Week 4 Report/Reflection

Hello readers.  It's Week 4 and you know what that means.  More reflection on internet learning tools.

This week's instalment focuses on becoming internet content curators.  This is the compiling, organization, maintenance and archiving of relevant content pertaining to a specific field of interest.  The difference between any average curator and a great one is explained by Gianluca Fiorelli's blog post named "Content curation: definition and generation".  For some cliffs:

1. Finding the best content: A great curator knows who his target audience is and finds not only relevant but material that will sit well with the readers.
2. Adding value: It's one thing to just provide the link, but the curator that goes above and beyond will add commentary to the content that will add value to the provided work.
3. Crediting: this is kind of self-explanatory

(Source: http://cms.searchenginewatch.com/IMG/234/238234/fire-hydrant-filter-failure.jpg?1351611413) 

There's a lot of information on the internet.  Some great.  Some troll attempts.  Looking up what the best exercise for your posterior deltoids can be like opening a closet full of skittles.  Information overload if you will.  If you want the best information quick or are just really gullible and want to know what sources you can trust, finding the right curator can save you a lot of time.  By becoming one yourself, you can be that go-to person.

In this week's ADED session, we were required to create an account on a cloud based bookmarking tool.  I chose Diigo.  I used this video provided by my instructor to help me acquaint myself with the service:

Initially I thought this was going to be a near useless service as recent versions of Google Chrome have incorporated the importing of your bookmarks with your gmail account.  I was proven wrong as the Diigo Chrome tool not only lets you saves your bookmarks, but allows to you annotate and screenshot portions of pages.  These additional tools are perhaps why many people still use Diigo.

We were instructed to look at other web curating tools and I only had time this week to look at one, which was Jog The Web.  What it essentially does is it allows you to create a package using various websites and allows you to annotate and edit the sites in one package.  Personally, I think it is a tool more suited for teachers looking to present information in an easy way to their (likely elementary school) students in a near foolproof manner.  If I were to use it, it would be in a similar fashion to the Diigo tool but because Diigo has everything I need and is a tad more efficient and convenient, it will be unlikely.

That said, Diigo will be a great addition to my ever expanding PLE.  As for where it will be placed, it is going to go into my organizing/sharing content section.  I envision using Diigo being a great tool in group projects.  The annotation tool is key and sharing information is even easier than copy and pasting on a google doc.  If more subjects in school were taught with more free online resources, I think my usage of the tool would be quite heavy as well.  

Last week, we were required to set up an RSS feed, which I can say I have been using more recently than usual.  It provides me with things that pique my interest more than it ever has merely because my understanding of the tool has greatly increased.  That said, so far, it hasn't really contributed to my learning pertaining to my university major.  Approaching the twilight years of my university life, advanced topics covered in accounting are difficult to find on the web.  It has however definitely contributed to my knowledge of current events and other odd news that I find interesting.  

As for my weekly Feedly contribution, this week it is the decline of popular teenage fashion retailer sales.  From the NY Times, it highlights how the unemployment rate in teens is at an all-time high, online shopping has become more popular, faster trends and more money spent on technology, among other things contributing to why stores like Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle and Aeropostale are running into problems selling clothes these days.  Without further ado, the link is here.    

Peace out bye.