Facilitating online social capital in higher education

I tend to believe the Internet is a positive thing. It’s true that the Internet can also easily lend itself to negative uses such as false identities, misinformation, the potential for decreased face-to-face contact, and to a more extreme extent, a lack of community involvement and an increase in social isolation. It’s also true that the Internet can be used to increase communication among groups of people with both similar and diverse interests, and when used effectively can strengthen community bonds and create social capital as seen in online social movements.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the economy lately. With all the doom and gloom in the news who hasn’t been? I’ve also been considering the challenges students looking for work may be facing as they search for employment in the coming months. The not so good news: maybe it’s not going to be as easy to find a job as it was last year. The not so bad news: the jobs are still out there and students have the skills and experience needed to find a job, even in tough economic times. My job is to help students find information about careers so they may make informed decisions during their career exploration and ultimately find relevant employment. The question is: how does one go about finding these available jobs? This is where networking comes in. Networking has always been crucial to the job search even more so now during an economic downturn. I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about how online social networking can facilitate the job search process. Can social networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedin really work? Even Twitter, perhaps? But how does one employ social networking for this end? What skills and level of competency are necessary for such use to be successful?

As I think about some of the answers to these questions I consider the prevalence of Generation-Y users in social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. I work with students in this age range everyday and I recognize that many are very tech-savvy when it comes to using the Internet and web-based technologies; therefore using social networking sites for job search purposes seems like a natural fit. The article Spatially Bounded Online Social Networks and Social Capital: The Role of Facebook by Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe shows us that social capital benefits do exist in within Facebook. If current social networking “allow for maintenance of existing social ties and formation of new connections” as the authors argue then it is likely that sites such as Facebook can be targeted for purposes such as networking during a job search. We also see that online connections often result in face-to-face meetings which points to the potential for students to meet employers through social network contacts. It seems clear that social networking sites can build connections and facilitate opportunities for students both in the short and long-term. The challenge is to determine what motivates students’ use of online social networking sites and the skills and knowledge they need to find and potentially create their own volunteer, work, and internship opportunities. Higher education institutions must also strive to better understand how to encourage and facilitate the use of social networking sites to engage students in building social capital that is relevant and meaningful to them. Perhaps a good starting point is to begin exploring ways that universities can create a bridge between the Internet, place-based environments, and social capital production in everyday learning opportunities.

Identity, cooperation, and community development

As an increasing number of us have personal information available about ourselves online, particularly due to self-published entries on blogs, review sites, and social networking sites such as Flickr, Facebook, and LinkedIn, we must become more aware of how this information may be used by members of both virtual and place-based communities. I have come across a number of articles in magazines and websites meant to warn users, particularly students, but also now professors of the possible consequences to their professional life by making their identity available online. The use and misuse of virtual personal information by institutions across place-based social contexts brings forth questions of identity, authenticity and privacy within online communication and computer-mediated social interaction. What are the parameters of accountability? How can an employer be sure that what they’ve discovered about a candidate is accurate? What are the ethical considerations for both the author and the viewer? Can an employer be held accountable for accessing information about an applicant which is clearly off-limits; such as age, religion, and nationality?

Online communities and virtual groups exist at least partially due to the similar interests and goals of their members. It becomes evident that online communities are maintained and developed because members have accepted a certain level of good faith and trust in each other even if this trust extends only at least far enough to allow for a member’s contribution and commitment to the group. Informal learning as discussed in the article by Schugurensky describes a type of learning that occurs “outside the curricula provided by formal and non-formal educational institutions and programs”. By this definition, online communication enabled through virtual groups and communities proves to be a constant source of informal learning about a variety of topics and capable of reaching countless users.

It has always held true that one must be aware of how he/she may be perceived for the type of communication one chooses to engage in, and who they engage with. It is also true that issues of privacy and accountability have existed long before the Internet, however, the question of privacy and identity is largely magnified via the Internet “paper trail”. Informal learning occurring online may start to take on a different form than informal learning occurring in the context of everyday interactions within schools, offices, homes, and public spaces as more of us become aware of the risks involved in sharing our views and identities online. That is not to say informal learning can’t and won’t continue to occur online. The Internet may, however, become increasingly suitable for incidental learning and socialization and become more limiting to the process of intentional, self-directed learning.

Participatory media may become increasingly used to empower marginalized communities within the realm of Community Informatics as discussed in the article by Stoecker. In this video, http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html Howard Rheingold discusses how Internet technologies can be used to enable cooperation in communities. He outlines how such technologies can enable the following six cooperation principles which are needed for successful social organization and cooperation: easy to use, enable connections, open, group forming, self-instructing, and self-interest. Since it becomes evident that cooperation can improve the lives of people and their community it is important to also inform members of participating communities of the risk inherent in online communications. I believe it is important to work with individuals and communities engaging in participatory media to develop strategies which allow them to safely navigate these risks so they may more effectively engage in informal learning, stimulate cooperation, and participate in transformation and social action towards a better community.

Understanding the digital divide and empowered user experiences

I am a part-time M. Ed student in the Adult Education & Community Development program at OISE. I've also been working full-time at U of T in various student service roles during the past few years. I realize how much students' interaction with technology has increased when I think about how little I relied on web-based resources when I was an undergrad only a few years back. One of my roles while working at U of T was to manage content for an image database for the Dept. of Art. This web-based technology was used as a teaching and researching tool and it allowed students access to information that would be otherwise very limited and time-consuming to view, thus increasing access to learning. Initially, there were some doubts from faculty with respect to the effectiveness of such a resource as well as discussion that it would encourage students to skip class and cause an unlevel playing field with regard to the workload in other courses. This concern seemed to be ungrounded as student attendance did not decrease and faculty noticed an increased interest and involvement with the coursework. Clearly such teaching tools are beneficial to students but the stages of the digital divide as discussed in Selwyn’s article show us that access and use of internet resources does not always result in meaningful user interaction. My dialogue with students often illustrates the various stages of the digital divide as discussed in this reading. I have found that although students may be more accepting of and accustomed to using web-based research tools now than in the past, students may lack a sense of confidence in navigating the information and understanding how it is relevant to their academic and personal life.

The community programs EVC and REACH which aim to develop youth critical media literacy as discussed in the article by Kellner and Share, illustrate how meaning can empower people towards change and development within their community. Another example of media literacy is illustrated in http://www.bridgesweb.org/, an organization which uses digital technology and storytelling to empower youth throughout the world by providing a forum of self-expression and production. I think yet another element which may influence whether meaningful engagement of ICT occurs may lie within how information is presented and the assumptions made about the users’ existing knowledge and experiences. In my work with students it has proven worthwhile to better understand this often more subtle obstacle in accessing information online. I think it is important to become aware of the assumptions we make about student experiences if we are to work towards increasing accessibility to information and providing a foundation for meaningful experiences. U of T is a vast environment filled with information and resources within a huge range of student experiences. The information and resources which are available to students may at times be both overwhelming and puzzling. I believe this “information divide” can be another factor in determining why students need to first understand certain pieces of the puzzle and how these pieces are relevant to their lives before they can make sense of the online resources available to them. Missing some of these puzzle pieces can be enough to leave a student feeling confused and isolated. I think a negative aspect of this type of information overload speaks to the importance of better understanding what information is sought by students, and perhaps more importantly for what purpose they are seeking various resources. In other words, how do students expect and accept that the internet might interact with their lives, and potentially with their community?