Tag Archives: connectivism

When a personal brand isn’t an identity

Posted on by acrystelle
1

Last Saturday I co-facilitated a workshop at the ALIA 6th New Librarians Symposium – Building and managing a professional identity.

Towards the end of the workshop, I shared my views on the concepts personal brand and professional identity, by placing them within the wider context, that is the information profession. I was greeted with stunned silence when I was re-assured by participants that their brains were ticking over, that I provoked thought. This was a good thing. I had met my objective. My work was done, so to speak.

I thought it appropriate to share this. And this post has been a long time coming.

There are loads of articles and resources out there that claim to improve a personal brand. There are loads of much of the same to (establish or) improve a professional identity. One might think these terms could be used synonymously, and they might be right. But let me put them this way….

Firstly, let’s look at connectivism. A professional identity can be illustrated through this theory and is of particular relevance to our networks. The theory of connectivism provided the grounding on which my research (a few years back) about developing personal learning networks sat. Connectivism shaped my thinking about professional development and learning as a profession, but more on that a bit later.

Okay, for those who need a refresher on what a personal learning network is, here’s my view. A personal learning environment is something you create for yourself to assist with professional and personal development. Tools such as Word, Evernote, a notebook and Twitter, for example. A personal learning network is the people component, it is those whom you connect with, interact with, exchange ideas and knowledge with. There appears to be articles abound saying a personal learning network is Twitter. I disagree. Twitter is a tool in your personal learning environment you use to connect with your personal learning network.

Back to connectivism. Nowadays there is so much information. We cannot process and make sense of it all individually. It’s impossible. The theory of connectivism says that knowledge is distributed and resides in connections, and that it won’t be a matter of knowing stuff (“just in case”) but we must now have the ability to traverse networks of knowledge, information and resources to know what we need to “just in time”, quickly and easily. Connectivism says the process of learning is creating, navigating and nurturing connections. The ability to see connections between ideas and concepts will increasingly become a core skill in this world. I’ll credit Siemens (2005) at this point as he was one of the first to publish on this idea.

Now hold those thoughts.

Think of yourself, an information professional, as a node in a network. A network has more than one node and is made up by connections and relationships. So I guess you could say a personal learning network, or even the profession itself. A network, or your personal learning network is a living thing that is constantly evolving as your needs and connections change. Sure, there’ll be people who you’ll be friends with for years, but generally, as your professional development needs and interests change, so will which organisations you’ll follow, articles you’ll read and courses you take.

Now hold onto those thoughts too. The picture will all come together, I promise. I just need to lay the foundations for you.

Since publishing a blog post in 2011 about personal branding, my thinking around it has changed (and so it should). Back then I identified three elements of a personal brand.

Perception – your personal brand is how others see you. How others experience your contributions to discussions, projects, etc form your reputation.
Public face – your presence (online and offline) and the professional you display publicly. A blog name, blog design, domain, twitter username, avatar, logo, all make up your online ‘public face’.
Differentiation – your character traits, skills, knowledge, experience and interests identify you as a professional and make you different from others.

From these elements, I identified three things that determined a personal brand.

  • identity
  • professional relationships (connections)
  • reputation

Makes sense, right?

I’m not going to say my thinking was wrong back then. But I will say that I dislike the term ‘personal brand’. Probably one of my biggest biffs about it is there is so much advice out there about building a personal brand and promoting your personal brand. A brand is a mark, a stamp. Quite frankly, the concept ‘personal brand’ says “me, me, me”, it also says ‘storefront’.  This makes a ‘personal brand’ inflexible. You see, I really don’t think the term ‘personal brand’ sits well with a network of information professionals, most only too willing to share and exchange their knowledge with one another.

Whether we like it or not, we’re all developing professional identities. An identity is something to be shaped and will evolve over the course of a career. A professional identity can be seen and developed online or offline. It just so happens we spend a lot of time online and those in the information profession who actively develop their professional identities tend to be those we recognise. Yes?

An identity invites interaction and growth. An identity is communicated through various means. Notice that I say ‘communicated’ there. I will argue there is a difference between promotion and communication. How so? Simple. Communication is two way, it’s engagement. An identity is formed not by a flashy website or a swanky Twitter handle. There’s no prize for that. An identity is formed through active engagement with the profession and its members. Developing one self into a professional that is recognised for unique expertise, skills and knowledge defines a ‘node’ in a professional network.

At this point, I’ll put this to you. If we all had well-defined and recognisable professional identities, would we then be able to recognise knowledge (skills and experience) more easily and make faster and stronger connections? With strength in connections and ability to make new ones (with knowledge), can we accelerate the development of the profession’s knowledge base, and make it more robust? If currency in skills and knowledge is the intent of most, if not all professional development activities, would we need to constantly make new connections?

I’d like to call this “learning as a profession”. What do you think? Is it possible?

The difference between ‘personal brand’ and ‘professional identity’ is that we don’t connect to a brand when we develop networks of knowledge, we connect with the knowledge, skills and experience as part of a network of professionals (the substance). There’s more to building a presence in this profession than setting up shop with all the happening social media tools. Developing a professional identity is not about promoting one self to get noticed. You get noticed in this profession by being generous with your time, skills and knowledge, and the sharing of resources and opportunities for development. Not with a storefront. Where I get a bit peeved is that there is so much focus on building a ‘personal brand’ that we run the risk of promoting (or flogging) the shit out of it. When we make connections, all we’re really connecting to is a ‘public face’, not an identity.

One can do all the right things like creating a LinkedIn profile, promoting a blog, spend hours deliberating over a Twitter handle. But all these things are really only one aspect – a public face. There needs to be more focus on developing our professional identities, the differentiation we bring to the profession. We need to make meaningful connections to people and knowledge, not just to a nice looking avatar. I’d like to see more emphasis on developing ourselves as a unique professional, and over time a well-defined one that we’ll all know where to turn for specific knowledge and/or skills. If we devote efforts to our professional identities, the other elements, like reputation and public face, will flourish with it.

So, is there a difference between ‘personal brand’ and ‘professional identity’? Perhaps not in the terms themselves. But the difference I’ll argue, is the motivations for being in the profession and in the online space – is it “me, me, me” or “hire me, I’m awesome”? Or do you see yourself as a participant in the conversation?

The theory of connectivism places developing a personal learning network in context. It takes a bigger picture perspective and approach to growing knowledge for the profession, not just ourselves.

If someone came to me, not that they have, but if they did and tell me “I have a Twitter account, a blog and I’m on LinkedIn but nothing’s happening. Why am I not hired?”, my first question will be, “did you splash your presence about the place, or did you engage in the conversation”?

So I ask then, why are you here?

NLS5 – Preparing the Mindset

Posted on by acrystelle
2

What started out as a fragmented idea, fueled by curiosity and encouraged by a certain lecturer, has now evolved into a research project and paper, the presentation to be made at the New Librarians’ Symposium, held in Perth next weekend.

Here, with this post, I’m reflecting on the inception of this project, trying to articulate my thoughts and clarify the purpose of my presentation. So don’t mind me. :)

When the call for papers for NLS5 was announced last year, as quickly as ideas emerged, I had initially dismissed the opportunity. I didn’t think my ideas would be good enough for a serious discussion with somebody, let alone presenting them.

This little research project inspired the start of ‘Flight Path’, and the beginning of an increased presence in the online LIS community. My research looked at the adoption and development of a new information professional’s, my own, personal learning network. I have attempted to capture what it’s like to establish connections and build relationships with others in the community by sharing my thoughts and experiences here, conversing in the Twitter-sphere, and measuring elements of PLN participation and building with quantitative data. The focus was not so much on the tools I used, but how I used them – the strategies and lessons – demonstrating the immersion into the online community “in action”. It’s all very well to set up tools – Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, a blog, etc – but to support PLN growth and the approach to continual professional development, the way the tools are used ultimately determines PLN effectiveness.

Outcomes of my research is by no means complete, nor was it a perfect methodology. What I believe I’ve achieved (and wish to contribute and share) is the establishment of a benchmark for measuring effective and engaging personal learning networks, identification of strategies for PLN adoption and possibly an enhanced understanding of the concept by learning about and applying network theory and connectivism.

The purpose of my presentation is to reflect and share my experiences of PLN development. The aim is to inspire, guide and encourage other new information professionals who may be uncertain about starting out in the online LIS community. I admitted long ago that the mere thought of using technologies and tools was very daunting and difficult to comprehend. There is no doubt in my mind others feel the same way. What I’ll be trying to achieve with my presentation is to put these thoughts at ease, assure there’s plenty of people to assist (and are very happy to!), and show that successful immersion into the online LIS community and the establishment of a personal learning network can happen with small steps.

So the end is near, a chapter comes to a close for this piece of research. Following NLS5, I think I’ll sit down to consider what the next steps will be. What aspect of the PLN concept can I clarify or expand on next?

If interested in some background reading, here’s some key posts I’ve written on PLNs.

10 Must Reads for PLNs
Principles of Connectivism and the PLN
Personal Learning Networks and Environments – Same thing?
PLN Adoption: Which stage are you at?
Focusing on Network Theory

One, giant leap…

Posted on by acrystelle
Reply

One. Massive. Semester.

Taking a step back from it all now, this last semester was indeed challenging. I’ve tried new things. I’ve learnt A LOT. Yes, it has been one, giant leap for my LIS career.

While only enrolled in one subject (focusing on web content), I also conducted a small research project of my own and produced my first conference paper, to be presented at the New Librarians’ Symposium (NLS5), held in Perth later this year. Not to mention my full-time paid work, organising events for ALIA New Graduates group and writing an article for the association’s ‘InCite’ magazine. Phew!

How did I deal with it? Well, to be honest I just kept truckin’ through it. Yes, deadlines were tough, and yes, I did run out of ‘steam’ towards the end. But I really do believe I kept a fair amount of focus on tasks throughout the entire time. Again, how? You ask. I planned well and was systematic. Simple. Implementation of the ‘Getting Things Done’ methodology assisted with making me stop and think about the next actions required for both my subject and research project. I input these into my task manager app on my phone (which also syncs to my Mac). A weekly review of tasks ahead enabled me to manage my (huge) workload, re-schedule and juggle tasks around as needed. I used project folders (or document wallets), organised on a rack, to hold all my notes, readings, etc pertaining to each. Flexible hours at work were a bonus. Even with my systematic approach, I ran into hiccups and mistakes.

I’d never started or written a blog before.

I’d never written a conference paper before.

I’d never written an article for ALIA’s InCite before.

I’d little background knowledge prior to commencing my Masters subject.

I’d never formally gathered data before for a REAL project/ conference paper.

That’s a few ‘firsts’.

Notice that these ‘firsts’ are primarily focused on writing? Ah ha! Written communication was a skill I identified as needing improvement at the beginning of the year. I’ve taken up every reasonable opportunity to write. As a professional (and perhaps academic in-the-making), I need to write well.

Guaranteed, I make life hard on myself. But if it wasn’t hard, everybody would be doing it! If I want to learn about something, information architecture for example, I’ll go learn as much as possible. That’s just how I am. I’m also privileged to have academic staff (on hand) to make me feel comfortable to discover things for myself. ;)

The most significant ‘take aways’ from what I’ve learnt this semester are: -

  • content management and systems
  • information architecture
  • web content governance
  • developing skills in HTML
  • connectivism and personal learning networks
  • conference writing process

Learning about content management systems and information architecture have coincided with projects I’ve instigated at work in the technical library. This has worked out really well as I believe I’m now informed with the basic, necessary knowledge to proceed.

Looking to next semester, I’ll again be enrolled in one subject which will compliment my newly found interest in information architecture, and presenting my paper on Personal Learning Networks at NLS5. I feel I need a bit of a break, a breather.

Between now and then, I intend to catch up on and finish readings for CCK11, read up about conducting research, and reassess skills development and create a plan for the next six months.

There’s not much I would change about my approach to my workload. I guess the one thing I would like to improve is my attention to detail, and deciding on a method and sticking to it. From something as simple as recording and tracking research articles I’ve read, to reviewing my task list.

The ‘keys’ I’ve learnt these last few months are: -

  1. Know your (productivity) limits.
  2. Be systematic and proactive.
  3. Identify next actions – look at the tasks/steps required, don’t view the whole project as a single task.
  4. Look forward, not backwards – focus on what you can do, not dwell on how you may have screwed up.

One, giant leap. Yes, indeed.

I’ve been challenged.

I’ve struggled.

I’ve learnt.

I’ve achieved.

10 Must Reads for PLNs

Posted on by acrystelle
4

A recently new follower on Twitter who is keen to learn more about PLNs contacted me last week, after being referred by another in my PLN who knew about my current research in PLNs and Connectivism. The final paper for the New Librarians’ Symposium has been submitted, so there’s no better time to compile and share resources and key authors resulting from my literature review.

While my research focused on the use of PLNs by library and information science professionals, a key finding from the literature was a concentration on the use of PLNs in an educational context. Discussion tended to centre on the evolving use and purpose of learning management systems. Other themes included attempts to distinguish between personal learning networks (PLNs) and personal learning environments (PLEs); prescribing tools to start a PLN, and tips on how to “join the conversation” and grow a PLN.

Must-Reads

Supporting concepts of PLNs are: -

  • Connectivism
  • Network Theory
  • Personal Learning Environments (PLE)

Check out other articles, posts and presentations by these authors: -

  • Alec Couros
  • David Warlick
  • Howard Rheingold
  • George Siemens
  • Stephen Downes

And these Slideshows…

Other tips and resources for learning more about PLNs (and connecting to others) include: -

  • Follow the #pln hashtag on Twitter
  • Set up a Diigo account and look for bookmarks for PLN resources

Principles of Connectivism and the PLN

Posted on by acrystelle
1

Amidst attempting to work up some “headspace” momentum for writing my NLS5 paper, I thought I’d write my fortnightly post for the project….

During my literature review for the paper, I drew yet another link between the theory of Connectivism and the PLN concept. The “Principles of Connectivism” by George Siemens can be applied to the PLN context, in order to understand the purpose, characteristics and success factors of building and participating in a PLN. The eight principles (as stated in “Connectivism: a Learning theory for the Digital Age”) are: -

  • Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
  • Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources.
  • Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
  • Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
  • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
  • Ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill.
  • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
  • Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, does not mean it will be right tomorrow, due to the constant shifting in the information climate.

For a PLN to be successful – to thrive and for its collective knowledge to evolve – there needs to be a diverse set of people connected to the network. In the LIS community, this would involve cracking the echo chamber and include people who may not work in a traditional library per se, but who work in different sectors, information environments, and also those who work in varying degrees of information professional roles such as information/enterprise architects, educators, information technology and business management. What I would recommend to those contemplating establishing a PLN, new information professionals like me, is that it’s ok to select people outside of ‘library world’ to follow, to support learning goals and interests. Diversity strengthens a network’s ability to create meaningful connections between information resources and ideas by bringing together varying opinions and understanding. The key is have an open mind.

In the current “digital age”, it is becoming increasingly important to develop the ability to know where to find information, rather than know the information itself. This is due to the ever-changing and evolving information climate, in that connections are being formed every day, every minute. I believe this is where librarians and information professionals are ahead, we are already “connectivist” minded. Librarians and information professionals’ skills, are indeed, more valuable than ever in the current information landscape. It is then inherently clear that the need to continually fine tune information skills, strengthening our “connectivist” ability, is a key driver to establish and participate in a PLN.

PLN Participation Update

# of Tweets for fortnight     94

# of Followers gained     5

# of Mentions     71

# of People I started following     10

Total # of Blogs/Feeds     54 (down 2 from last fortnight)

Top 5 Blogs/Feeds I’ve found to be good reads recently

  1. Librarian by Day
  2. iLibrarian
  3. Alexandra Samuel
  4. Annoyed Librarian
  5. David Lee King