The social web is the newest way to connect to new people and develop friendships. I recently submitted a photograph to National Geographic and was connected to three people around the world that showed appreciation. It made be think about sharing more photographs instead of keeping them to myself. While doing this I created a social web with these new people. Richardson's book of "Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts" brought to my visualization that "...this network of individual nodes of people connected by ideas and passions, constantly shifting and changing as new connections are found and old ones are reconsidered."( Richardson, p.85) It was through the passion of photography that we were connected. I continued to peer into the lives of those that appreciated my submission and realized I would have never met them since one was from Turkey, second from Kazakhstan and the third from Minnesota.
This is an example of the effect of the social web. I have used Facebook, email, text and blogging but it took putting a photo out there in cyberspace to really realize the power of social media. All other venues brought old connections. According to Richardson " Because of these tools, we can build complex networks of resources to tap into allowing us to find more information, more teachers, and more learning."(Richardson, p.86)
Reference
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis and podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.
Corwin: Thousand Oaks, CA
How cool! I'd love to see or hear more about this picture!! That's so awesome that you submitted it to National Geographic! I completely agree with you about how amazing it is that we can meet people that we never would have dreamed of meeting before social media. It's amazing the connections that can me made over the internet. There is so much potential in the web, it amazes me all of the things that I have yet to learn!
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