Social Media For Social Good

               When our group chose the topic ‘Social Media For Social Good’ I was intrigued. I thought it would be a very interesting subject and I wanted to tear into the assignment right away. I was impressed but not shocked by the amount of companies that use social media.

Our group looked at 3 specific areas: 1) Healthcare

                                                            2) Awareness

                                                            3) Disaster Relief

                  Although i looked at Healthcare as my topic I found the topic of Disaster Relief to be the most interesting. It never occurred to me how vital social media can be in a disaster situation. Even during the recent disaster in the Philippines we see how important social media and especially common social networks such as twitter are. Hours after the typhoon in the Philippines a hashtag was created to provide easy access to people looking for information on the disaster. When users searched #Philippines there was a flood of news and links to websites which would report missing people. Along with this information there were also opportunities for people who searched this hashtag to donate to charities who would then spend that money on care and essentials for people suffering in the aftermath of the typhoon.

My own sub-topic was online healthcare advice. I researched 3 papers which focussed on Facebook groups, online health forums and other online-based platforms which advise people on sicknesses. I knew of course that you can’t rely completely on the advice of people you’ve only met online but i found the idea interesting. If someone else who has had the same illness as you then you can find out how they’ve dealt with it. I found the online health forums especially helpful. The way someone can ask questions or even browse anonymously is extremely useful if someone is concerned but embarrassed about their condition. 

After all our research I was very glad we chose this subject to do our assignment on. I thought it was very interesting and it was something I wanted to learn about seeing as social media is everywhere these days.

Directed Studies Group Fun

                    It was week one when our directed studies class were informed we would be grouping up to work on our term paper. Instantly I was invited to join my buddies “Handstand” Higgins and Mr. Eamon Nolan in their group. We chose the topic ‘Social Media For Social Good’ because we thought it sounded interesting and we wanted to get to know more about it. Our objective for the project was to analyse 3 papers each and write a literature review on them. We would then go on to combine our work into one 7000 word paper. At first the task seemed a bit daunting and we worried that we might not be able to write such a long paper but with the help of our two lecturers we were up and running in no time. We were taught how to find papers by using google scholar and the UL website and then we learned how to reference these papers. Along with learning how to reference in the Harvard system, we also learned about the importance of referencing and why we should avoid plagiarism. 

   As a group I thought myself, Higgins and Eamon worked brilliantly. We already hung out together before the assignment was given so actually meeting up was no problem at all. There were also no issues with someone not pulling their weight in the group. Whenever someone was working on their part, the group would critique it and help the individual improve their work. Working in a group was a different experience but one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Paper Review

Online Health Communities Paper Review

 

             For my directed studies class we were given the task of writing a short paper review of our first paper for the end of term assignment.The idea of the

i read paper was to examine how  taking part in an

online health communities provides benefits like information and social

support from others. Social media are changing the ways people

manage their healthcare. More and more people look to the internet

for information and guidance when it comes to their health. 74% of

adults have searched online for health related information. Online

health communities tend to differ to other online communities.

When it comes to health communities the stakes can be very

serious but the information given helps the members make and

informed decision. People on online health communities tend to be a

lot more private and closed, they don’t like to talk about chronic

conditions. The author of the paper interview moderators of online

health communities and employed a field survey of online health

community participants to gain it’s information. The results of the

research shows strong support for the notion that participation in

online health communities leads to patient empowerment.

Specifically the research found that participation in such

communities helps in the form of information utility and social

support. It also found that depending on the quality of advice or

information received the patient could benefit from these

communities through patient empowerment. Curiously the

outcomes of the research do not show any link between social

support and patient empowerment. One problem the paper noted

with it’s findings was the failure to take into account the severity of

the illness or health condition. The severity of a patients condition

could affect the degree to which they are active in an online health

community. The conclusion simply states that as an ever growing

segment of the population looks towards health communities, still

very little is known about the type of support patients get from

these forums and how benefits obtained form these communities

affect the outcome of a patients condition.

Group Work!!!

My group for the wiki assignment was a joy to work with. Along with myself there was Valerie, Kate and Mark. As well as being a hard-working team, we also got on extremely well which is a very important factor for group work. To get a group conversation going everyone added each other on Facebook and a group chat was started from there. On Facebook we were able to organise when and where to meet up to do the assignment. This was how our trip to the city, which i’ve mentioned in a previous blog was organised. As soon as we did meet up there was no messing about and we were straight to work. We all researched our location (The Tholsel) then edited our wiki together. All of us being in the same place while we were working gave us an extra opportunity to help each other which I found very nice. There were no problems in our group and everybody helped with their share of the work. I would say that our group was very organised, punctual and fun to be in.

The Hunt For The Plaque

      After receiving our group projects for digital media design our first plan of action was to find out what the hell the ‘Tholsel‘ was and how we could locate it. After minutes of googling we found out the plaque we needed and discovered it was on the ever elusive Mary’s Street in Limerick City. Confident enough with that knowledge, myself, along with my other group members Mark, Kate and Valerie hopped straight on the 308 bus into the city.

       It was only as we stepped off the bus and onto the street that we realised nobody actually knew what direction Mary’s Street was in. After some help from the friendly locals we got directions to Mary’s Street and all was well again. Fifteen minutes, 3 miles and some possible trespassing later the Tholsel was found! After a quick read of what turned out to be a disappointing plaque we took some group pictures of the Tholsel site and the plaque itself then made a quick exit back to UL. All in all it was a pretty entertaining trip and another chance to get to know the other people in the group.

Treasure Hunt 2013

As soon as i heard about the cringely named ‘tweasure’ hunt i feared the worst but in fairness it was a decent way to spend a lecture and a good way to get to know people. The objective of the hunt was to snap a picture of the stars that were strategically placed around the campus on the college’s landmarks and upload them to twitter. Although the hunt was for the most part played with good spirit, there were one or two examples of shenanigans from groups who decided it was more fun to rob the stars than take a picture of them. After an hour of wandering around campus my own group racked up a measly score of about 5 stars, which I blame completely on the main building being a complete maze. Using the hashtag #ixdm13 the groups were able to check up on each others progress and look at each others photos which i thought was pretty cool.