Personal Learning Network

Something New ...

Starting my Personal Learning Network is very intriguing.  Since I never heard this term, I turned to the internet in an attempt to grasp what this term meant and how I could apply it to my personal learning objectives and professional interests. 

A PLN is a form of independent learning and is intended to provide the most benefits by using it in a “give and take” fashion, meaning participants collaborate by sharing their knowledge in specific areas as well as learning from each other's posts.

In the past, I created accounts for Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, etc., however, aside from seeing “hash-tag” posts on certain topics or individuals, I didn’t realize any other benefits from them.  I believe that is because I wasn’t viewing them to learn or make connections with others who share similar interests to me. 

Now, with my new appreciation for how these social media sites can assist me with my educational and professional goals, I have reactivated my accounts and started searching for individuals who are experts in my field of study.  I am also searching for a few blogs to subscribe to as they pertain to my career.  I plan to keep this simple at the onset so I don’t get overwhelmed with information overload.

The following links provided some additional insight of how to view a PLN and incorporate this idea into creating your own PLN:
http://www.slideshare.net/corinnew/empowering-students-through-learning-networks and
http://olecommunity.com/the-power-of-personal-learning-networks-wait-what-is-a-personal-learning-network/

Browsing the Web

As an internet “surfer” since its inception, I am familiar with many of the terms described in this chapter and thought it was an excellent review describing web sites, web pages, web servers, browsers, navigating recently viewed web pages, creating “favorite” subfolders, etc.  However, I have to admit that I encountered some terms I never heard before and this lead me to think that right now it is probable that new terms are being created to describe additional functions currently in the developmental stages.
   

While I perform certain functions described in this chapter on a daily basis, I did not realize there were actual terms associated with them. One example is “tabbed browsing” which is the term used when multiple web pages are open in a single browser window. While at work or at home, I usually have numerous web pages open at the same time to assist me in whatever tasks I am performing.          

This chapter taught me how to save a group of tabbed favorites in Internet Explorer and I plan to implement this knowledge immediately since I have numerous “favorite” subfolders which can be grouped according to how I use them with names such as “education”, “personal”, or “gardening”.  This will be a definite time saver because now my web pages will now have some organization instead of being a long list of web pages saved to my favorite folders.  Mozilla Firefox has a similar tool called “bookmarks”.
     
On any given day, my co-workers talk about breaking news stories on CNN and I wondered how they learned so quickly about what was happening elsewhere.  According to CCN RSS, they are subscribers to CNN's RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and get breaking news delivered their desktops.  What really interested me about the RSS feeds feature was how I could use it with respect to the blogs we all created so I could receive notifications when we entered new posts.  After doing the exercise in our textbook to learn how to set up RSS feeds, I added feeds for all our blogs to learn firsthand how it works.
   
Other features available on the Internet which I plan to learn more about are: “web slices”, “accelerators”, “inprivate browsing” and “inprivate filtering”.  What was interesting to me about this chapter is how it made me really look at the web pages and tool bars to learn what the icons represent and the various built-in shortcuts available for our use which saves us time when browsing the internet.

It’s funny how you don’t always see what is there to be seen and for me, this was especially true with this topic.
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REFERENCES:
                   
CNN RSS. (2014).  Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/services/rss/            

Web Browsing Image.  Retrieved from: http://lookwhatmomfound.com/2012/12/safe-surfing-a-guide-to-getting-your-kids-started-on-the-web.html
        

Net Neutrality

Currently, there are no limitations imposed on what individuals’ access, upload or download via the Internet. Net Neutrality is the concept that Internet Service Providers (ISP) will NOT be able “to block, degrade or charge extra for legal content and applications that run on the Net” which provides individuals the freedom to roam about the web.

Through my research, I found numerous articles and opinions written based on the recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the case of Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission (2014). According to an article by Brian Fung of the Washington Post, this decision essentially “struck down the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, which prohibited Internet providers from blocking or prioritizing Web traffic”.

Based on my understanding of this decision, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have any authority over the ISPs simply because of their current classification which was established by the FCC. Aside from appealing the recent Court decision, the FCC could reclassify ISPs as common-carrier services like the telephone companies, or change their rules as they pertain to these specific providers.

What could this mean to consumers if this decision is upheld?  Most likely, increased fees imposed by the content companies to absorb the additional fees they are charged to provide their content at faster speeds, or suffer the consequence of limited access to the content available on the Internet. This begs the question, how much could they charge and who would regulate those particular fees, if anyone? 

Based on the way individuals and corporations access the Internet as part of their daily routines, the regulations of Net Neutrality are a concern for all of us.                 

References:

Fung, Brian. (2014) Washington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/14/d-c-circuit-court-strikes-down-net-neutrality-rules/

Verizon/FCC Image:  Retrieved from:  http://www.howardforums.com/content.php/1583-Breaking-Down-Verizon-v-FCC

Wordle - Internet