Plurk

= Communication Tool: = Group Members: Joe Keilman Leanna Larkin


 * Plurk**

Brief introduction of the tool
Plurk.com allows for the basic advantages of a social networking site. Creating a profile was extremely simple and straightforward. Although managing the profile seems to be more complicated, the profile creation basically asked for a username and a password. I found this to be extremely efficient if one wanted an easy experience creating a profile. The site does not allow for repeating display names, so finding a friend is a snap. You just need their nickname/display name. This helps enhancement and the effectiveness of teaching through the site. A teacher that wants to group students in this site can easily find a student since all the names are unique. This is effective because a teacher can avoid sending information to the wrong person because of the accuracy of names. Students can enjoy customizing their profile and can be unknowingly exposed to assignments and directions, thereby improving the enhancement of learning. Immediately upon visiting this site I was presented with a large group of users whose profiles where recommended to be viewed. I randomly clicked on a profile picture to see an example. I found the entire upper portion of the profile devoted to a timeline divided by hourly units. The very first status I found contained vulgar language and graphic descriptions of things that should not have descriptions. For a social networking site that emphasizes family networking, I was not impressed. It seems that this website allows for any post to be made and for any person to view those posts regardless of friend status. On other networking sites such as myspace and facebook, two people must be friends before they can view each others’ content. But on this site, it’s a free for all of information regardless of content. This is a disadvantage to family members who want to safely communicate with younger family members who may be exposed to crude material by just a click of a button. And after I managed to create a profile, the vulgar status updates from the site I visited appeared on my timeline. The only way I could get rid of these updates was by blocking the user. How terribly inconvienient is it to block every user’s page you visit? And what about my friend’s updates on my timeline? If I don’t want to see a friend’s updates on my timeline but I don’t want to block him, I have no idea what to do. I imagine having dozens of friends updating their statuses that end up cluttering my timeline. And this may be me being picky, but the timeline goes right to left instead of left to right-like a book. It just seems strange that the website is designed backwards. Another disadvantage is the new-user accessibility. Trying to edit my profile was confusing at first; even for someone who uses facebook daily. I could not find a help toolbar or a tutorial on how to use the program. I managed to figure it out eventually, but someone approaching a networking site for the first time may have a difficult time. Fortunately there is a tutorial on youtube that describes how to use this facebook-mypace-twitter combination.
 * ===//Advantages of the tool//===
 * ===//Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool//===

Application of the tool in your subject area
Think of one example of integrating the tool in teaching your subject area. What will the teacher be doing? What will students be doing?

Find a tutorial on YouTube
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This YouTube video features:
 * What Plurk is and it's features
 * How you update your status
 * How best to use your timelime
 * What the mobile interface looks like on the iPhone

[] This link helps to give reasons for using Plurk in the classroom.

[] This link