Figure 1
Resident-Visitor Typology Map
Above is the map of my technology use based on the resident-visitor typology. I am usually very private in online spaces, although that is now changing with the MALAT WordPress blogs. I am also interested in becoming more of a resident on LinkedIn, but I am having trouble trying to figure out what to post that would be valuable for myself and my readers.
Although I have private accounts on services such as Line and Facebook, I put them on the resident side because they still leave a footprint and they are “a place, perhaps like a park or a building in which there are clusters of friends and colleagues whom they can approach and with whom they can share information about their life and work” (White & Cornu, 2011). I think the public and private dichotomy of technology is not fully addressed by the resident-visitor typology. Residents can have private footprints and private spaces “where the distinction between online and off–line is increasingly blurred” (White & Cornu, 2011). Although it is private, I am not a visitor. I feel that engaging in private spaces allows group discussion and development of ideas without exposing yourself to the public and the potential safety concerns that come with that.
References
White, D. S., & Cornu, A. L. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v16i9.3171
Hi Heather,
I’m very much the same as you when it comes to keeping my personal life private and off-grid. In particular, I have a LinkedIn profile, but never care to use it for personal or professional purposes – well, at least up to this point. Having spent the past two years in the MALAT program, I can definitely say that who you wish to project to the professional community will become clear as you work through the program. At the start of MALAT, I had no idea who I wanted to become, professionally, other than knowing I had experience as a higher education instructor and course designer. Through MALAT, I realized my specific interests in the field of learning and technology, and now, know exactly who I will project on social media and what type of posts I will focus on. In the end, it’s just a persona, and these things tend to change over time.
What aspect of learning and technology are you most interested in at this stage of the program? What EdTech topic would you most like to learn about? I don’t think I could have answered these vary questions two years ago, and if I could, my answer likely changed drastically since then.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your reply. It is heartening to know that how I present myself online will become clearer over the course of the program. I am now planning on having more of a presence on LinkedIn as part of this course. I guess I will see how it develops over time.
I’m interested in learning all about learning and technology! I guess I would focus on aspects related to instructional design the most. I am interested in learning about heath care and mental health topics in EdTech, but again, I am open to all areas. I’m interested to see where I will be two years from now.
I agree with you, that the visitor/resident scale doesn’t fully address the public/private aspect of things.
What contributions do you make to the wiki community?
We have a wiki at work that we use for Electronic Health Record training. It is a Confluence wiki that is called the Cerner Wiki.
Thanks for these insights, Heather. You questions regarding interactions in private online spaces were the initial catalyst for my query to the group regarding the dimension of open vs private and its relationship to visitor vs resident.
Thank you for this comment! I am very interested in the open vs private dimension.