Online+Communication

Awareness: Like many of us, I email a lot. I keep in touch with family and friends through email. I don't know how I ever got along without it! It is ideal for asking quick questions without feeling an obligation to stay in a long conversation with someone (like my mother). I had used instant messaging quite a bit when my daughter first moved away, but now we text on our phones or just call each other. She isn't on her computer very much anymore. I belong to four listservs: OSU Library Media, OSU Writing Project, EDTECH, and LM_NET. I had never heard of them prior to 2005. Blogs and wikis were new to me about two years ago. I started a blog last summer in order to show my vacation pictures. I just got it caught up last week. I added pictures from special days since then. You can see it if you want: [|www.kimsloggett.blogspot.com]. I had started a wiki with my family to talk about Christmas plans and gift ideas. My sister hooked up video-conferencing for Christmas morning so my family could converse and see my daughter and son-in-law. It was cool! I also keep up with a couple of girls I know from high school, my ex-stepsons, and my daughter through our My Space pages.

Explore & Filter: I looked at some other blogs that I found through the LM_NET listserv and decided to subscribe to a couple of them. I am hoping that when my daughter gets moved into her new home we can set up a weekly "chat" via video-conferencing on our laptops. I've looked into Skype, but since she is in mid-move, we are waiting to decide on the program we want to use.

Learning & Application: I subscribed to the EDTECH listserv as a result of looking for more listservs in which to participate. I have "lurked" on it, but haven't really participated yet. There have only been a couple of threads I found useful. I have participated in the LM_NET and OSU Writing Project listservs. I don't receive very much from the OSU Library Media listserv. I've invited family members to view my blog, but haven't heard much. My daughter was really excited to see pictures from Christmas because she was only there through video-conferencing and didn't get to talk very much. I will probably give information to the teachers at my school about easy blogging so that they can do some with their students. We just need to be careful about using students' pictures online!

Reflection: I am looking forward to utilizing video-conferencing with my daughter in the future. I will continue to use email and update family members through my blog. I am hesitant to start a blog about my job or something more personal. Some things are just best kept to yourself!