The final act: A Refelction of Living and Working on the Web
And so here it is, the final post of my module Living and Working on the Web.
I’ll start with the things I have learnt during the module that I feel were most important and useful, which, unsurprisingly, are the things I will also take into future modules. The first of these is the use of informal, yet reliable, sources, even if it’s just to get a background of a topic. I found it incredibly helpful reading more informal sources of information in researching the topics and feel they provided me with a much better initial understanding than scientific journals would have. Obviously future assignments that I have to write-up are unlikely to have use of these informal sources, nonetheless I will certainly use them in other modules as an easy way to understand the essence of a topic. A second aspect that I will take forward is the discussion had with others during each topic. I feel this would be especially useful for critical thinking, something that is vitally important in my degree; having an appreciation of how others interpret particular theories or viewpoints could prove invaluable.
The module, by definition, has given me the tools to be able to create my own online professional profile to aid me in my search for employment. This has largely come in the form of a LinkedIn profile, argued by many of my peers in Topic 3 to be an essential online employment tool. As well as this I have an AboutMe page which links all of my different online identities and a Twitter account. Nevertheless, this module was simply a starting point for my online profile development which I will look to continue long after the module is complete. One way I will do this is through continually building my LinkedIn profile. Due to University being so hectic, I was only able to consider the things learnt in Topic 3 recently, and so my profile is in its early stages, however I see it as something akin to Twitter, something that gets built up over time. In light of this, I intend to spend the next few weeks getting to know LinkedIn much better and building up the connections necessary. Once this has been achieved I can look to creating networks in industries I want to move into. Along with my LinkedIn profile I also intend to follow Lucy’s lead and use Twitter for professional use by engaging with potential employers, something I had never thought of doing before. I feel these are both crucial but achievable first steps, and intend to have something to show by the summer.
Finally, there was one stand-out viewpoint I had before the module regarding the visibility and privacy of social networks that was altered during, due chiefly to a blog by Schawbel and an article by the Huffington Post. I hadn’t realised how important social networking was to my online identity and how it can’t all be on lock-down, as I need some sort of visibility when my names is potentially googled by employers. It made me appreciate that it’s not about hiding who you are on social networking, just ensuring that you present yourself in a sensible, professional manner. Because of this I have since freed up access to my Twitter account and peeled back a level of privacy on Facebook so that some information about me is revealed to the public.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this module.
