Social Media Tools

PBWorks

http://3flksngroupg.pbworks.com/w/page/83392228/News%20and%20Social%20Media

PBWorks is an online collaborative tool that will allow remote access for groups to specific written material.  It begins with an individual selecting from six different types of Hubs: project, agency, legal, business, wiki, and education.  I chose the project hub, since it was the selection that I would likely use in the near future.  With this selection, individuals would have some nice tools for different types of pages at their disposal; an individual page for assignments, activity tracking, syllabus, sidebar, course, meeting agenda, and the ability to create a page.  It seems that this platform will be utilized by all educators and students in the near future because of its seamless transition from the classroom.  Teachers could post their requirements for class, while students would be able to collaborate for projects and also have a resource for work completed and an itinerary for tasks to come.

Google Hangouts

https://plus.google.com/events/c3ha7d3n2bjanqu12mm3llnmpsk

Google Hangouts is another online collaborative tool that allows broad audiences to connect with each other via webcasts, webinars, and web conferences.  The webcasts, as well as the webinars, would cater to specific audiences, and typically institutes a one-way format from the speaker to the audience.  Live meetings or presentations would be accessible simply by logging on to a computer, which would enable the viewing and participation of a web conference.  With Google Hangouts utilizing these three features, individuals have the luxury of witnessing a bevy of informative and collaborative sessions from the comfort of any setting they see fit.  Because of its convenience, individuals can have hectic schedules, but maintain the capacity to be productive wherever their agenda’s take them.

Online Video Sharing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p0JGn1adBk

 Have you ever wanted to share more than just the pictures from an event?  How about sharing the entire experience from start to finish in live action?  If you’ve ever had these types of feelings, the perfect solution awaits… Video sharing!  Video sharing allows various people with vast personalities to upload and share online videos of whatever experience they elect.  The most common apparatus for sharing is YouTube, but can also include Vimeo, Vine, Twitter, and Facebook.  These media tools can reach all audiences effectively because all users can connect with each other, send messages, leave feedback, share videos of their similar personal experiences, and also search for additional information.  With over four billion hours of video viewed per month on YouTube, and seventy-two hours of video uploaded every minute, it appears that anything desired to be viewed can be found through this online medium.

References

United States Department of Health & Human Services.  (2013).  Online collaboration

            tools.  Aids.gov.  Retrieved from

            http://aids.gov/using-new-media/tools/wikis/

United States Department of Health & Human Services.  (2013).  Webcasts, web conferences,

            and webinars.  Aids.gov.  Retrieved from

            http://aids.gov/using-new-media/tools/webcasts-web-conferences-and-webinars/

United States Department of Health & Human Services.  (2013).  Video sharing sites. 

            Aids.gov.  Retrieved from

            http://aids.gov/using-new-media/tools/video-sharing-sites/

Unrestricted Web Publishing

Mass media creates a global home for millions of users who contribute to its informative platforms.  These platforms include Time, The New York Times, or The Huffington Post, and countless others.  Unfortunately, all of the contributors do not follow a strict criteria when it pertains to posting informative and credible content from an actual source.  But, there is help.  In the guidelines illustrated in the article, "Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources," the author provides several hints that will aid in distinguishing what is reliable information and what is not.  

To test and evaluate these guidelines for personal understanding, I visited an online news publication, The New York Times, for articles pertaining to the recent abduction and death of a Palestinian teenager.  I found an  article written by Isabel Kershner, a writer who has covered middle-eastern events on previous articles.  After reading her article, and viewing some of her 3,000-plus postings regarding middle-eastern events, she has generated a distinguishable authority regarding content from that particular region of the world; which is one of the guidelines present in evaluating the credibility of a particular resource.  The author also presents the information from an unbiased perspective; there's no product or organization promotion, or even a personal stance regarding any social/political issues, she only publishes the verifiable facts regarding the issue at hand.  Kershner also provides current information with links from additional NY Times articles that verify relevancy, and the subject can be fully covered in WWW sources.  Thus, substantiating her stance regarding her content.

Kershner, as well as other contributors to online publications, adhering to the specific guidelines providing credible content is essential for followers to be informed to the fullest extent.  Illustrating the opposite, providing unrestricted web publishing, can have a catastrophic effect.  Unrestricted web publishing holds this capability because the posting of unverified content can be misleading to all parties involved.  Providing false or incomplete information, biased information, outdated information, information without credible sources, could possibly result in conflict between two groups of people who ordinarily would not have any involvement with one another.  The misinformation could additionally create a hostile attitude toward a particular region or group of people that, in some cases, could also result in lives being lost.  In any case, whether residential or global, unrestricted web publishing has the potential to cause tragic damages to a society.  Therefore, it is of the responsibility of its contributors to hold themselves and adhere to a higher standard in order to maintain credibility, order, and also peace.