Getting the most out of this Ning Thing...

[Kirsten Haugen]

I am curious if others out there are also wondering how to make the best use of this Ning (and other web 2.0/social networking sites). For me, it's part learning the technological possibilities and also making sense of them in 'real' social terms and developing appropriate uses or conventions. For instance, in 'real' life, friends are for hanging out with, calling on when you need help, and keeping in touch. How does that translate to a Ning where I now have friends whom I've never met face-to-face? And I'm still sorting out things like what goes in my ning blog vs. a group vs. a forum. Finally, I want to contribute to and make use of this Ning and other resources on the web without it absorbing a ton of time. So I hope this post/discussion makes sense and I'd love to hear from others about what this Ning means to you, how you're using it, and what you'd like to get out of it. Any thoughts?
- Kirsten

[KarenJanowski]

Kirsten,
I'm so glad you started this discussion. Thank you! This is part of the beauty of social networking tools - that anyone can create content where we can collaborate and network.
(ocs/spreadsheets/presentation for online collaboration, for example) and a ning allows us to share our experiences and learn from each other when it works for us.
It is asynchronous free professional development where we can call upon our network for help and support. We don't have to work in isolation anymore or depend upon f2f although meeting people whose blogs I follow or who I follow using other social tools was a highlight at CTG.
I love the connections that we are making. For me, Ning is a bulletin board or list serve on steroids!
I belong to another ning networking group called Classroom 2.0 which has over 3500 members from around the world and a very active discussion group about every topic imaginable pertaining to our 21st century schools.
Where else can you be connected to that kind of collective wisdom representing educators worldwide?
One other point that may save you time, I suggest that you subscribe to the AT ning network which will send you updates in your aggregator as they occur. You can choose to follow them or not depending upon your time constraints.)

[Kirsten Haugen]

Forum? Discussion? Group? Where does your question, comment or topic belong?

As we shape the AT Ning, I'd like to think about where things go. Maybe I'm just afraid a Ning could become the collective, online, digital version of all the piles on my desk... "I know it's in here somewhere..."

To keep that from happening, I find it useful to think aloud:
* When do we add a comment or question to someone else's discussion?
* When do we post something to our Ning blog? When do we send a message?
* When do we start a group or a forum? (And what's the difference between a group and a forum?)

Some of these decisions are technically driven, but clearly most of it will be a collective, social decision, made either intentionally or unconsciously built over time, and will affect how useful the AT Ning is in terms of both active and "archived" discussions / input / resources, etc.

[Kirsten Haugen]

What are Friends for?

How do you decide who to ask to be a 'Friend' on Ning? How do you make use of your Ning Friends? What other thoughts do you have about Ning Friends?

[Brian Wojcik]

Personally, I choose friends who I either know in real life or I find, through the interactions on the forums and page comments, that there is some common ground. I look at adding friends, not as a popularity content, but as a means of connecting with people with whom I would like to learn more. Does that make sense?

[Kirsten Haugen]

This Ning, That List Serve or Some Other Blog? How do you juggle all the web 2.0 and social networking tools?

As Madalaine P pointed out, a lot of us who've jumped into this AT Ning are also dabbling in, experimenting with or heavily relying on other Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites. This area has exploded in the past few years, and I think we're still in a process of both explosive growth of tools as well as a sifting and sorting process of evaluating and choosing what works and how. I'd like to hear from others about what your favorite networking tools are and how you choose, use and juggle them all.

[Brian Wojcik]

For me, again, this is just a personal perspective, across all of these services, the one thing in common are RSS feeds. I use Google Reader to keep track of these services and any changes on these services. It helps to have everything in 'one place'. It also helps me prioritize what I check frequently versus what I check 'every once in a while'. I agree, this information rich and dynamic world can be a little overwhelming at times. On the other hand, I have never been able to connect with so many people and learn so much in such a short amount of time.