smallpotatoes

For the fans of A Different World, you are probably already familiar with the fictional black college. For those of you who have never watched the show, it's where most of the storyline is acted out. More importantly, it's the inspiration for a digital community on TikTok.  It all started when Dr. Leah Barlow, a liberal studies professor at North Carolina A&T, created a TikTok welcoming her students to her intro to African American studies course. The video landed on the FYP of thousands of people who decided to follow along. In the days to follow, other black educators began teaching classes in subjects such as gardening, screenwriting, and chemistry. A former math teacher, Cierra Hinton, named the community, and with the help of other content creators, they came together to organize the content. A student union, a board of trustees, and a student governing board were developed. Though the full courses weren't being offered, some followers actually followed along the s...

A question that often comes up in my department is: how do students become aware of our services and events? We know one answer is social media. For us, Instagram is where students engage with us the most, followed by LinkedIn.  Recently,  the question came up again.  When discussing how students find us through social media, the conversation turned to the lack of cadence and tone on our accounts.  My colleague, whom we will refer to as "Scarlett," explained that our department uses our social media platforms as a pinboard. They explained that our social media should also have a call to action. Now, the call to action may vary depending on the posting, but we clearly aren't utilizing this strategy. So the next question was, who is? Surprisingly, the FSU Library was brought to our attention.  FSU Libraries' Instagram is relatable and sets the tone for prospective students, current students, and even alumni. Their page is a balance of content creation and informat...

If you've been following along from "Episode 1," then you may remember that I have a very on-again, off-again relationship with social media.  Well, remember the Knowledge sharing/ tracking assignment? It made me very "on" again on Instagram (one of the tools I used for the assignment), and I realized that I do not have the willpower to resist doomscrolling. What started as an effort to better understand the app's features turned into a four-hour catch-up session. Since this was an account I had mostly followed other "foodies" on, you would think I was engaging with communities that reflected my own food page.  NOPE! I found myself scrolling through multiple posts from various comedians, one creator who has 10 kids, and apparently a bunch of content I don't even remember.  Also, I think it's important to add that I am not engaging with any of the content to avoid "feeding" the algorithm. So no likes, comments, shares, or reposts. ...

When does a social media platform become a learning community? I have talked a lot about how I have been learning through social media platforms like Reddit. This week's readings left me questioning when we make the distinction that a platform becomes more than just a place to consume information and becomes a space of shared knowledge.  Better yet, what are the rules? Or are there rules? Does the creator have to be a professional in the field? Does someone have to actively participate by completing an assignment or adding a comment to a post? Does the reader/consumer, in fact, have to acknowledge that their purpose is to learn?  The authors of "The Social Media Learning Activities" suggest that learning spaces are created through the activities that take place within them. Having a page or account on a platform wouldn't automatically qualify it as a learning space. Which led me to wonder.  When do we go from consuming to participating? Is logging on and reading enoug...

Have you ever watched the movie "We're the Millers"?  The movie is about a drug dealer who convinces a group of strangers to pretend to be his family so he can smuggle drugs across the Mexican border. There's a scene that has since become a meme, in which one of the family members realizes the others were being paid to participate in the family trip.  If you have never seen the movie, the joke is that everyone else knows something that he doesn't. Similar to how I felt when I first started this course  As I read some of the blogs, I'm impressed by how everyone connects concepts to their own experiences. In a way, I felt like I was playing catch-up, like wait a minute ... y'all knew we were learning on these platforms?  Before this course, I wouldn't have described social media as a learning space. Instead, it was a place for me to connect with my colleagues, keep up with old friends, and, honestly, doom scroll. Many of the platforms I had joined served...

I'm about to put you on ...  If you haven't already (even if you don't live locally), you should join the Tallahassee Foodies group on Facebook.  In fact, it is one of the best resources recommended to me since moving to Tallahassee.  I have used it to collect  information about restaurants and food-related events locally. Members share information about new restaurants and experiences, and they also ask for recommendations. This has also led me to the Tallahassee foodies webpage, which  curates information for local foodies. On the webpage, members and visitors can find information about local cooking clubs and food events, with the webpage serving as a knowledge broker for the community.  At first, I viewed the group as just a place that shared information, but I've come to realize it builds community. In Revitalizing Traditional Malay Kuih Through Facebook: A Study of Online Culinary Knowledge Sharing , researchers found that Facebook suppor...