In my leisure time (what little of it there is) I like to design and make jewelry. Before learning this craft I had never heard of crimping pliers. They are used to “crimp” a small bead at the ends of your beading to ensure that your necklace or bracelet doesn’t come apart. There are other pliers that can be used but once I discovered the crimping pliers I would never choose any other tool for that job. The right tool for the job makes all the difference. Thanks to 23 Things I now have a large repertoire for teaching and learning using Web 2.0 tools. I am a happy camper. So today for example when I sat in a meeting where a document was being edited by a group and one person was attempting to capture all the various suggestions for edits and changes, I immediately thought WIKI!!!
My new tools will help me to ensure that various tasks are done well, easier to do, done more efficiently and more likely to accomplish the intended goal. There are some challenges however and I’d like to offer my list of pros and cons.
Pros
- I have an increased number of communication tools at my fingertips
- Time can be saved when multiple contacts are needed to edit a document (WIKI, Google doc)
- Tools allow for easy sharing of work
- Decreases or eliminates distance barriers, encourages global communications
- Data collection widget allows you to hear from those who visit your site
- Don’t have to know HTML, scripts are provided
- Increasing amounts of information are available
Cons
- I still prefer face to face contacts for some tasks. I like to see facial expressions, gestures etc in attempting to fully understand someone’s point
- May miss cues that you can observe when working in person
- Some tools rely on user preferences i.e. tags are not “standardized” and don’t mean the same thing to everyone.
- Information overload!! Bloglines brings in way too much to read at one time if you subscribe to prolific bloggers
- Can’t always control or know who’s responding
- Limited to page, object formats if you don’t know scripts or HTML
- Information overload. 2 cautions: increased information does not guarantee increased wisdom and all information presented does not necessarily meet “standards”. How do you know information can be trusted?
- Lots of advertising on some sites
- Equal access is not available for all stakeholders
- Sometimes difficult to control who sees or has access
That’s my 2 cents worth. Now I will make some choices of which tools to get good at and explore them more. Hey 23 Things, what’s next? As always, thanks for listening. Leslie
I think that working with a Wiki would be a good way to add information and look at other's input when working on a collaborative project. I know as a recorder I am sometimes splintered since I am listening to the speaker, interpreting the speaker, thinking about my idea I would like to share and therefore, sometimes the main idea is lost. Also when it is written, the word takes on a different face and sometimes connotation.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm only about half-way through 23 things, I found it interesting to read your pros and cons. I share your same concern that sometimes we can have too much information. As you said, "increased information does not guarantee increased wisdom." It can be daunting to sift through everything available to us to get to what is useful and relevant.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Your insights have been a pleasure to read. You've done a GREAT job and I'm SO glad you joined this program.
ReplyDeleteWell done!