Dave+Johnstone

Last week my family and I became Resident Aliens or Landed Immigrants of the USA. We moved from a temporary presence to a permanent status in the US. The image, emotions and actions of last week, reminded me of the "digital immigrant and native" motifs we sometimes discuss around technology issues. Unlike immigrants to the US who have no English proficiency or familiarity with American customs, I am walking in with a tremendous advantage as I am very familiar with this nation. Digitally I also walk in with some skill, but much of this new world is perplexing even while it is familiar.
 * October 2, 2007**

I have been thinking about whether it is possible to be a true digital native for any length of time. When technology changes every few months is it truly possible for someone to be completely comfortable and proficient in these new changes. My children and students can certainly maintain the illusion of proficiency (and multi tasking), but I am not sure their skills are based on any adequacy or even reality. My thought for the day...
 * October 3, 2007**

I would like to examine how online social networks affect an individual’s and community’s spiritual formation. For obvious reasons I am particularly interested in how they affect college age students and their own discipleship and views of community. I know there are challenges and also benefits to using MySpace, Facebook and even sites such as YouTube. I will be putting together a series of questions (quantitative, but primarily qualitative) whose answers will help me get a little insight into this trend. I have 22 students who have indicated an interest in responding to a questionnaire. Each would describe themselves as a follower of Jesus, they range from First Year students to seniors. I would love to get a handle on what they perceive as the benefits of these communities. I would also like to see how their faith is challenged and enhanced by these tools. I imagine that after the questionnaire, I will probably do some face to face interviews to clarify their observations.
 * Major project thoughts**:

Scot -if you have any suggestions about questions or format I would love to hear them!!

Dave, I will at times, leave messages as a discussion item, so as not to disrupt the flow of your work here. However, seeing as you have invited me and this is a wiki, I will join right in here. //Thank-you.// I love the study. A couple of questions. How did you identify the students in this sample? //They are my 59 RAs, 23 First Year Seminar Students and a couple of others that I kno well. This is definately not a random sampling.// //25 of them have indicated a desire to participate//. Make sure you collect some basic demographic information (age, gender, major, living situation). You will not really be able to make conclusions (scientifically) about how social networks affect spiritual formation. that is ok, though. Looking for trends and themes and how certain things may be related is great. //This is my primary goal.// This project is a great example of how to take advantage of the major project in the course. I would be happy to review the questions you develop, if you like. //Will do; thanks for the offer//. Have you found any research literature about this? Please add any web-based resources or files that you are willing to share to our Resources page. //I have not yet begun to search//. I have a book sitting on my desk on SUmmit loan entitled "Exploring Religious Community Online" by Campbell. I would be happy to loan it to you if you want to take a look at it. //I may ask to borrow it.// **By the way, Dave, you can wipe out any of my stuff from your page at any time (Scot).

October 4, 2007** Thinking about the possibilities of this major project and the expanded conversation I can have students has caught my imagination. One of my early intersts was in the field of antropology, it feels like I am preparing for an ethnography... When I wrot an initial email to my students requesting their assistance I was surprised at the spead and volume of their response. I received an email response within 2 minutes of my request. I am intrigued by that speed, was it coincidental, did that student have her email turned on in class, what were the circumstances... Just thoughts.

I have been wrestling with how I ask a set of questions in order to draw ou the impact of online communities on a person's faith. if we were conversaing about a regularl community I would ask about their sense of place, their significance, their security with that group. How I frame the questions without predetermining the answers is a challenge. While I realize that this project will not be "scientific," I do want it to have integrity, be helpful and insightful for myself (and maybe others).
 * October 8, 2007**

I have chosen to keep my project notes on this journal to help identify its progression. Maybe that is the historian in me...

Yesterday I came across [|www.cyama.com]. It is an evangelical on-line community set up particularly for christian college students. Unlike facebook or MySpace it is not necessary to have a gmail or yahoo account, you only need an email connected to one of an approved list oof colleges. It is an extensive list but still limited. For me the challenge of this kind of site is tied to safety and discernment. There is safety in a site like this that has clear parameters, however it limits the ability for a student to make wise choices such as they might experience on Facebook. In some ways I like the notion of a student setting up a Facebook account and maintaining standards of integrity, honour and grace in that virtual world. It is a challenge but paedagogically I think they learn and are challenged more frequently.
 * October 9, 2007**

This morning in the Oregonian an editorialist was reflectingon her MySpace experience. What astood out was her need to develop have have digital "friends". She acknowledged the oddness of this experience. It triggered my own thinking about friendship, commitments and expectations. For me, a friend is someone who will speak truthfully, with challenge, but also displays a commitment to my well being. Is this possible from a digital friend? Can you truely know and be known in such a friendship. I believe these are the types of questions I need to ask of my students.
 * October 10, 2007**


 * October 14, 2007**
 * MAJOR PROJECT**
 * __Proposed by: David M. Johnstone__**


 * __Title:__** //__Life Together__//__: believers in on-line communities.__

I will be crafting the questionnaire, gathering the feedback and then facilitating conversation with a dozen college students.
 * __a.) Who is working on this project?__**


 * __b.) Thematic are and methodology:__**
 * i.)** **Thematic area**: I intend to begin discerning the impact of on-line communities (as illustrated by MySpace and Facebook) on college students. Conventional wisdom suggests that membership in these communities is not beneficial to spiritual formation. However I would like to take a step backwards and survey thirty college students though questionnaire and conversations and allow them to reflect on the benefits and challenges to their faith being members of these communities.

a. I am intending to craft a questionnaire which queries the respondent on their personal views of community and then challenges them to reflect on their spiritual life in relationship to these communities. b. Administer this questionnaire to thirty college students c. After gathering the data, meet with ten of these college students for further exploration of their reflections d. Journal the process on the course Wiki e. Present the data to my class colleagues towards the end of the semester.
 * ii.)** **Methodology**:


 * c.)** **__Media used__**__:__
 * i.)** I will be administering a **paper questionnaire** to approximately thirty college students distributed via **email**.
 * ii.)** I will then be facilitating three weeks of conversations with 10 students about these responses in **face-to-face group settings**
 * iii.)** I will be journaling the development of the process on the course **wiki**.
 * iv.)** Results will be presented in a **PowerPoint presentation** presented through the GFU **on-line conferencing site**.

I just spent the last 10 minutes working my way through different aspects of second life. Maybe I was in areas that leaned towrods this ( I wonder if I got lost in a virtual red light district), but there was little clothing, lots of sensuality and I am still trying to figure out the point. I scanned the police blotter and there were plenty of citations for harassment-but if avatars are dressed (or not dressed) in these ways, no one should be surprised.
 * October 14, 2007**

On the flip side (there is an old technology saying!), I watched a video of a man building a virtual guitar for Suzanne Vega-very fascinating.

I finished the penultimate draft of the questionnaire I will be administering. One day I will figure out how to disseminate it electronically. I will be settling for email at this point. It was difficulat framing questions which give insight into spiriual formation, community and technology. I have had to stretch and define my own thinking in ways I have not had to in the past. The first phase is almost done.
 * October 15, 2007**

Last Tuesday I submitted the survey to the students. I am getting some interestingreflections. I am trying to figure out how to post it as an attachemnt. I will provide initial reflections tomorrow.
 * October 23, 2007**



Wahoo!! Thanks for helping to upload this Scot. I am learning new things each day. yesterday in the USA Today, there was an article discussing the current prevalence of "constantly broadcasting who I am" in contrast with the persepctive of privacy. This conversation was particularly reflecting on the dynamics of on-line communities. In conversation with colleagues, we have asserted the ideal of believers living lives of transparency; but this is not the same as the self revelation found on Facebook. As a believer, with the biblical admonition to be as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves, this need to expose yourself is fraught (old school word) with danger.
 * October 24, 2007**

In contrast I have asked my students about the so called digital friends they gather on Facebook/MySpace. The media panics when reporting the dangers of virtual friends, etc. I think this is a real concern. But intersting as I am getting responses from my students the trend is that they have physically met 95%-100% of their digital friends. There is also a reticence to expose significant things on-line for the universe to read. I was encouraged at some of the cyber savviness they were displaying.

Looks like I may have to reconsider the focus group plan. However my returns from the survey are 12 out of 29, not great but not bad. I have been thinking about the savviness of my pool-it does not jive with other national reflections about internet use, misuse, deceipt, embellishment, etc. These are students who have been believers for years, have lots of personal integrity and I have nothing to believe that they would misrepresent their personal information. Is being a believer the one factor which keeps them from entering the world of embellishment on the internet... Some interesting thoughts.
 * October 25, 2007**

I forgot to list my interactions with others' journals:
 * October 26, 2007**

10/23/2007-Tricia's Project Journal-titled: //What issues are you gathering?// 10/24/2007-Alyssa's Journal- titled: //Outreach to Muslims//

Some interesting things have happened. I have been hesitant to open a personal profile of Facebook, because of the access and exposure. I don't want to be that connected... tA student from my First Year Seminar invited me to be a "friend." And that has propelled me to open a Facebook account. However I wanted extremely limited access there ffore sought out the many ways there are to protect oneself. It was laborious and challenging task to put privacy parameters on my profile. I can understand why some folks just expose themselves, because it takes too much effort to limit exposure...
 * November 1, 2007**

On a side note, I just spoke with a colleague at Lithuania Christian College, and on-line communities and their abuses hit their campus in a significant way this year. It was less about "stranger danger" and more just about the havoc on the internal community at indiscretions, etc.

Interesting situation this morning... I had a on-line -community profile sent to me and on it was a series of photographs of students at a party. The women were dressed in sensual /sexual clothing. I was struck by the question of why they chose to dress in these types of costumes and then why did they choose to post the photographs on their profile. While there are privacy parameters to the profiles it is not hard to find these pictures. I am struck by the lask of discernment and discretion displayed by some folks... Maybe I am getting too old.
 * November 2, 2007**

I am adding the following link sent to me by one of my students: http://www.boundlessline.org/2007/11/looking-narciss.html It raises the issues raised earlier in our text about using the internet to create our own brand-or in the words of the author of this article "trying to promote myself." She uses the word narcissistic in how she has developed her approach and it worries her. Another link with this writer's more expande thoughts are: http://www.trueu.org/dorms/stulounge/A000000817.cfm
 * November 3, 2007**

Yesterday, I journaled that I became privy to photos published on a profile of by a student. It turns out that they weren't just seductive photos, they were part of a party whose theme focused on everyone dressing either like prostitutes or their pimps (there is a phrase for this type of party for which I would rather not repeat.). Why someone would go to such a party still confuses me, but to post these photos in way totally perplexes me.

As an Christian educator I am trying to understand what is my role in assisting students in general make wise and discerning choices. Wise choices did not happen in this situation.

I also thought the following links would be interesting. The Pew Trust does fascinating data gathereing and their Internet and American Life Project has some things that really make me think about the implications for our students. Attached are a couple of specific links. The first is a report on how parents and teens view digital technology: http://pewinternet.org/PPF/r/225/report_display.asp. The second is a reflection on strangers contacting tenns who have an on-line profile: http://pewinternet.org/PPF/r/223/report_display.asp. These and other reports are significant in how they chllenge our conventional wisdom and thinking.

I have had some interesting conversations in the last day. 1 was with a student that asserted that no good thing could come from My Space/Facebook. He was not going to be swayed... Another asserted that Facebook was a great way to get the pulse of campus thinking. He was particularly on the inconsistencies of student leadership lifestyles with what they say... Interesting...
 * November 7, 2007**

My staff is having conversations about the use of wisdom and discernment in actions which are portrayed on these sites-there is an accountability aspect for which some students are welcoming... I am not sure how to put this through a paradigm, but it does seem to reflect a desire for soe students to rise up to a higher standard of character.

After a few weeks of no entries and plenty of events, I will spread my thoughts over a couple of days. The first was a GFU student was killed in a car accident about 10 days ago. Due to the technology of cell phones, blackberries, etc, police were on the scene with in 4 minutes and emt personnel on site within 8-10. Three other students were hospitalized with one being airlifted. I wonder if the speed of response due to communication technology may not have had a factor in medical response time... This is unanswerable, but worth thinking about.
 * November 27, 2007**

The second observation is that the Facebook profile of the student killed was inundated with messages from friends and peers saying goodbye, writing notes, poems, images, etc. It was like a cyber memorial service within 12 hours of the accident, which was tremendously significant (and healing?) for many students trying to deal with their grief. I found this to be a redeeming role Facebook played in this tragedy.

Over Thanksgiving Break my family and I were responsible for e winterizing a log house in a remote part of the British Columbia gulf islands. It has been in the last 15 years that indoor plumbing has been installed and only in the last eight has there been electricity. Our only form of electronic communication was a land line telephone, because the area in which we were located received no wireless signal. The laptop I took to do some work, did not! No mobile phone, no voicemail, no e-mail, no electronic games, no television, //nada//. My middle school boys chopped wood, built forts, made fires to roast smores, slept outside and enjoyed the freezing whether. There was a peace and lack of franticness that we all experienced.
 * November 28, 2007**

At home, I often hear "I am bored". In the forest, I never heard these words... I find this wonderfulling odd... It has started some interesting conversations about who controls the tools, or do the tools control us.

Well my Facebook account now has 12 digital friends; wahooo-I am becoming popular (maybe). All my friends are students or colleagues at GFU. They tease me about this broadening of my technological world. My account/profile is very spartan, yet I am still amazed with the time it requires to respond to queries, etc. I am still unsure of its worth; but I will keep it active for a couple of months.
 * December 1, 2007**

Last night Scot was asking for some literature refernces to my thoughts on community. The descriptors I use to define community that are used in these forms or others by scholars are that a community must have a combination of security and signifcance for all participants in order to be a healthy, viable community. Some of the literature that has reinforced or shaped this approach are listed below: Bonhoeffer, Dietrich; Life Together (1954) Boyer, Ernest; Colle (1987) Dawn, Marva; Truly the Community (1992) Grenz, Stanley; Created for Community (1998) Mannoia, V. James; Christian Liberal Arts (2000) Mitchell, Gregg; Body Life (199?)
 * December 5, 2007**

William Naylor, Susan Parks and other have also done work on meaning and signifcicance which fits into this paradigm.

I hope this helps.