The reading for Week 2 in Networked Media made me really consider the way the world is changing. Because of the fact that we are becoming more technological than ever before, we can begin to compare the old ways of finding a categorised book in a library to finding information on blogs and being able to categorise information.
It fascinates me that there is this term ‘network literacy‘. You would think that it means that one is literate in computers (understanding the functions of a computer). But in actual fact, network literacy is the ability to participate in various networks that we can share knowledge through. It’s an understanding of the “logics or protocols of these networks” (Miles, pg. 26). It includes a basic comprehension of network identities, privacy settings and communities.
This idea reminds me of Twitter and the ability to use hashtags. I am a huge user of Twitter and I find that I have definitely been able to voice my opinions over the years with hashtags. I’ve even had photos posted and retweeted several hundred times, as my opinion is shared by many. 
Hashtags allow any user within the network to comment on a particular topic, allowing any type of person to comment on something. These people don’t necessarily have to be professors in the area but just need some sort of opinion on a topic.
In order for me to become more network literate, I have decided that I want to further comprehend information filters within various networks. This will enable me to assess and interpret the quality of various information I find more efficiently, allowing my blog posts to become a lot more concise and to the point.
Often it is easy to trust any site that you Google, but I think it’s important to use my resources through university, my fellow peers or preferred blogs as often their ideas will be more precise, or more creative.
As Adrian Miles states, it’s important to use tags to catalogue different works. This makes it very easy for others to roam through your blog to find information they are after and also makes a blog become a part of a wider community of users who also tag posts of similarity. This allows you to become a part of a broader community of users.
Week 2 Reading: Miles, Adrian. Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge [online]. Screen Education, No. 45, 2007: 24-30.
Featured Image from: https://blogs.extension.org/militaryfamilies/files/2011/09/netlit_wordcloud.png
I love the idea that hashtags become like a trail to a whole lot of content. I am a big hashtager, but I also use hashtags to find content and photos about that particular tag. I enjoy seeing how people interact with that certain word/idea/slag>
The whole hashtag thing reminds me of one of those conversations where you just keep brainstorming and relating things and you end up miles from where you began, but it still relates to your initial topic!
ps. love the snapchat photo hehe