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Crystal Anderson: Reaping the benefits of blogging

Dr. Crystal Anderson, Associate Professor of English, publishes her research in a medium that many scholars avoid: A blog.

Anderson, who teaches classes in Asian film and literature, stumbled upon “Kpop,” or Korean popular music that is part of culture (“Hallyu,” a cultural movement) that strives to spread Korean culture throughout the globe through music, film and television. As she continued to explore Kpop, she found that there was no centralized place to get information. She launched her blog, Kpop Kollective, as both a vehicle for her research and as an online Kpop information hub that fosters collaboration.

So although Anderson’s blog is an untraditional way to publish her research, she has found many benefits to it, including:

A hybrid nature

What differentiates Anderson’s blog from other Kpop websites, she says, is its ability to combine both fun information and theoretical research, which has been approved by Elon’s Institutional Review Board.

“There’s nothing like it on the Internet,” Anderson says. “It’s not a fan club or a super academic, scholarly, theoretical approach that isn’t approachable for those consuming Korean popular culture. That’s why we want to emphasize the hybrid nature – it’s fun and serious.”

Anderson follows her “hybrid” approach by combining fan news with more complex discussion about Kpop’s impact on society. For example, a recent blog post by a KPK member focused on blonde Kpop stars. Since blonde hair does not naturally occur in Asian cultures, it is exotic, unusual and can represent rebellion, Anderson said. Blog posts like these generate intelligent discussion about Kpop trends.

A broad reach

Since people around the world are interested in Korean pop culture, Anderson feels that a blog is the perfect place to publish her research. She also knows that having an accessible blog will contribute to the reliable information about Kpop on the Internet.

“If the purpose of scholarship is to contribute to the body of knowledge so people can learn, this is the new way to do it,” Anderson says. “It makes academics approach what they do in a different way.”

Blog feedback is also instantaneous and public. Anderson and the other Kpop Kollective bloggers end up communicating with people all over the world.

“You find a larger community,” Anderson says. “I talk to people in Singapore and Australia.”

Allows collaboration

Though Anderson describes herself as something like a managing editor of Kpop Kollective, she stresses that she relies on others to create the final product.

“We have a lot of people with a lot of different skill sets,” Anderson says. “We take anyone who is passionate and committed.”

Kpop Kollective writers include Elon students, an academic librarian at the University of South Carolina and even a 15-year-old in California. The diversity of writers adds to the hybrid, dynamic nature of the blog.

 

For more information about Kpop research, contact Dr. Anderson at canderson14@elon.edu. For information about incorporating blogs into your classroom or research, contact Teaching and Learning Technologies at 336-278-5006 or tlt@elon.edu.

 

 

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This Week in Tweets: May 11, 2012

In case you missed it, here’s what @elontechnology and @elonteaching have been tweeting this week. If you have yet to begin using Twitter, learn how to get started.Twitter Bird

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This Week in Tweets

Happy Friday! In case you missed it, here’s what @elontechnology and @elonteaching have been tweeting this week. If you have yet to begin using Twitter, learn how to get started.

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This Week in Tweets

Happy Friday! In case you missed it, here’s what @elontechnology and @elonteaching have been tweeting this week. If you have yet to begin using Twitter, learn how to get started.

Also posted in Teaching and Learning, Twitter | Comments Off on This Week in Tweets

This Week in Tweets

Happy Friday! In case you missed it, here’s what @elontechnology and @elonteaching have been tweeting this week. If you have yet to begin using Twitter, learn how to get started.

Also posted in social networking, Teaching and Learning, Technology@Elon, Twitter | Comments Off on This Week in Tweets

Getting started with Twitter

Overview

“Tweets” are short, 140-character messages that are sent out into cyberspace. Once you set up a Twitter account, you can Tweet as much or as little as you like and follow your friends, companies, news sources and more.

Terms that are helpful to know

  • Tweets: Twitter is the web site you are using to post messages; these messages are called “tweets”. So when you hear someone say that they’ve tweeted about something, or “Did you see my tweet?”, what they mean is that they’ve posted a message (tweet) on Twitter.
  • Following/Followers: The whole point of twitter is to share information with others. If you “follow” someone that means that you’ve subscribed to their twitter posts (when they post a tweet, you’ll see it). If someone is following you (they’ve subscribed to your twitter posts), they are one of your “followers”.
  • Twitter Stream: When you login to your twitter account, you’ll see messages from all of the people that you are following. This is your twitter stream. If you’re familiar with Facebook, this is akin to the Facebook “wall”.

Anatomy of a Tweet

Take a look at the picture below. This is a screenshot of a tweet that recently appeared on Elon’s Twitter stream. Since you are limited to posting 140 characters, Twitter has created ways to fit more information into less space!

  • Tweet Branding: In the example above, you see a picture of Elon’s mascot (the Phoenix) along with “ElonPhoenix” at the top of the tweet. So anyone can tell relatively quickly that this tweet was posted by ElonPhoenix… thus, successfully branding their tweets!
  • @username (e.g., @elonalumni): creates a link to that user in the post. So if you clicked on @elonalumni, you go to their user information. Putting @username in your tweet is called “tagging”. In the above post @elonalumni and @ElonPhoenix were tagged.
  • RT: Re-tweeting, or re-posting someone else’s tweet, is a good way to avoid recreating the wheel. It’s also good tweeting etiquette – never copy someone else’s tweet and post it as your own!
  • Shortened URLs (e.g., http://ow.ly/65o9E): You don’t want your 140 character limit taken up by a long web address! When you post a tweet with a long URL, Twitter may offer to shorten the URL for you.
  • #hashtag: Although the example above doesn’t include a “hashtag”, you will see #hashtags from time to time. Know that hashtags are great ways to categorize tweets. If you click on a hashtag (e.g., #technology), you’ll be taken to other tweets that have that tag as well. It’s a great way to find information quickly (or categorize your own tweets)!

Ok… Read­­y to Get Started?

  1. Create an Account: Go to http://twitter.com. You’ll see “New to Twitter” prominently on the screen. Fill out the required information to sign up. Twitter does a great job guiding you through the process. Be sure to add a picture or graphic so that you can take advantage of branding opportunities!
  2. Find People to Follow: Twitter will make recommendations for you to follow based upon your account information. Take a look at some of Twitter’s recommendations, or find some on your own by searching for names or topics. (Take a look at some of our suggestions below.)
  3. Tweet Away! You’re ready to start tweeting! What should you tweet about? That’s up to you! Many people will tell you to avoid things like “I just headed to the grocery store.” Ok, yes, that’s telling people what’s happening, but is it really all that interesting?! Think about how you want to use twitter. Twitter is much more than just a way to share what you are doing day-to-day – it’s a great way to share information that you’ve found that could be interesting to others. So, let’s say you just read a great article that you want to share with others – that’s a perfect tweet (e.g., “Thought-provoking article from @TechRepublic on Leadership Trends http://url.com”).

Recommended Higher Education Twitter Feeds to Follow

Finding people or organizations to follow isn’t as difficult as you may think. Twitter is no longer considered a new technology, thus many people/orgs have Twitter accounts. Think of colleagues that you admire or organizations that interest you. Search for them using Twitter’s search feature – chances are many of them will have Twitter accounts! Once you find a Twitter feed that you like, take a look at who they are following to get some more ideas. Here are a few to get you started:

  • @chronicle (Chronicle of Higher Education)
  • @educause (Educause)
  • @elonteaching (Elon Teaching and Learning — ok, shameless plug!)
  • @elontechnology (Elon Technology – another shameless plug!)
  • @GdnHigherEd (Guardian Higher Education Network)
  • @HuffPostCollege (Huffington Post – College Edition)

 

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New Prezi Features

Prezi, an online presentation tool, has released several new features listed below. Learn more about Prezi.

Prezi Meeting
You can now work together in real time on the same prezi! With Prezi Meeting, teams can collaborate live or simply present prezis with up to 10 people in a prezi at one time. Prezi Meeting is included in all license types.

Color Wizard
Now you can customize prezis according to your choice of colors and fonts. Paying users can even add their own business logo. Create branded themes by adding your exact colors. If you are a designer: start editing the CSS of the prezi directly.

Drag and drop files to PreziDesktop
Drag and drop images, videos and PDF documents directly to PreziDesktop from your computer! The color wizard and CSS editing are also available in this update of the offline editor.

Snap to
Ever wondered about creating more order in the Prezi galaxy? Now you can rotate, scale or move objects and they will automatically snap into position with other objects. You can also align text with other text boxes.
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