The Story Continues...

I wish this bubbling nostalgia I find at the end of each semester could be bottled for that week 8 feeling that will inevitably invade my consciousness in the fall. 

While our time together is coming to a close, I've decided this blog is not. While I will certainly be disconnecting as much as possible over the next few weeks, I have found the act of reflecting on my EME6414 adventures here to be therapeutic. As the fall semester continues, I will continue to reflect on my time within the ISLT program here at Florida State. While I feel this public journal will go widely unread, maybe some future prospective student will stumble across this account while trying to decide between programs herself.

I have really enjoyed reading so many of your insights as well, especially those in the K12 sector. As I previously mentioned in a previous posting, reading some of your accounts and perspectives has piqued my curiosity in potentially pursuing a career I had not previously considered. If anyone plans to continue on blogging their adventures in education or beyond, let me know! I would love to continue to follow along.

So while this is goodbye, it is more of a Toy Story 3 ending than a Toy Story 4*.

*- Although, in the spirit of full transparency, this goodbye is not flooding my eyes with tears in the same way as Andy parting with Woody, but you get it...

See ya real soon!

A LinkedIn Success Story!

Right before the beginning of the Summer Semester, I found myself trying to engage more on LinkedIn. While I had been on the platform for awhile, I really never utilized it beyond creating a resume and linking with connections.

Is there science behind why social media is blue?

Occasionally, I peruse the job postings on the site. In the wake of mass unemployment, I was curious to see if eLearning and Instructional Design positions had vanished or if they were now in high demand. By pure happenstance, I stumbled across a volunteer position with a local non-profit looking for volunteers with eLearning experience. It was the first time I had ever read a job description and not only knew every responsibility and program listed, but actually felt confident in my abilities to exceed the expectation in achieving the set goals.

I completed the digital form and held my breath. Luckily, I received an enthusiastic reply shortly upon sending my information over. A fun interview call and onboarding Zoom chat later, I was in.

One semester and two projects later, I just sent my supervisor a freelance proposal at her request. Moments of pure joy such as this reassure me that the long nights and debilitating debt are worth it. I love what I do. I love fixing problems and helping others and empowering learners on their educational journeys. Continuing to be able to do what I love for an organization that empowers girls and women AND potentially make some cash to pay bills is just *chef's kiss* perfection.

I fell into this great place I find myself by accident. What could happen if I actively work to cultivate a network on contacts? Maybe I'll be able to pay my good fortune forward.

"YouTube Creators, Then and Now" - Now

YouTube is the most widely used social media platform among U.S. adults.

US Adults Love YouTube

Here I am going to go on a bit of a tangent in relation to problematic creators. TW: Racism, pedophilia, bestiality. If you are interested only in the main points, skip to the next graph. 

On May 19th, 2020, I used two large YouTube creators as examples of large platforms to draw differences between "old YouTube" and "new YouTube."

By mid-July of 2020, one of these creators has officially left the platform and another has been completely absent from the platform, presumably at the suggestion of legal and/or public relations counsel.

In the summer where there were calls for holding people, even famous and rich celebrities, accountable for problematic, racist behavior, we saw a tale of two creators.

Jenna Marbles, a 33-year-old YouTube sensation was one of the first to create a career by releasing regular videos on YouTube after going viral in a 2010 video titled "How to Trick People Into Thinking You're Good Looking." In late June of 2020, Marbles (real name, Mourey) released an apology video in which she admitted to using blackface in a video in her earlier days of YouTube. Marbles says she unintentionally did blackface to play Nicki Minaj in her 2011 video that has been private for some time now. She cites her growth as a person.

Her apology, which has now been deleted from her page, also apologized for other racist and sexist behavior. Here she announced that she would be quitting YouTube.

The news of Marbles leaving YouTube was met with a series of outraged tweets and posts from others on the platform and fans of Marbles. Others were pleased reminding people to remember what led her to this choice in the first place. Overall, the rhetoric has been supportive of Marbles in that she decided to take action and hold herself accountable prior to trending on twitter for having been canceled.

Jenna Marbles as seen in her now deleted apology statement

Shane Dawson, a 30-year-old YouTube sensation has had a number of controversies over his decade on the platform after gaining fame for various sketch "comedy" videos. His shock-humor beginnings including disturbing content made around bestiality, pedophilia, and racism has been brought to light recently by an ever-growing minority of content creators. Many of Dawson's (real name, Yaw) newer followers that found his channel through more recent content focusing on exploring conspiracy theories and documentary-style videos on other popular YouTubers such as Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul, and Jeffree Star were unaware of this concerning behavior. The content of Shane Dawson that is in question recently is so disgusting, I will not be posting it here. If you have an hour of time and are interested in seeing the entire picture, I highly recommend you watch this video below. I will warn you that D'Angelo Wallace does not skim over any piece in the story and includes very disturbing video, audio, and photos from Dawson.

D'Angelo Wallace (922K subscribers) points out all of the disturbing behavior from Shane Dawson

Dawson also released an apology-type video, saying he was inspired by Marbles. However, in stark contrast to Marbles' apology, Dawson did not utilize specific examples and appeared to make excuses for his behavior explaining away concerning behavior through language summing up the behavior as a joke, even if not funny. He also did not commit to leaving public life in the same was that Marbles did.

Shane Dawson as seen in his apology statement

Marbles' apology was widely accepted. Dawson's apology was widely rejected. Marbles accepted accountability. Dawson seemingly put on a facade.

Both address how their content was released "in a different time" and that the content "now" can be offensive to some people. Something that many were quick to point out is that Dawson waited weeks after trending on Twitter for calls of #CancelShaneDawson before releasing a statement. He has been quoted as saying that he goes in and out of public favor every other year or so when an old controversy is brought to light.

Overall, the apologies on utilizing blackface are not meant for me and therefore I am not someone who can accept their apologies.

In my own opinion, I cannot imagine a time in my life that I would have found the controversial content created by Dawson funny. Yes, I was a fan of Marbles back in 2011 and as a high school student I did not see issue in her content where I do now as an adult. For this, I suppose my comparisons are not completely fair, but I do find the underlying tones of Dawson's content to be much more sinister than Marbles.

Why am I presenting all of this information? What is the relation to Web 2.0? I don't know I can make the connection in a fluid and eloquent way just yet. But it is important.

Kids watch YouTube. A lot of kids.

Americans Love YouTube

Especially in our Pandemic world, kids are using Web 2.0 platforms such as YouTube to form their personalities and an extension of their socialization. A CNBC article from last year stated:

Kids, [Katherine Chen, an associate professor of sociology at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Cente] told CNBC, are influenced by their surroundings and the way they’re socialized. Young people are “more exposed to YouTube influencers right now,” she said. “Children may learn about an occupation because of what they’re taught in school or in other kinds of influences and relationships.”

The excuse a lot of these Influencer heavyweights throw around focus on the difference in time. 10 years ago, people weren't so sensitive. 10 years ago, people were different. I was different. YouTube was different. Comedy was different. The world was different.

Regardless if that is true or not, a lot of the troubling "old YouTube" still exists on the platform for young and impressionable minds to find.

A lot of kids also want to be professional YouTubers. People grow and mature all of the time. How can we convey to the youth that while, yes, Shane Dawson grew his platform through inappropriate content and grew up to be a millionaire living in LA -- but that you shouldn't follow the same path.

We see kids going viral on Tik Tok getting canceled and losing scholarships and jobs and enrollment in their schools. But they keep coming. Should we shield our kids from creating content they may later be embarrassed of? How can we educate students to be better people than we were at their age? Is that a fruitless pursuit?

The Assignment? Produced.

July 27th, 2020: the first day of the last week of the Summer Semester.

With no new tools or readings to react to this week, I want to focus on reflecting on the long strange trip we have taken over the last twelve weeks. Instead of starting at the beginning and going through step-by-step, lets just start with the topic of projects in general.

Now I should preface this by reminding everyone that this is only the second semester of in the ISLT program. Thus far in my academic journey, there has been a significant emphasis placed on research and papers and annotated bibliographies and the standard three separate postings on discussion boards.

Formulaic and (probably) effective.

I am a wordy son-of-a-gun and meeting minimum word counts or pages has very rarely been an issue of mine. While I can't say that I live for reviewing academic journals, I do love writing a good paper. I was taken aback this semester to find not just a limit on word counts, but a pretty significantly small limit on word counts. Overall, the biggest challenge I faced in EME6414 was trying to convey my experience with zero frills and little background to just get down to brass tax. While I say challenge, it was such a welcomed change of pace.

Not pictured: the mountain of coffee that got me through each assignment.

Now, lets dig into each assignment a little more:

Community Assignment

The first project of the semester did wonders for my self-efficacy. While in the trenches of my two groups, I felt like a boat with no sail. What was I doing? What was I supposed to really be looking for within these groups? How would I adequetly share my experience? Then I sat down to write. And it came. I brain dumped all over the place. It all felt so relevant and important and it just flowed. I was then faced with the challenge of nixing information that felt crucial to the picture I was trying to paint. As I would make cuts, I was then faced with the issue of later content feeling unexplained and had to cut it as well. When all said and done, I still was a few lines over the limit, but it physically pained me to have to cut certain observations that truthfully needed all of that space on the page.

But I did it, and I felt good about it!

From an instruction standpoint, I absolutely loved having learners thrown into the wild west of the internet. I couldn't help but lose myself in thought of how a condensed version of this project could play into various lessons in a traditional education or training scenario.

From a personal stand-point, this assignment helped me see the value of true interaction beyond lurking within communities I was already a part of.

Knowledge Sharing and Tracking

The best laid plans, am I right? While I had set out with the noblest of intentions this semester, life got in the way right as I should have been gearing up for this assignment. By the time I had a moment to breathe and set out to jump into the project, I felt it too late to really engage in a way that would show through in my work. Thus, I decided to settle for the concept.

In my paper, I compared Twitter and YouTube and the strengths and weaknesses present in each platform's ability to collect, curate, share, broker, negotiate and construct knowledge. Being that I have such a personal interest in content creators and their uses for each platform, it was fun to imagine it through an educational lens. I think if I had more time I would have liked to produce the contents from the paper alongside a video comparing and contrasting experiences on Twitter to YouTube.

Overall, I was happy with some of the distinctions I made, although with no feedback on the assignment, I am hoping I at least met expectation.

Produsage

Alright, back on track! I was discouraged by having to settle for the concept version of the second assignment and refused to settle for less than the full version of the third project. I shuffled through all of our tools through the semester trying to create the most Web 2.0-infused course I possibly could -- and I did! And it was terrible. It read like I was trying too hard. It didn't feel realistic. So before even setting out to plan the lesson, I scrapped it for some tried and true interaction. I used social sites I was familiar with prior to the course, but did this because I decided that my group of learners would be from a commuter-based institution enrolling in a lower-level elective course. I centered my topic in a hobby of mine, photography, and tried to think about how to situate a class within the subject in an online space. I focused on building community between students while teaching the actual lesson but simultaneously boost their digital literacy.

My thought was that this fantasy learner profile would include non-traditional students. They may or may not be familiar with some of these "basic" social sites. Even if they were, there would probably be room for improvement in their using the site in general and especially for a professional/formal use.

I found the assignment unconventional, but very much enjoyed it nonetheless. It was my first lesson planning experience. While I have created training sessions, participant workbooks, and conference curriculum, creating one stand-alone lesson plan challenged me more than any other part of the project.

PLN

The final unchecked box. This 3-5 page reflection on where my personal learning network has been and where it is going is an exciting topic. I am still undecided as to if I will focus my efforts on a hobby or my professional network which I have worked to grow pretty significantly (with the help of tools discovered in this course!) over the summer.

Reflection - Sunday Scaries Edition

A few weeks back, we were challenged to go 24 hours without screens. After many failed attempts, I have finally found myself able to disconnect.

(Partly in thanks to my young daughter that smashed my phone which has required me to send it out for repair as the great unpleasantness has closed brick-and-mortar locations.)

I awoke early to get out on the water in my kayak before the storms of the day rolled in and spent hours out in the gulf taking in the sea and sun.

Peaceful.

Unbothered.

Serene.

I was able to decompress for the stresses of projects and deadlines and the terrible-twos and selling a house and injustices and political follies and infection rates and and and.

Just me. Singularly focused. Moving my boat forward.

Days that allow me to recharge in this way are few and far between, but so needed. I feel the mental clarity that can come from a disconnected day are so advantageous for new-found motivation.

While we can't disconnect in this way everyday, I certainly believe that I am going to make a very conscious effort to try and disconnect more often during the upcoming break. Researching content for my post on conspiracy bogged me down more this week than I had been in a few weeks. But disconnecting helped erased that "meh" right away.

Keyboard Warriors in a Pandmemic

TW: COVID-19, Child Trafficking, Political Content

Wear a mask or go to jail

Earlier this month, I found myself consumed by this conspiracy theory online about how Wayfair was being used as a front for money laundering for child trafficking by third party sellers on the site. A Wayfair customer myself, I was familiar with some of these really strange customized items that would be listed at $10,000 or more. While I always found it odd, I never paid it much mind. While it was outrageous, I don't think the idea of third party sellers utilizing a large site such as Wayfair to money launder in this was is completely out of left field.

In digging into all of the tweets under this hashtag, I was exposed to some extremely unnerving and outlandish claims. I understand the outrage these people feel: if you read accounts of people presenting information as fact about the endangerment of our children, it would spur that feeling in people of "why aren't people talking about this!? Everyone must be in on it and that is why they aren't saying anything!!!" I found myself consumed by connecting these dots. Well, people do always call Hollywood a soulless town, maybe they are referencing the satanic cult of the Hollywood elite!?

Then, I disconnected. I thought about the credibility of the accounts I was reading. I thought about all of the truly crazy tweets related that I discredited at first glance. Okay, that person is off the rails, but the other more palatable responses fit the narrative that makes sense in my mind.

The term conspiracy theory is thought to have been coined in 1906, but the concept has been around much longer. Part of the appeal of a conspiracy theory, in my opinion, is that you feel you can get in on the ground floor. You feel like you know things people don't know. Its similar to true crime podcasts studying unsolved crimes: follow the string to find the truth.

This week, I read that Sincalir Broadcast Group planned to air Plandemic across their almost 300 television stations across the nation. The 26-minute conspiracy theory is laden with misinformation and debunked claims about COVID-19. In my opinion, this is extremely dangerous. Someone may see the "documentary" being given a qualified platform such as NBC 40 in Tallahassee or Fox17 in Nashville, as solidifying it as truth.

More concerning? The commander-in-chief deciding that his public musings on dangerous conspiracy theories can help his re-election. If you have 20-minutes, I think the below video from John Oliver's Last Week Tonight provided some great insight into the topic.

There are so many loud voices online challenging the idea of wearing a mask. Challenging the idea that COVID-19 is even a real disease. I could not help but draw connections between COVID-19 to the MERS outbreak in South Korea back in 2015 through this week's reading The effects of SNS communication: How expressing and receiving information predict MERS-preventive behavioral intentions in South Korea (Yoo, Choi and Park, 2016.)

"...84% of the rumors regarding H7N9 outbreaks were disseminated and transmitted by social media during the outbreaks in China. The spreading of rumors and misinformation via social media can cause panic among people and further lead to social chaos during an infectious disease emergency." (Yoo, Choi and Park, 2016)

 

We are seeing this play out in real time here in America, especially here in Florida. Social media, which has worked as the lifeline to the outside world for many during the early days of mass quarantines, has bread rumors and misinformation like wild-fire. Most viral videos of "Karens" out in the wild refusing to wear a mask, even in the threat of public humiliation, cite incorrect information spread online or utilize fake resources claiming they are exempt from wearing a mask.

Undoubtedly, social media can be the catalyst to provide late-breaking and important information. Social media can also give a platform to misinformation. Curtailing potentially dangerous information is something  I think we will see play out over the course of the next few years as Twitter takes on some  responsibility in this matter by banning certain users.

Is it too little too late? 

Is censorship an adequate response to solving the problem?

What are your thoughts?

The Beginning of the End

Week eleven!?

As is the norm in this year we call 2020, this summer semester seems to have flown by and dragged on simultaneously. I've lost some steam as the near crawls closer, but have so enjoyed my time learning about Web 2.0 tools. There have certainly been some conversations that have opened my eyes and expanded my thinking that I wish there was more time to marinate in. I constantly wobble about in my preference of semesters and quarters for this very reason -- while I like the idea of a class ending prior to this loss of motivation, I fear there not being enough time to dive deeper into content of interest.

As we near the end of the course, I find myself in a pensive state reflecting on all of the ground we have covered. The topics I found the most enjoyment in this summer were our conversations around digital natives and community development.

Selfishly, I have found the topic of digital natives to be of extreme interest and I would love to have spent the entire semester learning more under that umbrella. Looking back, I wish I would have made more of an effort to review each topic through the lens of that theory.

Our work under the community development umbrella has inspired me to remove myself from the shadows of some online communities I follow. I feel like I am the cliche comment "long-time listener, first time caller" each time I engage with my favorite YouTubers. I have found the engagement pretty rewarding and the creators that I have taken time to comment on almost always respond or acknowledge my comment in some way shape or form. I may have even been inspired to put myself out into the internet as a content creator at some point in the future.

Overall, this contemplation I find myself in is both happy and sad-- I am excited to finish strong and hope you are too!

Por favor, manténgase alejado de las personas

If you can't tell by now, I am missing going to Walt Disney World an awful lot this week. I have spent most birthdays over the past decade walking through the parks. And yes, being that my birthday is mid-July, it does feel like the surface of the sun.

In the grand scheme of things, its a silly thing to be upset with when there are people losing their lives and their livelihoods and fighting to prove their own humanity. In month four of this new normal, the melancholy is setting in and I long for a good dose of Disney magic.

As our course winds down, I am sad to see the end in sight. I have so enjoyed the topics covered each week and this week was no different. I find a lot of the innovative ideas on evaluation and the motivation of learners in online spaces to be motivation in and of itself for me to continue on the path to education despite current events.

Let me borrow a phase we are all familiar with these days: now, more than ever, the look of education needs to change. We need to keep all of our children and teachers safe. We need to use the tools at our fingertips to innovate and invigorate learners and teachers alike while we connect from afar. In this perpetual pensive sadness, I think it is important to think of the positive possibilities that may come out of this great unpleasantness. 

And with that thought, please stand clear of people. Por favor, manténgase alejado de las personas.

Oh, and wear a mask.

Paging Mr. Morrow … Mr. Tom Morrow

Reading the introduction to Peter Williams' 2016 journal article, Assessing collaborative learning: big data, analytics and university futures was exciting as I saw all of the buzzwords that thrill me. Soft skills and cooperative learning and authentic learning and (the big one) analytics. Pedagogical trends they may be, but the idea of mainstream education taking on a role that focuses on real-world applicability alongside traditional educational subjects just excites me to no end. Studies such as this suggest that perhaps I am not alone in my preference for personal development situated in authentic learning. Will the culmination of these trends, the state of education, and technological advances materialize into concrete systematic changes in education or curriculum?

Welcome to the future (?)

The big phrase that stuck out to me in Williams' writing was in the purpose of his paper:

"The purpose of the paper is not to advocate the use of learning analytics across the board but to consider its potential in supporting a shift in focus from the assessment of individual students’ performance in isolation to the assessment of their performance as team players. A rider to this analysis is a strong recommendation for university leaders to deploy analytics not to exercise restrictive management and control over individual students’ learning, but to support and evaluate their collaborative working in realistic contexts."

In my professional life, I have encountered limited situations in which I am working alone as an individual. Often, there is some team collaboration or approval to be found within multiple facets of my work. I have found in working with certain co-workers, those that excelled the most academically are often the worst to collaborate with in a work project. My unsubstantiated hypothesis has always been that education is often self-centered. Suzy focuses so intently on her grades for each assignment/project/term that she does not find value in cultivating skills in a collaborative team atmosphere. Grades for group work often include individual components and Suzy is probably the type of person that will take on everyone's responsibilities to ensure above average marks.

The ideas about shifting focus away from "teaching for the test" and individual performance in favor of a "team player" assessment sounds futuristic, but is important.

A Salute to All Nations, but Mostly America

I keep seeing the same buzzwords over and over and over and over-

"Unprecedented"

"Now more than ever"

"Challenging times"

2020 has seen its fair share of abnormal goings-on in a number of different arenas. It also seems to be an incredibly politically-charged  moment. Of course, I cannot say with any authority that it is "the most politically charged" time in history. I am sure it is not, but it feels like it.

Have politics gotten nastier, or have technological advances given a platform to unheard voices? Are we more politically divided on issues now than a decade ago, or are those just the loudest voices in the room? Why has science become a political issue? Have we lost our humanity? Why couldn't we all do our part like the rest of the world so I would feel safe spending a Saturday in The Most Magical Place on Earth?

The ultimate patriot, Sam Eagle

A 2019 article by Joseph Lahne and Benjamin Bowyer raises this question: Can media literacy education increase digital engagement in politics? The duo states that participatory culture within political realms often fosters problematic behavior such as the spreading of misinformation, echo chambers and incivility via platforms that seek engaged users and not righteous actions. Undoubtedly, students need to learn how to navigate these digital avenues to weed through opinion parading as fact and out-of-context headlines used to prop opposing arguments. The study conducted by Lahne and Bowyer (2019) finds that the concept of the digital native is a fallacy. While a lot of the youth's information and time is dedicated to life online, they are not the messiahs of digital culture (Lahne & Bowyer, 2019.) Their findings overall suggest that if the youth is exposed to digital engagement learning opportunities, they would be more likely to engage in online political activity.

While I agree with their assertion that there is a need for more work in this area, I find the results brought forward by Lahne and Bowyer to be compelling.

After reading this article, I started to think of the student engagement online through the lens of what we have been championing this semester: Web 2.0 tools in education. If an educator teaching a course in a social science or political science unleashed their students to the world-wide web prior to some type of digital literacy, what could the consequences be? Furthermore, in the midst of these political debates of unpolitical issues, how can an educator maintain their neutrality in a politically-motivated environment? That is, if a kerfuffle were to arise between students' opposing viewpoints, could an educator step in a way that completely shielded their bias?

In the words of Sam Eagle, now for my glorious three hour finale conclusion.

(Wait, what?  I have 90 seconds? uhh)

I believe that infusing Web 2.0 into the curriculum of these subjects could produce personal development beyond what could be garnered from centuries-old texts, but how? Perhaps you start the class in a shielded environment like a discussion board or Google Classroom prior to encouraging them to move their work to more public arenas?

I suppose there is no one right answer, but I think I may have stumbled upon my topic for our next project which I have been struggling to nail down....

Social Meida and the Classroom - A Reflection

Social media is a beast regardless of context. There are certainly problematic themes that carry across educational, professional, and personal spaces. Truthfully, I had never considered social media in the classroom a possibility for the K12 crowd due to privacy and exposure to harmful content. The past two weeks have opened my mind up to that being a plausible avenue.

As an adult learner, I have loved learning in an online space. The opportunity I had to communicate with David White a few weeks back was something that fed my academic soul and helped motivate me to learn beyond the course requirement in that subject. Utilizing platforms I know in different ways has also helped me hone real-world skills outside of the basic Microsoft Office Suite or a random LMS. I also feel empowered to channel my own interests into my work in more meaningful ways than discussion board post.

While there are obviously differences between adult learners and children, I feel that those in high school tend to exhibit pillars of andragogy when given the chance to take control of their learning. High school students are already online. Learning how to be responsible online citizens while learning relevant content seems like a win/win.

As I move forward in my own education, I feel more drawn to pursuing K12 as a potential career path. I have so enjoyed peeking behind the curtain and learning about my classmates' experiences in that world. As I reflect this week, I reflect on my own long-term goals.

Like a lot of innovative ideas, I don't know if current structures support the experience I envision, although this upcoming semester may be the time for those in education to test it!

Networked Knowledge and Cancel Culture

Being the Millennial and culture disputer that I am (labeled), I cut the cord to cable over five years ago. Over the years, however, I have accumulated profiles on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, CBS, HBO, and Amazon Prime. Despite all of this, I still spend a majority of my time watching free content on YouTube.

While I am not one that follows the beauty community of YouTube, occasionally some of their drama seeps into my recommendations and I tune in. Like a car crash, you can't look away at some of the horrors. Last year, there was a video that went viral after one large YouTube beauty guru publicly shamed and separated from the most subscribed-to beauty guru on the platform. One year later, she apologized in a lengthy video explaining how her thoughts and actions were influenced by two other large personalities on the platform, one of which, Shane Dawson, has been facing severe backlash for disgusting acts published in videos from his past.

Jeffree Star (17 million subs), Shane Dawson (22 million subs), James Charles (19 million subs)

While I don't want to get into the topic itself, watching commentary videos on the subject made me consider points raised in our most recent assignment. The later activities of networked knowledge, brokering, negotiating, and constructing are all demonstrated in this community. There are what appear to be thousands, if not millions, of users discussing theories, facts, and opinions in the comment section of commentary videos and on other social media platforms. Creators dedicated to providing commentary on these occurrences then take the information negotiated in their comment sections and information seen in tweets and create a new video constructing the new knowledge. These creators and viewers co-construct knowledge despite no statements from involved parties and present this as new information. This new "information" can lead to very split parties calling for influencers to be "canceled" or for others to boycott their products and unsubscribe from their social media channels.

In my opinion, I feel that cancel culture for problematic personalities is often more performative than long-lasting. They seem to fall out of favor for awhile, lay low, and then return relatively unscathed. This cultural phenomenon leaking into the lives of everyday people, especially younger audiences, I feel could culminate in a perfect storm so to speak. Online personalities often have teams to shield them or other avenues to pursue. What happens to a young teen when he or she falls out of favor with those in his or her circle? Damaging information could spread and severe bullying could ensue that cause teens to act out or worse.

People should be held accountable for problematic actions, but does this obsession with "canceling" powerful people for a short time harm the psyche of audiences? Do platforms such as YouTube exacerbate the way people learn in a negative way or is it similar to the effects of cable reality programming?

Tool Spotlight: Slack

AOL Instant Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack -- they are all the similar but different. All of these platforms function to connect those separated by distance, be it across the globe or across the office. They have chat features and away messages.

These chat apps have evolved over the years. No longer do I get to represent myself as KrazeKC14 and a princess crown with a cat meow when sending new messages. No, now I have a professional photo and my full name. I only communicate with those in my academic or professional circles. I don't post melodramatic song lyrics as an away message. (Seriously, if I saw someone posting deep 90's punk lyrics as an away message today I would probably be concerned enough to call someone)

I still miss the sound of the opening door showing that my friends had just gotten online.

Slack, unlike the nostalgic AIM, is a beautiful and sleek platform. It is easy to use and very rarely do I feel it having to unexpectedly quit or lock up like I have experienced with other platforms that have come into fashion during our current and ongoing unpleasantness.

The project management focus of Slack is what I believe personally sets it apart in my opinion. The workflow capabilities are more user-friendly than others in the field in my experience. While obviously not the complete intent of bringing Slack in as a class tool, I could not help but ponder how it may function in a remote learning class for the K12 crowd. As an adult learner, I would love a space that felt more informal at times to chat or raise questions outside of a traditional discussion board. Being placed into teams for group work and document sharing would be the highlight, of course, but I feel that this connection piece could bridge the gap that many feel is lost in the shuffle to online classes.

Do you think K12 students would utilize some of the features of Slack? Is the chat room now passe?