Technology Blog #2 Building Your Connected Learning Community: Networking as an Artist in the Digital Age
Personal learning networks are curated for each individual, having the ability to provide the exact resources you need for your interests and professional career. These networks can become anything you want them to be, with technological advancements creating lots of flexibility. Knowing what you want to gain and what connections you want to establish are the first parts of curating your own personal learning network, followed by finding which tools you feel comfortable using. The most advanced tool is not necessarily the most useful tool for you.
Chapter 6 of the Connected Educator continues to describe social media applications and tips for finding good connections, but I feel this section is very outdated, as trending social media is constantly changing. Our standards for good connections on social media are also changing, and as a visual artist, professional pseudonyms are very common and do not mean the connection is not valid. The next section on nurturing these relationships is still valid in 2025, with sharing and interactions still being extremely important. As a visual artist, sharing the art of others and commenting on their work increases the likelihood they will do the same for you, establishing a stronger connection with them while simultaneously increasing your reach. The chapter suggests that the right amount of connections to be able to maintain overall, truly depends on the person. I personally find I can maintain many casual connections with several deeply personal connections, which I think will be very useful for me in my career as I meet more artists in person and in online spaces.
I believe the wide scope of possible reach and ideas that online spaces have keeps us open-minded and flexible with our ideas, allowing us to consider and take inspiration from things we have never seen before. I find this to be extremely important as an artist, and personally, I enjoy artists with very different styles and methods so that I do not become rigid in my thinking about what makes good art. You can also create great connections with people you would not even have considered through this line of thinking. The characteristics of a healthy and thriving community are discussed, including shared concerns/culture, responsibility, and participation. In the art world, I find shared culture, causes, and identity to be some of the most relevant factors for a thriving community, where artists can build off of each other to further their work. The most useful tip in my future career from the list of guideposts provided is probably the creation of trust, where safe spaces can be created and connections can become more genuine.
Hello Melanie!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you talked about personal learning networks and how they can be changed to suit each person depending on their needs. I agree that just because a social media platform is trending doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. I also like how you mentioned artists supporting each other; that’s definitely something that applies to other careers as well. Trust and safe spaces are very important when connecting online, as they allow people to be comfortable with sharing fully.
Melanie, I agree that finding networking that works best for you personally is most important when working towards connecting and building a community. I think that it is super cool that you are an artist and using your creativity to grow your network is beneficial to you.
ReplyDeleteI agree networking is very important and finding what is most beneficial and works best for you is a crucial aspect of networking. I like how you incorporated that within the art world, artists find similarities within culture, causes, and identity which help to give each other inspiration and support for each other- all while simultaneously building networking communities. Like you said, I also believe that the most useful tip from the guideposts is the creation of trust. Without trust- you can create connections, but taking it a step further helps you to create that secure, genuine connection.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie! First off, I really liked your blog. I completely agree with you about networking and meeting new artist. There are so many forms of arts and people have so many different creative ways things can be made. This helps us with our own creativity and make us think outside the box. This also helps to see what kind of art you might not like or like to create. Having healthy communities will help us strive for more success and to build great relationships.
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