Journal #2

Using a Digg Stream to monitor various topics you are interested in is a helful way to view everything at once. With that being said, it's also a way to easily get disracted wth with other topics that are not targeted towards your professional development. I did my best to load up my Digg sream with sites that would provide various tutorials for motion graphics and Adobe Illustrator, but created another folder to keep up-to-date with any One Direction news. I guess this would be a good lesson in self-discipline and possibly only create a Digg Stream based on professional sites and not mix it with with anything personal. However, I do think using Digg is useful. If you are busy and don't have the chance to visit each site you could be interested in, a quick cursory glance a your feed could get you up-to-date for the time being. And then on the flipside, when you do have down time, it is an easy way to look at things without the hassel of going to individual sites and tracking down which articles you've missed. I would recomend to others to use Digg or another RSS feed reader service, especially as we continue into the digtal world.

In regards to the affinity group, I had a heck of a time finding a group that would work for me. As someone who is more involved in the video/design side of this program, I was hoping to find a group target towards that. However, almost all the grous that seemed to match this criteria on the list receive a 404 error. I ended up joining Edutopia, as their site looked the most professional and had more of a design influence. We'll see what happens though!

Q.1 | How can you avoid getting distracted while using your Digg Stream?

I think the best bet here would could be two-fold: one being you limit your time on your stream. Set a time or tell yourself after you finish your coffee, go do something else. Two,  don't mix personal interests into your Stream. If you know you get easily distracted, don't set yourself up for failure. And if getting distracted with personal interests isn't the problem and you're just finding yourself getting lost in the feed, maybe the feed isn't for you.

Q.2 | How can you share your finding on your stream with others to help spread the knowledge?

The most obvious answer is email or text. It's a digital aricle, so you can easily share it digitally. Another option though is to create a book club type of group. Sharing information online is quick and easy, but something does get lost over the web. Maybe a bimonthly meeting where a group of colleagues get together to share some highlights and you can discuss them in more detail. This not only helps you to discuss various topics, but the in-person, social interaction helps on another level as well.