and so many features have been added, like an advanced chat, I would think people spend more time on Facebook and would say it’s a comprehensive solution to getting to know people and keeping in touch with them.
http://www.gagdonkey.com/cartoons/facebook-is-like-a-fridge/
I enjoyed the part of the Qualman reading about how business use social media to address customer complaints. I’ve seen a number of friends, and I’ve done it a few times as well, complain openly on social media about poor service provided by a company. When a company reacts and reaches out to their customer for the poor experience they are talking about, it shows the company cares. When companies don’t react, the customer feels not only is the company wrong for what they’re complaining about, but also that the company doesn’t care enough to address their clearly upset customer. Potential customers see this as well and create an opinion of the company. Customer service has evolved. It’s not just someone sitting at a support desk to take customer complaint calls or a manager speaking to a customer at the store, good customer service addresses customer complaints in whatever channel they’re received. If the company provides good customer service on Facebook (like the Zappos.com example below) people see that and take notice. The company has a positive perception and people will be more likely to order from the company in the future.
I know how my own usage of social media has changed throughout the years, but I’d love to hear how your experiences have changed. Do you use social media more or less than when you first signed up? Do you use social media as a vehicle for reaching a company you’ve received poor service from?
Social networking: The missing link?
I grew up somewhere between two eras, part Gen X, part Gen Y. I was introduced to computers at a fairly young age but they weren’t commonplace until my teens. Once they were a part of everyday life, I embraced technology and have enjoyed being a part of several key technology-related projects throughout my college years and into my professional life.
One area where I’m lacking in tech-know-how is social networking and social media. Sure, I peruse Facebook everyday on my Galaxy 3 and I have a LinkedIn profile that I try to update often. I watch YouTube videos and even try tweeting from time-to-time (@lrott99). I feel like I haven’t truly tapped into the power that these sites hold, though. My struggle has mainly been finding the time, but a lot of it has to do with lack of understanding on how these sites can be more than just fun time-wasters.
This is exactly what Qualman talks about in our text. He says that “wasting time on Facebook and social media actually makes you more productive” (p. 4). From a business perspective, I have started to understand this much better over the past year and this class is helping me think about it even further. It goes beyond just posting news links and updates to a corporate Facebook page or Twitter feed to keep your buyers up-to-date. It can be truly proactive. The story in the Molisani article this week about Comcast’s Frank Eliason is a perfect example. This guy took the initiative by reaching out to customers that were complaining about Comcast on Twitter and offered his assistance. Now, that’s customer service!
Unfortunately, I think the company I work for is not anywhere near this sort of level. Not because we lack the knowledge of how to monitor social networking sites, but for the following reasons:
• Our company is still relatively small. Fewer customers means lower probability of negative experiences to be shared on the web.
• A large portion of our customers are not Internet savvy. I would estimate that less than 10% have LinkedIn accounts and only a handful probably use Twitter. A large number of them still don’t even have their own company websites. A few don’t even use email so when I need to contact them, it’s always has to be via telephone which slows down the communication process because I usually just get voicemail.
Photo source: http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2×3062668/telephone_covered_in_cobweb_IS758-049.jpg
If my clients are even further behind than I am, how can I make social networking and media work for me? I know it could be a useful tool, but figuring out how is still in the works.
Surviving Participatory Culture Shock
“By the time that Brittany arrived at high school in 2001, she was thoroughly aware that she was a citizen of a nation dependent on computers and a world moving rapidly, if unevenly, toward technological connection”(658).
This quote from “Becoming Literate in the Information Age: Cultural Ecologies and the Literacies of Technology,” by Gail Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe seemed to sort of crash down on my head as I was reading it. Nothing, not even my own technology literacy narrative that I wrote earlier in the week, has ever afforded Brittany’s kind of clarity for me. At 16, she seems so much more literate than me in any number of ways: in her awareness of her own learning preferences, her engagement with technology for self-directed learning, and her ability to see how future learning will occur for her and others.
Of course, it’s not that I haven’t been aware of the fact that the world has been moving towards “technological connection,” but up until just recently, I’ve only experienced it incrementally. You go from typewriters to DOS systems to Internet and Windows, and then email comes along and insinuates itself indelibly into your life, and before you know it, you find yourself the mother of three children who wear telephones and earplugs as fashion appendages. But this creeping, how-did-I-lose-10-years? (20 years?) sensation keeps winding up back on my psychological doorstep a lot lately.
Reading some other technological narratives has helped a bit. For instance, reading in Hawisher and Selfe about Dean Woodbeck’s story regarding Fortran and the 80 stack cards (p.648) helps me realize that everyone in my cohort sort of has had to cope with the same revolution. In fact, I read Woodbeck’s story to my husband who was a supply officer in the Navy for 20 years and he began to tell me more such stories like having to have those cards retyped over and over. He claims that his current cell phone has more brainpower than the large mainframe computers which he worked with daily and loved so much, once upon a time.
Old Punch Computer Card, forums.pelicanparts.com
But, I’ve decided not to bemoan with a backwards glance but rather look forward towards “affinity spaces,” such as described by Jenkins et.al in “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education in the 21st Century.” This was very enlightening to me because I had, in fact, read material in the past about the digital divide, which mostly cast the question of access in terms of access to computers.
In many ways, the gap in access to the participatory culture is more concerning than the matter of computers themselves, and the rather static response of schools is worrisome as well, though I don’t think I had ever thought of it as the crisis it will soon be, according to this report. Teachers, probably many just like me, “Raised and educated in a culture that valued, and continues to value, alphabetic and print literacies, many of these teachers remain unsure of how to value new media literacies, unsure how to practice these new literacies themselves, and unprepared to integrate them at the curricular and intellectual levels appropriate for these particular young people” (p.671). I wonder how much formal re-training would be necessary to help teachers prepare curricula in line with the tenets of participatory culture or how much of this training will just occur informally for those “alphabetic and print” teachers who may want to evolve?
I could see myself, for example, learning how to engage students through some of the games and strategies suggested under the “What Might Be Done” headings, but I feel like most of the students I would work with would feel towards me the way Brittany feels towards her teachers, that she has mostly outpaced them. Take just one concept – transmedia navigation –who would be teaching whom? I am certainly capable of following “the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities,” but I don’t think I could learn to do so nearly as quickly as a seventh grader sitting next to me, so what would my role be? I guess I will just mull that over for a while before I talk myself into complete obsolescence.
On the other hand, on a more optimistic note, I saw myself in “Four Generations of Editors,” by Heidi Glick and strangely, I was one of those people who have adapted pretty readily to changing expectations about shorter deadlines, electronic formats, and updated methods of proofreading and revising. So, there may be hope for me yet.
My blogging experience, or my preference for Learning Blogs
The “Art” of blogging?
Blogging has always been intriguing to me but, at the same time, has never been something I really felt comfortable doing. First and foremost, I never felt like I had anything interesting to write about. I have a very normal (sometimes very boring!) life with kids who rarely give us trouble and aren’t at that super cute stage where they are making major milestones on a regular basis. Those milestones takes much longer to appear now and blogging once a year didn’t make much sense. After all, isn’t that what the obnoxious braggy holiday cards are for? When I was working as a Realtor, I tried blogging as a “Subject Matter Expert”. Well, I learned pretty quickly that even after 10 years in the business, you will never feel completely like an expert so why in the world would anyone ever want to read what I had to say? And then, of course, is that obnoxious fear factor side to blogging. What if someone makes a comment on what I post and it ends up being a nasty comment? Real Estate brings enough toughness into the world, I didn’t need to introduce another source for potential nastiness!
So imagine my surprise when last semester I had Engl-700 Rhetorical Theory with Dr, Pignetti and found out we would be blogging on a weekly basis. I definitely had mixed emotions at first. A little bit of nervousness and also excitement. Sometimes we (well, I do for sure) have to be forced out of our comfort zone to do something that we found intriguing but never tried. Those first couple of posts were pretty torturous! To think that this blog wasn’t just the safety of the class members on the D2L discussion boards, it was a blog that anyone can find and comment on (that fear factor was screaming loud and clear!). And . . . that is exactly what happened to another classmates blog post. After the initial shock of the comment from the “outsider”, and several comments back and forth asking the commenter to have some blogging manners, my worst blogging fear had come and gone. To my surprise, the world didn’t end. And the blogging continued.
I still envy those who can just write about simple everyday things and make it sound so elegant and effortless. Blogging isn’t as much of a challenge for me as it was in the beginning but I don’t think I will ever master the “Art” of casual written conversation in the public sphere where posts from years before can come back and haunt you. I think I will leave that to my annual Christmas card letter.
Whispering into the world: blogging for my own amusement
Long ago, in the times when Facebook was only available to college students, I began my journey with social media. In addition to Facebook, I had a blog of my very own, originally a Xanga because that was the cool blog to have in my circle of friends and acquaintances. I wrote silly stories, funny anecdotes and terrible poetry for the general consumption of the ten people who knew that I wrote it.
I loved it. I loved having that tiny voice in a big loud world. At least at first, I followed the then unknown advice of Belle Beth Cooper’s “16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners” to write for yourself. Writing for myself was the only thing I did right, I think. Contrary to Cooper’s advice, I did not bother to try to get people to read what I wrote, but in fact I actively chose not to market my blog. I also really didn’t think too intensely about my audience, which I now find rather appalling after taking so many technical communication classes.
When I look back at what I wrote, I see the bad writing and the grammatical errors, but I think that I can also see how blogging shaped my voice in a way that academic writing couldn’t. The article “Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web” by Alex Reid points out how a writer’s voice can be sublimated to success in the context of academia and I can see clearly how blogging built my voice as I was allowed to be myself (or whoever I chose to be) rather than having to be whoever I needed to be in order to succeed with each teacher.
After awhile, blogging started being increasingly about getting likes and comments from my largely non-existent audience and the whole process became wearying as my capacity for being consistently amusing diminished. So I ceased to blog.
In the subsequent years, my experience with blogs has been contained to reading them. I have read only a few blogs consistently. In fact, I can think of only two that I have spent any real time reading, Hyperbole and a Half (a hilarious blog which is basically like electronic picture books for adults) and Beneath the Crust (an interesting blog about faith and life written by a clinical neuro-psychologist that I know). I will read an article occasionally when they are recommended or shared by others, but I don’t follow many closely anymore.
Although I have had some experience with blogging and have taken many courses that required weekly posts, English 745 will be my first experience actually blogging within an academic context. It should be interesting.
Blogging: My Newest Frontier
Originally, I thought I would start this post off by confessing that I have absolutely no experience with blogs, but that turns out to not be entirely true. While it is accurate that this is my first post—yeah!—it turns out I’ve been reading blogs and not even realizing it. In reading “Searching for Writing on the Web,” Alex Reid lists the top 25 blogs and I am very familiar with 3 of them—The Daily Beast, Think Progress, and the Huffington Post. Now that article is dated 2011, and 2 years is like a millennium in Internet time, so I don’t know if they’re still in the top 25, but it was comforting to realize I already knew something about blogs.
But not much. For example, a former student of mine recently got hired to write a twice-weekly blog about holistic dentistry, and I didn’t quite understand why since, as far as I knew, she knew nothing about dentistry, holistic or otherwise. From her description, she is mostly serving as a “tipster,” about how to engage in holistic care of teeth and alternatives to traditional dentistry. She doesn’t have to be a content matter expert, but rather just do some basic research and engage the material in a lively and readable way. So, I’m still struggling a bit to understand this medium and it’s multifaceted purpose, but I am looking forward to the education.
In my case, my mind tends to want to skip the theoretical and go straight to the practical application, often to my detriment, so I think I’ll need to proceed slowly in thinking about what use I might make of my newfound knowledge after class ends. In Langwitches blog post “What does it Mean to Be Literate?” the author cautions teachers to engage in some basic blogging education including “pre-reading and pre-writing” skills such as understanding how blog platforms work before attempting a blog in the classroom. I’m definitely still at the pre-writing and reading stage.
When I do feel more comfortable with this medium, one use I’d like to make of it regards my role as the chair of our campus’s “Common Read Program.” One of my tasks is to get the students, faculty, and staff engaged in a larger dialogue than simply in individual classrooms or book groups. Last year, our Writing Center held an essay contest and the prompt was tied to the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. It was reasonably successful for a first-time effort, but I didn’t think the submissions really reflected the level of critical thinking we should be seeing from college students.
I’m wondering if a pre-writing blog might help students reflect on and clarify their thinking before they put pen to paper (keyboard to MS Word) for the essay contest? “Learning with Weblogs: Enhancing Cognitive and Social Knowledge Construction,” suggests that “weblog technology fits with the constructivism learning theory, and argues that a weblog is a useful online tool for students to reflect and publish their thoughts and understanding.” I can see some logistical problems already, however, such as the fact that we have about 1,650 students in our freshmen class alone, so I don’t know how exactly this would work. I’ll be interested in learning more from my classmates and our readings as I formulate my goals and understand more about the medium.
By the way, our Campus Read book this year is Scoreboard, Baby by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry. It’s a very engaging read, and I highly recommend it. I’m using this as an excuse to see if I can master the skills of downloading a graphic.
As I wrap up my first-ever blog post and I read what I’ve written, I’m trying to discern if it reflects anything I’ve read in “16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners,” and I’m not entirely sure. It seems clear that I’m writing for myself first, which is tip #2, so I suppose I’ve at least accomplished that. Another tip I read was “Get Ideas from Your Audience,” so I read my other classmates posts first and one thing I noticed is that, as a reader, I like bullet points such as those I read in “Testing, testing… What I’ve Learned from Blogging,” by sr hebert, so let me close with these points:
- I’m very much looking forward to learning from my classmates
- I feel a little more confident already
- This course has already forced me to expand beyond my comfort zone because now I have both Skyped and blogged!
Best to you all!
Blogging Basics…where it began….
It has been a while since I have used WordPress, but I was introduced to it and other blogging sites back somewhere between 2006 and 2008. A close friend and colleague of mine offered a several session course (mini-workshops, if you will) called Blogging Basics through our Lifelong Learning Institute (generally aimed at our senior crowd in the local community). She asked if I would be interested, and I said, “What the heck? Why not?” She was really excited to share her blogs and experience, and I shared in her enthusiasm. She was already blogging about jewelry-making, crafting, and beading at the time; plus, she was new as a faculty member, and she was all about getting others to see the value of blogs in the educational arena….blogs and blogging were quickly becoming popular around campus during this time. I did not understand what blogging was at all until I took the course with her and some other very friendly senior citizens–I remember them pretty vividly since they all had varying technological skills, and I learned much just from listening and watching them in the whole process of learning how to blog.
In the course, I learned primarily how to use WordPress and Eblogger, and it was truly the basics, but I found, as a lover of reading and writing (especially journaling), I was immediately attracted to blogs and what they had to offer. For some reason, at the time, Eblogger attracted me more than WordPress, and it became my go-to blogging site for future use. As a result of completing the course, I went into the next semester with ideas about how to use weblogs in the classroom to supplement my developmental writing courses. I had also begun my master’s degree during this time, and blogging became the basis of several different course projects, research, and, finally, part of a practicum course. I stuck mostly to using blogs in the classroom with students versus blogging in my personal life. I was drawn to their use for learning.
I remember doing much research at the time about blogs and feeling like quite a novice when I started and just moved forward with using one in the classroom with my developmental writers… I needed something to liven my classroom, and the blog seemed like a perfect medium for my students at the time.
As I began to read through the blog literacy readings, I was immediately attracted to Learning With Weblogs, and I continue to see the value of using blogs in the learning process. I was caught by this: “More than traditional learning logs, weblogs offer students the opportunity and encouragement to actively participate in the continuous learning process of social knowledge construction in a number of ways.” For me, it was this idea that really made me love the blog and its purpose for my students….social knowledge construction was definitely the goal.
One of the specific ways mentioned included that blogs provide “Sustainable knowledge stock: Student weblog posts are not only shared but also stored as the community’s knowledge asset for all participants to revisit and reuse.” Again, I love the description here in relation to forming a community via the blog and allowing those members to revisit and reuse the knowledge base. It was those things that drew me to the blog in the first place…the social nature of them and the way authors could store knowledge, share it, and offer threaded comments continuously.
I maintained the class blog for at least one academic year before my life went into a whirlwind of having babies, going on maternity leave, finishing my master’s, and changing disciplines. When I shifted into teaching developmental reading, the curriculum was so packed I left out the blogging. I have used blogs more recently in the classes I have been taking….almost every class I just completed here at UW for the E-Learning Certificate had us using a blog for a project-based portfolio or for reflection purposes. I will be truthful and reveal that I do not do much blog reading on my own these days because I spend so much time on the computer for work, and now with the two little ones, time is always the problem. When I find myself looking at blogs, I get immediately sucked into them, and I love exploring all blogs….tech ones, writing ones, authors and musicians, and more. Some colleagues along the way have been naysayers about using blogs for educational purposes, and I have heard varying opinions, especially from “old school” English teachers at times who refuse to believe blogs can offer much to the writing world, but I am a fan.
I am excited to begin a new journey here with blogging, and I know this experience will fire up my love of wanting to use them in the classroom. I look forward to our experience together.
References
Du, H.S., & Wagner, C. (2007). Learning with weblogs: enhancing cognitive and social knowledge construction. 50(1), 4.
My experience and thoughts on blogging
I took Rhetorical Theory in the Spring 2013 semester. At that time I never thought of myself as someone who has blogged. I realized writing my introduction blog post for that class, I had blogged before using sites like LiveJournal. Also, in a previous job, I helped write and edit content for the company blog. The Rhetorical Theory course, similar to this one, used a blog as a class tool. By no means would I say I’m a blogging expert, but I’m not new to the blog scene either.
I think the article 16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners has some good insight to those looking to start blogging, or even those that do blog and are interested in taking their blog further. I think the tip that says “write for yourself” makes a great point. We’re in a society where everyone is crunched for time. If you’re going to take time to blog, do it for you. I have had friends that started blogs to try to make money from it, realized it takes time to build a blog that can produce revenue, and then quit. It wasn’t something they really wanted to spend their time on, they just wanted a quick buck. As the article also states, give it time and be willing to fail. The odds are a blog won’t go viral in an evening.
http://qualityhostingnow.com/how-to-get-started-making-money-by-blogging/
If you’re blogging because you want to, another good point the article makes is to keep your audience in mind. A friend of mine has a blog that she doesn’t update that often, but when she does the content is true to the blog description. It’s clear she writes for herself, thinks of her audience, but just doesn’t have the time to really commit to blogging. I like that the blog is focused on cooking and it doesn’t focus just on her words, it also provides pictures and recipes. Check it out, if you’re interested http://www.girlversuskitchen.com.
http://www.girlversuskitchen.com
I look forward to seeing all of your introduction posts and reading your thoughts as we go through the semester.
Blog Evolution
The first blog I ever read was written by an old high school classmate of mine. She linked to it from her Facebook page and I thought, oh, Andrea’s writing a blog! That’s great! This might be something I want to do one day, so let’s see how hers looks.
Essentially, she wrote about her life as a stay-at-home mom. She shared stories a few times a month that talked about the frustrations and joys of raising a family. This may sound harsh, but I don’t think I even finished reading the first paragraph of the most recent post. Although I like this person very much, I really was not interested in reading about her trip to the grocery store with the kids or her husband’s issues with his boss. And it wasn’t that I didn’t care what she was up to, but to come back to a site repeatedly just to read about one person’s life does not appeal to me. I can get all that information in one place, for many people, on Facebook, and in much fewer words. Based on this first experience, I believed blogs were just cyber diaries and decided it wasn’t something I wanted to spend time on, including writing my own. No one cares (except maybe my mom or husband) what I think or do each day. Sorry, Andrea! Keep on blogging, but I’ll pass for now.
Source: Rott, L. (2013). Blah blah blah blog image created in MS Word.
I began to appreciate blogs when I started reading one written by a local physician who is partial owner of the allergy company that I work for. His blogs were not only informative and scientific, but interesting, humorous and easy to read. They detailed different patient cases and clinical experiences he’s had over the past 30+ years of practicing medicine. The site is a bit of a ranting site, but I still find it enjoyable to read. I invite you to take a peek if you have a moment: www.renaissanceallergist.com. So, why did I decide this blog was worth reading? It’s relevant to my life and I get something out it: information that helps me with my work.
Another blog that I began reading was www.allergymoms.com. Written by a woman with kids that have bad food allergies, it’s more than just a daily diary of her life and dealing with her kids’ diseases. She interviews experts in the field on the latest and greatest allergy treatments, posts links to recent news in the allergy world as well as links to other websites and resources on managing allergies, shares recipes, products, etc. Like the doctor’s blog, this blog relevant to what I do for a living, but it’s also educational and helpful to others.
I also read blogs from time to time on http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
That pretty much summarizes my experience with reading blogs, but I can now add to my resume that I have experience WRITING a blog, courtesy of last semester with Dr. Pignetti. Like with the current class, we were required in ENGL 720 to blog each week to share our perspectives on the readings. I found the communal blog to be extremely beneficial as it encouraged conversation and provided a unique situation to learn from fellow classmates. This is similar to what Du and Wagner (2007) discuss in this week’s reading. They talked about blogs as “online learning logs” (p. 2.). Blogging, or even just posting regularly to D2L like with some of my other classes, is a form of collaborative constructivism, also described by Du and Wagner. With collaborative constructivism, “learning emerges through shared understandings of more than one learner and the construction of understanding builds upon interaction with others” (p. 6).
My husband also had the opportunity to blog for an English class he had two years ago. Although the purpose was primarily to improve writing skills through the use of a modern medium (to make it more fun and relevant), he found there was a good deal of communal learning taking place. Everyone would provide constructive feedback on grammar, spelling and writing structure which was great because it was a writing-focused class.
From cyber diaries to communal learning…quite the paradigm shift! I am glad to embrace it, however, and I look forward to expanding my views even further this semester.
Trusting Online: Finding Common Ground
To me, it seems a huge coincidence that one of this week’s topics is “trust.” As I wrote last week, my wife, Jody, found her grandpa’s missing Purple Heart, which he earned during World War I, on an internet site honoring soldiers who were wounded or killed in action. Jody wanted that medal back in the family, so she asked Mr. Maier, the man who runs the site To Honor Our Fallen, if she could buy it back.
According to Carina Paine Schofield and Adam N. Joinson’s paper “Privacy, Trust, and Disclosure Online,” “Trust is the willingness to be vulnerable, based on positive expectations about the actions of others.” My wife and I felt pretty vulnerable this week, but on Saturday, when I was in Michigan, I received a tearful call from my wife that she was holding her grandpa’s medal in her hand. It was back in the family.
Purple Heart, Jody’s grandfather
Last Sunday, when Mr. Maier told us he would send the Purple Heart back to us if we covered his investment in the medal and research surrounding it, we were put in a tough position. Mr. Maier did not operate a store, he had no reputation as a seller, and we knew of no recourse if a transaction went badly. Should we trust him? If we did, were we being foolish?
Schofield and Joinson’s article identifies three dimensions of trust including “ability,” “integrity,” and “benevolence.” We weren’t really worried about his ability; shipping a package with delivery confirmation is easy enough.
Mr. Maier’s “benevolence” was a concern that needed some thought, though a week ago I wouldn’t have considered calling it that. According to Schofield and Joinson, benevolent companies and organizations look out for their customers’ best interests and do not exploit them. Jody researched average prices paid for Purple Hearts and found out Mr. Maier was actually asking less than what a lot of other people make in selling these medals. Considering the emotional attachment we had expressed for this family artifact, he could have asked for more money. But he didn’t, and we were starting to trust him because of his benevolence (and the research Jody did–trust doesn’t need to be blind).
Still, we wondered about Mr. Maier’s integrity–whether he would actually follow through and send us the medal after we paid him. In retrospect, it was his “benevolence” that helped us believe in his integrity. Since he wasn’t asking for as much money as other people were asking for these medals, maybe that indicated he would be fair with us and keep his end of the deal. Also, the nature of the website he ran showed benevolence; he was not collecting Purple Hearts as a for-profit venture. He was using them and the information he researched about the recipients to share online as a memorial to veterans. Didn’t we have to trust him?
Yes, actually, we did. If we didn’t trust Mr. Maier, there was no way the medal would be back in the family.
And the reality is that he trusted us, too. He trusted that my wife’s account of how her grandfather was wounded, her memories of the man, and the significance of the medal were sincere. He trusted that we wanted the Purple Heart, not so we could turn a profit with a different buyer, but because it had meaning to us.
So we all trusted. And even though we never met Mr. Maier or talked to him or saw a picture of him, I don’t think we are complete strangers. Through Jody’s emails to him, he was given a glimpse of some of what we value–history, connections to family, and remembering the sacrifices made by our elders. And through the work of his web site and traveling Purple Heart memorial, he shows us that we have a lot in common.
Ethics and Privacy
Both privacy and ethics are important considerations for anyone using technology as a communication tool. Indeed, these concepts apply to the general public, as well as to specific groups such as technical communicators. Perhaps the demographic of people who are especially impacted by privacy and ethics are those who are relatively new to technology. That is, people who are new to the internet (i.e., an inmate realesed after 20 years) may not always realize how much information they are giving out when using the internet, and how easily that information may be used negatively against them. For example, while all the credit card companies, banks etc., claim their online security is fail safe, hackers consistently prove otherwise. Those same individuals who are not aware of online risks involving identity theft and other scams may also not realize that the record of their email messages exist in cyberspace forever. Thus, they may not realize that what they write needs to be ethical—especially when the email generates from a workplace account.
Chapter 9 in Digital Ligeracy For Technical Communicators by Steven Katz and Vicki Rhodes and the article, Privacy, Trust, and Disclosure Online by Paine and Joinson shed light on these topics. While Chapter 9 was fairly dense with academic, philosophical, and ethical jargon, the notion that technology creates new ethical considerations for communicators is an important concern that should be taught to new employees that are expected to participate in technological communication mediums. One of my first real-world experiences with ethics and technology took place a few years ago when I was involved with a professional class in an industrial setting.
This class was designed to teach employees about email etiquette and was the result of inappropriate email use on company time. Several employees were essentially carrying on personal conversations about weekend activities and so on that was inappropriate for this work setting. In addition, these employees did not understand the blind copy function of their email system, and were thus, at times, accidentally emailing information to clients that also were inappropriate.
This problem was two-fold: 1) the employees failed to consider their workplace ethics of being professional at all times, and 2) these employees did not understand the implications of email as a communication medium. Whereas these employees could have probably talked amongst themselves face-to-face about these topics during lunch or breaks, it was not appropriate to use the organization’s email for such conversation, which they did not understand. This problem may have been avoided, had this company made clear their expectations of workplace email use. Moreover, companies may benefit from addressing their ethical expectations—if these expectations are not promoted and taught to employees, than the ethics will be nothing but a basis for discipline after a rule is broken, rather than a means to prevent issues from arising in the first place.
ajnystuen
aliciaryoung
Allie K
Amery Bodelson
amodioc0599
b0bryan
bngeenen
Angie Myers
crhunter
delwichej8841
Chelsea Dowling
drakek2454
evelynmartens13
AaronF
Gina
heidideckermaurer
Rob_Henseler
jebehles
jeffreyuw
jenlynngregz
jessaclara
jessryter
JJ Miller
jodee14
johnsons0566
jripslinger
kbeecken
knoblockj
lanaksolberg
lanib50
laurajoy79
Dan Lea
Lynn
lihill630
lisamrohloff
lttaylor3
maryvanbe
miriamannelevy
Michelle Mailey Noben
oliver550
paul1838
peahleah
profpignetti
Robyn Gotch
Roger Renteria
Lori R.
scottc0957
season1980
smitht09052013
Jennifer Smoot
Rebecca Snyder
srherbert
voigtb
