blogmarch

I was a part of the Ning group project, and I have to say that I don’t know how our project could have worked without social software tools, as well as group members (initially, not me–better now) who were so comfortable using the various tools.   We never had to meet in person, yet we were able to communicate, confer, address problems and make suggestions, all through the the wiki that Lindsay set up during our first discussion.  As a stay-at-home mom, I do my homework in little increments, during naps, between scheduled activities for the kids, etc., so being able to not only do the work at home, but to confer with my group members on the wiki proved to be invaluable.   Meeting in person is near impossible for me, but I never felt that we missed out by not being able to do so.  I feel like the wiki was such a good place to gather our thoughts and to keep a record of our progress.

Our subject matter could never have been possible without social software, since the subject was a type of social software.  It was fun to explore the world of nings.  At first, I had trouble finding one that I wanted to join.  As is often the case with user-created tags or titles, unless you know the tags or the exact title used for the ning you are  looking for, it can be daunting to try and find an exact match to your interests.  I settled at first on Babble Ning, a ning for parents.  While it was active and well-populated, it even had a separate Twin Cities forum, I realized that I am not that interested anymore in reading parenting stuff, at least not that kind.  I don’t care anymore about how to get your kids to sleep, the best way to potty train or why you shouldn’t let them watch too much t.v.  I mean, I care, but I’m over the needing-advice part of it all.

Then I found the Law Libraries and Librarians ning.  This was a great ning.   It has 411 members, and is very active, with many subgroups, a good mix of experts and novices, good discussions.  Some of the forum topics included:  legal issues, legal research, library applications, and innovation and change.  A couple of the users were very helpful when I started a discussion asking for feedback on how they use the ning.

It was also great for our group to be able to work on our powerpoint together using Google documents.  While there were a few glitches trying to get around Google docs being blocked for Erin, Lindsay found a way around it.  I had never used Google documents before, so this part was another learning experience for me.  It is amazing to me to be able to do all of this from the comfort of my home computer.   Even just a few semesters ago, I don’t think I would have thought it possible to finish an entire group project without meeting or calling each other, especially not constructing a powerpoint.  I suppose you could have done much of it all through email, but that would have entailed a lot of “which email did she say that in?”  and “whoops, I deleted that, could you resend me your information?”

In her post about our project, Lindsay talks about participatory culture, where there is often some type of informal mentorship, in which the more experienced members often teach the novices.  I definitely felt this in our group, with me as the techno-novice.  In our first meeting together, while we were talking, Lindsay set up our wiki, and Beth set up our initial ning, both within the first five minutes of our sitting down together.  They both had also worked with Google documents before, so they not only set it up, but also explained how to use it.  I usually dread having to work in groups, mostly because I feel like I am more interested in doing good work than others tend to be.  Not so in this group.  Everyone was respectful of varied opinions, open to suggestion, and quick to take on whatever work was necessary.  Instead of feeling like I was doing all of the work, at one point I felt the opposite, and had to say “Hey, what can I do to equitably participate?”  This was a fun, seamless and informative group project, and I really appreciate the technical prowess and hard work of my group members.