Picture
taken by Jonathan Acuña at Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, CCCN, San José, Costa Rica
(2019)
An Online
Participator or An Active Listener (A Lurker)
One’s role as
a social media user
By
Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
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Head
of Curriculum Development
Academic
Department
Centro
Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano
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Senior Language Professor
School of English
Faculty
of Social Sciences
Universidad
Latina de Costa Rica
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Thursday, July 30, 2020
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Let us know and give an insight into the reasons
behind what I do.
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Creating a parody of Nordic Mythology,
Odin could have been labelled as a social media lurker. Had Odin been
using some sort of social media platform, he would have known lots of what human
beings in the different realms that existed beside Asgard, his home, longed for and thought of. Hugin and
Munin, Odin’s ravens whose job was to fly around the world of men, would have been
the software Odin needed to retrieve information regarding what happened in the
world of men. Hugin and Munin would have been “lurking” around and bringing
data that Odin was interested in accessing passively. Hugin and Munin
sound like a good name for online software to spot social media users by their
online persona, don’t they?
As a social media user that has no
Hugin and Munin, I tend to be watching the game but without engaging much in it.
My favorite way of online participation can be framed within the use of a self-journaling
blog I have had for over 10 years. It is here where I share thoughts and
teaching ideas with anyone interested in the language teaching field. I am not
into promoting my blog though it can be easily tracked on the Web on any
browser like Google Chrome. My intention is to share with novice teachers a bit
of what I have empirically experienced especially in online education, distance
teaching, online learning, virtual synchronous handling of classes, etc. I
seldom promote my writings over Twitter, which is the only social media
platform I have confidently but scarcely used for quite a long time.
Am I a lurker? Yes! I do not exactly
follow behind corporations all the time, such as renown publishing houses, to
increase my “listening” potential. But to be aware of what is now being said
about emergency remote teaching, Webinars that can help me grow professionally
and do my job more efficiently, I must lend my ear to get the news. I always do
this through my professional social media profile, which is never mixed with my
personal self or political affiliations. As a lurker I barge in on a
“conversation” over social media with teaching experts if that is part of the
rules set from the beginning; when I hold those conversations in a
real/virtual, academic setting (like a Webinar), I do not want the speakers to
be majestically worth with me if my opinionated persona gets in the way.
In conclusion, it looks like after this
reflection and seeing my thoughts in black and white, as a social media user I
am a dabbler, a person who uses a social media site sometimes but not that
often. In terms of my social media persona, I want to keep it professional but
do some creative work to contribute with my teaching community and community of
practice. This is why I write a blog to keep my academic insights available for
anyone looking for information in the teaching field where I have some
expertise. Yet, I would not label myself an online participator nor an active
listener (lurker) per se; I just want to try to understand a bit my
online surroundings and people’s behavior in it and their ethical decisions, if
any.
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