The presentation below describes in an incredibly simplistic way my journey throughout this module.
http://www.powtoon.com/embed/bJvXuaEmZ4X/
The image below demonstrates just how far I believe I have come.
Topic by topic, here is how it all happened.
Topic 1: Digital ‘Visitors’ and ‘Residents’
This topic allowed me to identify where I, at that time, laid on the continuum between visitor and resident. The internet was more than simply a tool to me, I had various online profiles and felt it was more a place/space to exist and inhabit deeming me as a resident.
Topic 2: Online Identity
After identifying how I use the internet, I could assess what exactly I left behind on the internet, my digital footprint. I reflected upon the benefits and drawbacks of having multiple online personas and whether they were all a true reflection of you. I believed being a multi-faceted brand online is representative of how people are in reality, and various online personas allow you demonstrate that in different online realms whilst maintaining your true identity.
Topic 3: Developing an Authentic Online Professional Profile
I was inspired most by this discussion and believe this was where I started to find my feet within the module. It was the first post I began to use multimedia to aid my points, even creating content myself. I have always taken a keen interest into marketing and I tried to write a post which focussed on the branding of one’s self and attempting to treat ‘you’ as a company. It spurred me to take my own advice and ‘promote what I do best in the right places’, hence developing my LinkedIn profile to advertise me in a greater professional sense.
Topic 4: Ethical Issues related to the use of Social Media & Topic 5: Content Producers and Open Access
These two topics were less introspective, requiring a more macroscopic assessment. The varying posts from all my peers relating to Topic 4 showed just how vast the scope is concerning ethical issues online. The issue I felt was the most significant was the digital divide. Being born to Nigerian parents and having recently been back, I saw first-hand the disparity between internet access here and in Nigeria and just how this affected the nation’s educational system and even economically. Topic 5 made me understand why not everything is freely accessible and why some content producers might want their work to be open to everyone. This topic was probably the most difficult navigate between and pick a specific standpoint as I was writing as a content user from a content producer’s perspective.
The Future:
This module shoved me out of my comfort zone in to a blogging territory I had never considered to exist in. The feedback from people outside of the module has given me the confidence and courage to continue with this new-found hobby. Not only is it fun to do, but also helps me to enhance my own personal professional brand. My posts have inspired a group of friends and I to set up a collaborative blog, where we plan to tackle different areas of interest to us and share our ideas and thoughts on the topics, hoping to, like this module, create a discussion. I also plan to continue updating my online profiles, specifically tailoring Facebook and Instagram to be my private personal profiles, while Twitter and LinkedIn will be used to showcase myself in the professional world.
Thank you #UOSM2033.
[534 Words]
Thoughts by Kevin Irikefe 