Transparency is the New Black

Gwyneth Jones
The Daring Librarian

Special Guest Blogger for EdCamp
AtlantaTeacher-Librarian, LJ Mover & Shaker, GCT, ISTE Board of Directors, Speaker, Blogger, SL Steampunk, Den★, Xtc Fan, Pop Culture Ho, Cinephile, Geek, & Goofball!

DC Metro · http://thedaringlibrarian.com

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I've written about the importance web presence and transparency since I started blogging. Now, more than ever, education professionals must be visible and transparent in what they do and with their program and practice. 

It's easy to become overwhelmed with the thought of building a web presence from scratch but it's easy to fashion a fabulous functional digital footprint with a few easy pieces. Listed in priority order, ease of establishment use, and the ever important commitment and difficulty factor! All my humble opinion, of course!

Now, before we start I gotta add that this is by NO MEANS a checklist of 8 social media things you have to do! No social media guilt from me dear friend! Consider it a dim sum dinner or perhaps an ala carte menu, grab one new tasty plate or two! ! Just try one of the 8 to see which you like best- and always I would say, start with Wikispaces! Sure, lib guides and live binders are good - but for ease of use and day to day webby goodness nothing beats a wiki! 

(Disclaimer: the daring librarian is a non-compensated spokesperson - she's just a wikispaces fangirl!)

Wikispaces are FREE for educators to easily create wikipages connect with your students and community. Choose a Protected (free). Everyone can view pages, only wiki members can edit them. Add widgets, graphics, play with the look & feel to make it fit your personality school! Pimp up your Wikispaces checking out my page (of course Wiki) Something Wiki This Way Comes.

I've blogged about Twitter so often for a reason. Until you feel the power of it by following EdTech leaders and subject specific chat's it's hard to believe how amazingly powerful it is!

There's a small learning curve to it, that's why I created a Twitter 101 Flickr Gallery for the newbie visual learner!

Speaking of Flickr, I Love Me Some Flickr!  Sure, I started with Smugmug in 2004 (and still have it) but Flickr has captured my heart - the ease of uploading, tagging, comments, sharing, the Creative Commons!

AND, it's great for sharing digital images with students, parents, and colleagues! It rocks! Sure, the newly installed Aviary doesn't hold a candle to Picnik but hey, PicMonkey</a> is here and is made of Win from those
same peeps who created Picnik!

If you're a regular reader of this blog you know how I've
had an on again - off again relationship with the Facebook. We finally broke up after seeing other people Twitter Google+, but that nonwithstanding, I DO
believe Facebook is where our kids and parents are so we should at least have a local page for our school with links to our main school website, office hours, phone numbers, and community announcements. To do this, I created a special Gmail addy account so that it can be passed on to share with my Administrator and to not have it personally tied to me. It's like a Facebook surrogate! Keeps me there, but Facebook clean -- no poking!

I'm on LinkedIn but I don't do much there - it's just another way parents, colleagues, and the world can find me and my main websites. It's like a funnel -
it steers people to where you really are active! It's also like a cactus - it grows but you don't have to "water" it often!

YouTube has grown SO much since I joined in 2006 - now I have a full fledged channel! We also have one for using the same email address we did our Facebook local page. YouTube has added really amazing new editing features and closed captioning tools AND has created the new YouTube EDU division -- just for schools! For video uploading that won't get blocked also try SchoolTube.

My district is taking baby steps into Google this year and I am SO psyched! Of course, being a Google Certified Teacher. I'm a big fan of all the amazing Google apps for Education! From Google forms, docs (Mmm the cloud!), spreadsheets, and now Play - there are SO many ways for educators to enhance and
streamline their day to day life with Google!

Finally - to Blog or Not to blog?

That is the question! OK, first I'm sorry for that... but doggone it!  Blogging is a struggle for sure! I would say only start blogging if you have a true burning desire this posting with blog tips can help but it's a long term relationship -- fraught with internal guilt. NOT for the faint of heart.  I REALLY hate blogs with post after post that start with "I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately but (insert lame excuse here) but even *I* am struggling with the desire to explain why sometimes a whole month gets away from me without posting! 

Blogging guilt though is mostly self-created. Be strong if you blog! Blogging also makes you feel as exposed as walking down a catwalk in a bodysuit and takes a lot of nerve and determination. But, it's also very rewarding.

So, why do I do it? Because I have a burning desire to share and connect with my PLN - that's you! The word Blog came from slurring together the term Web Log -- it's a log or diary of my days teaching practice.  I also blog because if I can help just one new teacher or librarian, or cheer up a discouraged one - then it's all worth it! I like being a perky Polly-Ana cheerleader for education and I like stirring the pot! I'm passionate about my profession and it's fun to share it! 

And I obviously like using an abundance of exclamation points!!! But I gotta tell you that  I blogged for YEARS out into the aethernet silence - like writing to no one - but I kept at it. You don't blog for comments either! They are the gold nuggets of blogging - greatly desired but Oh so RARE! (by the way, thanks to everyone who ever left
a comment! loveyoumeanit!) One more tip for blogging: Always use labels and keywords - I didn't for YEARS now it's a pain to find old posts and it helps with SEO! (Search Engine Optimization</a>).

Basically, You have to blog for you. Because it's somehow satisfying - because you must.