Online+Communication

=Online Communication = Awareness: My awareness level of online communication is pretty comparable to most people of my generation. I have three email accounts: one for work, one for personal use, and one I use for junk mail (this is the address I give when I have to register for something online that is likely to result in lots of SPAM). I have Facebook and MySpace accounts, as well as an AOL Instant Messenger account. I also use Skype religiously to communicate with my family while I travel for work. We also use Skype to show off the kids to their grandparents (this saves lots of money in plane visits). I belong to a few Listservs and Discussion Groups, mainly having to do with work-related topics. However, one of my weaknesses is a Blog & Discussion Group Combo called Viva El Birdos ([|www.vivaelbirdos]), which is dedicated to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Explore/Filter: Feeling pretty confident in the ways of Email and Instant Messaging, I used my explore/filter phase to make my way through several blogs and Discussion Groups. Though I read many of these, I rarely participate. I helped out my wife with our family blog (ben-shawnamurrie.blogspot.com) and started actively participating in a few of the Discussion Groups where I am a long-time reader but first time talker. This wasn’t quite as eventful as I had hoped, I think many people just use these forums to vent or put out information. No one seems to want to engage in too much discussion in the discussion groups.

Learning: I am often asked to write a blog. I spend so much time traveling and my work is so unusual that many people feel my daily life is interesting enough to merit such proclivities. However, what makes my daily life interesting also makes it quite hectic, now more than ever. Perhaps one day when I finish school, I’ll undertake the blog, but now I am content to read on occasion. As I mentioned before, when I did choose to participate for the purposes of this assignment, I was a little disappointed at the lack of interaction. It seems most online communication mediums are designed for two-way communication, but mostly used for bombarding others with information. From a Facebook status to a Twitter tweet to a blog, people like to be able to talk about themselves. True, many like to read all of these posts, but not without sharing what’s on their minds as well. I suppose that’s why we need to distinguish between different types of communication. I didn’t know there was such a distinction, between asynchronous and synchronous communication. However, it makes sense. There are so many varied methods and manners, we need to categorize them. Though I appreciate the ease of the former, I am a person who values quick feedback and love the synchronous exchange from moment to moment.

Application: I continue to explore blogs and listservs, I’ve even taken on a few regulars now. If I need a quick laugh on the road, I turn to “overheadeverywhere.com” where individuals post random conversations they have heard in school or on the subway. I’m still obsessed with baseball and keep lending my story-telling to the family blog. I do intend to start my own one day, maybe that will be my next project.

Reflection: As I mentioned before, I am as familiar as many with email and social networking, but actually participating in listservs and discussion groups was the manner in which I stepped outside of my comfort zone in this assignment. I intend to do so more at some point, but mostly remain content as an observer. I rely on blogs and discussion groups for everything from deciding what town to live in next to deciding on a restaurant for the night. The vast progress in online communication makes lives exceedingly easier, but thus propels us to more progress so that we never quite have the time we want to enjoy our success.

A Few Communicative Sites I Enjoy: [|www.vivaelbirdos.com] [|www.ben-shawnamurrie.blogspot.com] [|www.overheadeverywhere.com] [|www.oneangrygirl.net] [|www.nopornpledge.com] [|www.preventconnect.org] = =