How to link job hunting & social networking

This week I read "The Blog is the New Resume" and "Social Networking has its perks". These articles were very enlightening because I never saw the blog as a resume. But after reading the article I understand why employers would consider the blog a resume. I always thought that blogging was a hobby or something to do with your free time. But then I learned that your blog is a representation of who you are, because it is an unedited version of yourself and it mirrors your thoughts and opinions.

However, I disagree with the second article with respect to if people "want to find a job they should get out from behind their computer". When it comes to job hunting, we need to be creative because competition is high and I think using the computer may actually be an asset in finding a job. For example, having an online presence that is presented in a professional manner, like having a LinkedIn account.

But what I found intriguing, was that the same article suggested using Facebook to market yourself in such a way that makes you appear valuable to potential employers. Though the article acknowledged that Facebook discourages this practice, it suggests that one way to avoid mixing your personal and professional presence would be to have two separate profiles. Now, my question to you is 'do you think this is effective?'

Kids & Technology

For this week's reading, I came across two distinct articles that relates to 'Online Collaboration'. The first article I read was "Students discovering online collaboration" and the second article was "Online Collaboration Tools".

The reason why I say these articles are distinct is because the first article speaks of current collaboration tools that is presented to first-graders and the second article speaks of tools that were available before broadband. Nevertheless, I found them very interesting, it provided me a time-line and a vision of how far internet capabilities have come.

I think its great and a clever idea to introduce these collaborative tools to kids early. But I do share some concerns with Kristen Alloway. For example, kids using nonauthoritative sources, accessing inappropriate materials and giving out personal information online.

However, when it comes to technology and kids, I'm amazed. Its like they were programmed at birth with the manuals in their brains so when they are presented with any given technology they have no fear. For instance, my niece is 8 years old and she's asking me for help with her research paper. She was complaining that she was having difficulties finding reputable sites to reference. So I said, why not go to the library. And guess what she did...she laughed at me! Then I had my other niece from London who came to visit me last summer. She's 4 years old and claimed to be a Michael Jackson fan. So just to prove how much of a fan she was, she began singing a lot of his songs from way back. I was amazed and asked where did she learn that...she said YouTube. Now my question is 'how does a 4 years old with no older siblings know how to use the internet?'

Virtual Teams - Love it or Hate it?

Hi all, hoped you enjoyed your spring break. I did, I slept 75% of the time, went nowhere and did nothing until now. Sometimes, it feels great to be a bum. Besides all that, I read the following articles: 6 ways to build trust with your virtual teams and Working Together...When Apart.

These articles provide generally accepted rules for making a virtual team successful. Though virtual teams may have some similarities, they differ by culture and dynamics. And I think that in order for a virtual team to be successful, is for the leader to adapt to the group's culture and work on enhancing their strengths.

Take me for an example, I prefer virtual teams. I'm flexible because I do agree that our first meeting should be personal where team members become familiar with each other. And I'm aware that circumstances may arise when the team has to meet face-to-face. But for some strange reason, all face-to-face interactions with my groups has always been a waste of time, for the most part. Actually, my groups have always been more productive when virtual.

For instance, I'm currently taking a class where the class meets once a week, we have weekly deliverables and due to conflicting schedules my team is unable to meet (EVER!). So thanks to Google docs, G chat, emails, texts etc. and all other available technology my team completes our deliverables on time. I really love technology!