Curation via Pintrest

So, this week I've been doing some curation on Pinterest. It's been really fun for me, since I enjoy pinterest anyway, but the topic is something that I'm realizing is way more interesting and displays a remarkable difference in the way young people like to think of themselves online, particularly in the realm of fandoms.

As a general rule, young people are known to want to fit in. To be popular, to feel a part of the community. The opinion of other people is extremely important at that young age. But people in fandoms seem to be taking a different spin on this idea.

Image provided through pinterest. CURATION!

 

People in fandoms enjoy calling themselves various names and distinguishing themselves from other groups of people. The entire culture seems determined not just to be obsessive over different forms of entertainment but also to make sure that other people know that they are different from the general population. They're smarter, better even. Even if that feeling of being better is just feeling like you're different from everyone else.

 

According to what I've been able to curate, the general feeling of fandoms is of superiority and excitement. They're having so much fun that they can't help but step back and laugh at everyone else who isn't having as much fun as they are. They're crying, because they're attached to the characters of shows and books and terrible things happen to them, but they're enjoying it.

 

That's not to say that they complete disregard the feelings of other people. They are not so self centered, at least as far as I can tell. They are just a culture of people that is constantly being mocked and criticized. People think that what they're doing has no value, and so as a defense they both accept the criticism (we're crazy) and shove it back in their faces (We're better than you). For young people, this isn't too surprising. But I still find it extremely interesting that young people (up into young adult hood, and probably beyond that as well) are so willing to "throw themselves under the bus" so to speak and accept their roles as social outcasts. Even scream the praises of it.

 

I think this is a fascinating culture. Whereas before the internet, nerds and geeks were made fun of and belittled, stuck in a place where they couldn't find anyone that was like themselves. Now the belittling is just as strong, but the nerds (or the fandoms) can come together to find support and turn on the bullies, turn on the rest of the world and say, "No. You're in the wrong." Because they don't know what they're missing. This is so fascinating. So far I've been focused on what the fandom has to say about itself, but now I'm going to turn my attention to what other people have to say. I'm interested to see if there are any "generation Y is so lazy and horrible they have fandoms" articles out there. I would love to have the chance to dissect those and hopefully rip them apart.

 

 

 





The Joys of Wikispaces

All right, so my last blog post about Wikispaces was more along the lines of how I've been using it to curate for my early returned missionary project. So, this post will be more about what Wikispaces can be used for in general.

First off, what is a wiki? I'm going to steal Wikispaces's definition because it's a good one. A wiki is a space on the Web where you can share work and ideas, pictures and links, videos and media--and anything else you can think of. You can create folders to organize your information, making it so that all of your research material can be organized and stored in one place.You don't have to share it though. It can be private too, like mine.

Wikispaces is very user-friendly. You don't have to be too tech-saavy to understand it at all.  They give you a visual editor and a bunch of other tools to make sharing and editing content very easy. Everything is very straightforward, and if you get confused their "Help" page seems very thorough. I haven't had to use it yet, but maybe my wiki just doesn't need to be very complicated, so I don't need to worry about any of the extra technical stuff (like commenting or collaborating).

Anyways, with Wikispaces you can create a wiki for yourself or for a group. It can be for any industry, and you don't even need to name your industry if you just want one for personal use. Right now, they are advertising more the use of wikis as a classroom tool. They promise that their wikis will help educators "teach easier," "improve outcomes," and "engage students."


I'm excited that I found Wikispaces to help me create an easy-to-use wiki. It seems like it'll be a great tool.

Springpad as a Curation Tool

I get really inspired and curious whenever we talk in class of different findings from my peers and things our professors find in what the internet offers. I was absent both classes last week, so I have yet to completely understand what our curation project is about, but I started to research different curation tools in the mean time. I really do love Pinterest, but I wanted to find another tool that I'm not as familiar with. I came across Springpad.

To be perfectly honest, I wanted to abandon it after spending 20 minutes on it. I've never heard of it before and I missed familiarity!! Because it offers so much more than I was expecting, I wanted to grab my blanket and crawl back to the comfort and simplicity of Pinterest. Alas.... I refrained. Good thing, too!

Here is the Springpad's video introduction for its website:

Springpad is a giant personal organizer in curating content that extends beyond only being able to pin/post a picture. You can create a "notebook" on a subject that can consist of "springs." These springs could be photos, videos, notes, voice memos, etc. You can upload or link. I think that is the part that I especially loved. I loved looking into people's notebooks and seeing their own notes and thoughts in addition to what they have curated from other users and sites on the web. It was like a historical journey they were taking me on in their findings from the past up to the present, so you can see the relevance and clarity of info evolving. I started a notebook about learning how to cook, (because as my grandma keeps reminding me, it's time I start learning, now that I'm married.) It's really fun to post a note with my thoughts and then a recipe I think is possible, then my post-recipe notes, and other thoughts or videos that I've found online that were useful to me in learning. It's like a blog in a format similar to Pinterest.

People who are experts on a subject, such as digital culture, create notebooks on their expertise and gather relevant posts from around the web. I'm already following one who claims to be a digital culture expert. I can see all of the info they have gathered and find important and worth reading.

It's also neat, because it serves as a personal assistant for you. When you go to the search bar on the site, it asks you what you want to do (cook, watch a show, listen to music, etc) and it will filter for you based on your answer and given history in the site.

I'm still exploring and learning about the site, but so far I really see its potential in becoming something really big and effective. I do struggle a tad with how much it covers in its features (again, I'm used to the simple Pinterest format), but I think I really enjoy Springpad's form of curation more than Pinterest's. Sometimes I feel like Pinterest feeds me a lot of repeated pins or pins that are not relevant to what I'm searching for. So far in my personal experience with it, Springpad seems to have a great filtering system and compartmentalizes well.

I encourage you all to check it out and share your thoughts on it!

Curating with WikiSpaces

In order to organize all of my research for my project of my website and book, I've decided to use a wiki. I like that wikis allow you to create folders to organize your information in, and I like that the folders are all in one place. I think I'll use wikis on future projects as well. One wiki per project is probably what I'll do.

Anyways, at first I used Google Sites to create a wiki, but I found that to be extremely frustrating because I could not change the names of folders on the Google Sites templates. The templates were WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). I was sure that there was a way to customize the folders, so I kept trying to find the button that would allow me to change the folder names, but eventually just gave up. I googled "Create Your Own Wiki" and found Wikispaces.

Wikispaces is much easier to use than Google Sites. It allowed me to custom-make my own wiki right from the get-go, although it did have templates available if desired (particularly for classroom wikis). I went for a basic wiki knowing that I can add on later if I'd like.

 

Screen shot of my wiki.

The first thing I did was create my custom folders :). I made five today, mostly just preparing to be able to add stuff to them as I find them.

I did add a few things to the articles though. Right now I'm most interested in getting the website set up since that's pretty much the first thing on my list. I looked up tutorials that would walk me through building a website. I found two that I liked and put them in the "Setting up a Website" folder.

I emailed my cousin, a web developer, to ask him his opinion on the step-by-step guide since that was the most straightforward out of the two. I haven't heard back from him yet, but hopefully I will soon.

Anyways, I'm loving wikispaces so far. I recommend them for anyone looking for a user-friendly wiki for personal use, and possibly professional use too!

Diigo meets DIY

I'm starting to use Diigo.

Do I like it? Kind of.

At first, I was kind of confused because I didn't understand why you would use Diigo instead of Pintrest. However, I have thought about it and I think that Diigo works well with article/blog finds. Pintrest directs to article/blog posts, but it doesn't allow you to highlight or "sticky note" your findings to make your research more effective.

To be honest, I tried the highlighting feature and wasn't sure how to access that afterward. I'm going to continue playing with it but I will probably look for Diigo DIY instructions for further use.

Which brings me to what I am curating: The DIY Movement

I found a list of 5 Ways to Promote DIY and it inspired me to create a brief list of information I've gathered while curating this fascinating movement.

1. History of the Maker Subculture - This article most interested me because Christ Anderson describes the DIY Movement as "what happens when the Web meets the real world."

2. Inspiration - This blog reflects the author's hope for youth to create a better world through the DIY Movement as we "face the economic conditions of our time with remarkable ingenuity, courage, and grace."

3.Skill set- Although this article focuses specifically on Home Decor, it perceives DIY for seekers of "identity enhancement, ...uniqueness, craftsmanship, and empowerment."


Reflecting on #3, how do you think DIY contributes to identity enhancement in the digital age? How does it provide empowerment to digital users?