Digital literacy demands a change in mind-set, and willingness to adjust how we do things (Reedy & Parker, 2017). Ohler (2012) shows that social media tools are largely participatory, involving collaborative creation of media collages. Padlet, Pinterest, Pocket, Maps, and YouTube all engage us as digital citizens. We are at times consumers, creators and collaborators, opening up the digital world of one to many.  In using these tools, I feel I have been all three at different times. 

I had only used two of the tools before starting this module.

I have used YouTube to share videos with family, friends and contacts where I would have created and burnt DVDs in the past. The editing options in Screencast-O-Matic and YouTube are easy to use but I found them limiting. The creation of a “how to” video showed me how easy it is to create useful content. I am intrigued by the growth of influencers and the growth of "influpreneurs" (Tait, 2021). Influpreneurs have large followings on YouTube and are building business empires that are disrupting established businesses. I am concerned, however, at how some YouTubers are driving visits to their channels by working the algorithm and human behaviours to keep citizens on their channels.

I had heard of, but not used, Pinterest. It is a visual platform and this element is essential to initiating user activity (Agrawal, 2017). I have published a number of pins on topics that interest me (football, music, photography) and one for gathering images for college projects. I find that this worked well but developing the pages took a lot of time and effort. Searching for relevant media on the site was not easy. Searches, even failed ones, are used by the algorithm to recommend other pins that were totally irrelevant. I am now getting multiple emails of content that I might be interested in. Some of the content I found had links to sites and pages that no longer existed. I have learnt that Pinterest can also be monetised and used to draw visits to retail websites or other social media and has introduced features that make it easier to shop on the platform (Sehl, 2021). One study on the representation of vaccines on Pinterest found that most of the pins (74%) were vaccine negative (Guidry et al, 2015). What struck me in this research was that negative vaccination posters made greater use of narratives, images, captions and links than pro vaccine contributors. In other words they made full use of the features of the site, an important takeaway for content creators.

 

Pocket allows me to save online articles to read at a later time. I use the tool to save articles for college and personal use. I prefer it to pinning articles in Pinterest. I like the organisational features that allow me to add tags so I can group articles by topic. I use the highlighter feature that extracts highlighted text to a side panel, and the sharing features are very useful for research and collaboration. 

I have used Google Maps often, but not to create personalised maps. I recently uploaded photographs to a Google Map run by an accommodation provider and have been surprised at the number of times these images have been viewed online. Using this tool has opened up a new horizon of possible online collaboration. Paulus et al (2011) cite the example of scientists collaborating with amateur gardeners concerned with minimising water usage, sharing a Google Maps interface to save details of how they have organised their gardens to save water. Other gardeners can see the location of the gardens online, view photographs, rate the gardens, and share ideas and comments. Using layers to add information to maps could be used to track the spread of viruses and follow the impact of vaccinations. 

I have mixed feelings on Peer Scholar. Two independent reviews by students working on the same assignment could potentially be very useful. In my experience, however, engagement with the process is poor. This semester, as last, my work was only reviewed by one student. The feedback was useful and informed my revisions. Of the two I reviewed, it was clear that one, a piece of less than 100 words, was just ticking a box. Positive engagement with the process as a whole helped me to focus more clearly on my reflection and make it more personal and real.

I am pleased with my progress during the first part of the module. As a consumer, I have sometimes been overcautious online, but the module has opened up the potential for me to collaborate and be more creative online.

 

 

Agrawal, V. (2017, January 14) How to Use Pinterest to Supercharge Your Social Media Presence. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/use-pinterest-supercharge-social-media-presence/179889/#close

 

Guidry, J. P., Carlyle, K., Messner, M., & Jin, Y. (2015). On pins and needles: how vaccines are portrayed on Pinterest. Vaccine, 33(39), 5051-5056.

The India Saga (2022).Literacy India’s Students connect with a wider world through International exchange programs (2022, February 23). Retrieved from https://theindiasaga.com/saga-corner/literacy-indias-students-connect-with-a-wider-world-through-international-exchange-programs/

Ohler, J. B. (2010). Digital community, digital citizen. Corwin Press.

Paulos, E., Kim, S. & Kuznetsov, S.  (2011). The Rise of the Expert Amateur: Citizen Science and Microvolunteerism. In  Foth, M., Forlano, L., Satchell, C., & Gibbs, M. (Eds.). From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen: Urban Informatics, Social Media, Ubiquitous Computing, and Mobile Technology to Support Citizen Engagement. (pp. 167 – 196). MIT Press.

Reedy, K. & Parker, J. (2018). Conclusion. In K. Reedy & J. Parker (Eds.), Digital Literacy Unpacked (pp. 203-204). Facet Publishing.

Sehl, K. (2021, March, 25) 23 Pinterest Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2021. Hootsuite. https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/

 

Tait, A. (2021, December 26). Meet the ‘Influpreneurs’: The new breed of YouTube influencers staffing up and building business empires. GQ Magazine. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/meet-the-influpreneurs-youtube

 

 

 

 

 

Spotify is a digital streaming service. By subscribing to our services we are entering into an agreement. Spotify will provide you with a service under certain terms and conditions available here (insert link to T&Cs). As part of those conditions you are allowing Spotify to use your data in certain agreed circumstances. 

Spotify wants you to enjoy the service free from any concerns that you might have over your privacy rights. This policy transparently sets out what information we collect from you, when and how we collect it, why we collect it and how long we keep it for. It also sets out your rights in relation to the information we hold on you.

Spotify undertake to take all reasonable measures to safeguard your data from unauthorised access. 

If your data is accessed illegally, either by outside parties or parties within Spotify, you will be notified within 48 hours, sooner if possible, detailing the breach, the steps we are taking or have taken to resolve the issue, and  advice on how you can further protect yourself online.

The information Spotify gather is used 

Our free service is paid for through advertising. With your consent we may share some of your data with third party advertisers who pay Spotify.

When you register with Spotify we will gather basic information in relation to 

from the information you provide to us. 

This information is needed to set up a basic account for you in Spotify.

Information icons will appear in each field to be completed. These icons will give access to why the information is being requested, how it will be used and how long it will be retained for.

Spotify will also ask for your date of birth. 
You must be over 14 to register for a Spotify account. 

This information will also allow us restrict access to digital content (including podcasts, music and any future content provided through Spotify)  that is not age appropriate. 

Data on your age will also influence how Spotify will manage communication with you by 

You may be asked to confirm your date of birth before accessing some services.

On completion of the registration details Spotify will provide you with a summary of the data provided, together with the explanation behind the information icons and request confirmation of your consent. Once your email address has been verified, you will be sent this summary as an attachment.

Registration information is stored by Spotify on our servers. 

The data will be maintained for up to one year after you leave the service by cancelling your account, and will be deleted after one year unless there are legal constraints on this. 

If you are over 18, your user profile is visible to all users of Spotify. At registration it is automatically populated with the user name you selected at registration. 

As a user you can update your profile by uploading an image, connect with friends or creating playlists. 

Playlists and streaming activity will be shown in your profile. These will be visible to all users of the service but you can remove them at any time, and then they will be deleted from our servers after one year. This delay is to ensure compliance with any legal requests that might arise.

The profile of subscribers under the age of 18 will be kept private by default. They will however be able to share their profile with selected friends. 
Our software will carry out checks before the sharing is permitted and refuse to allow the profile to be shared on specific grounds e.g. a disparity in ages. 
Profiles will also be monitored for unusually high levels of contact between under 18 and accounts of older persons. 

Spotify reserve the right to suspend accounts citing child safety, as set out in our general terms and conditions. 

Spotify will collect information on how you use our service. Data on your playlists and streaming and listening activity is gathered so that we can make appropriate recommendations for you and pay the creators of the content you have enjoyed As you use these aspects of the service, you will be asked for consent to share this data with third parties.

Spotify can earn an income from this data which enables us provide free services. 
This will also allow us make the advertising we show you more meaningful to you and increase the value of your data to us. 
You must be over 18 to consent. Your consent will be valid for 12 months from the date of consent and we may prompt you to renew consent before the end of the period.  
If you consent, you can access our advertising assumptions in your account profile and amend them anytime. Otherwise the advertising we show you will be of a general nature and may not relevant to you. 

You have the right to access the information that might be shared and a list of our third party partners.

Spotify gather information on when you use the service and what devices are used to access the service. This is needed to provide speedy and appropriate support to you if your service is disrupted, and to allow us analyse patterns and improve and enhance our offering. 
This individual data will be held for one month. It will then be anonymised by removing any personal identifying data. This anonymised data may be held indefinitely and shared with third parties for analysis and research purposes. 

As you use the service Spotify will record your location through your IP address. This will allow us provide services that are appropriate and legal to your location and prevent copyright infringement. 

Your location will also impact on how your data is stored. If you are in the European Union, we will store your data on servers that are subject to European law. Note that the use of a VPN to access our servers while hiding your location may result in your data being subject to laws and protection other than the European Union.

Spotify will not share any individual data collected from premium users with advertisers, but may use the data in anonymised form to improve and enhance our service model.

 

You have the right to access the data that Spotify hold on you and you will be provided a portal to allow this.

You have the right to edit the non-essential data that Spotify hold on you and you will be provided with tools to facilitate this.

You have the right to report any privacy abuses of the service that you feel impact on your human rights, even those that are not specifically covered in our general terms and conditions (insert link). 
Your initial contact should be with your Data Privacy Assurance representative (see below). 
Where another party is involved an adjudication panel will examine the issue and recommend appropriate responses. This does not infringe on any other rights to redress that may be available to you.

The functionality for you to exercise these rights will be accessible to you from within your profile account.

Spotify have the right to close an account. We will advise the user of the reasons why. Personal information in such accounts will be deleted after 12 months, subject to legal requirements.

 
Where to go for help?

Spotify’s Regional Data Protection Officers  are listed by region and can be found here (insert link). 

You can contact our Regional Data Protection Officers  about any issues, concerns, problems or privacy questions you might have. While Artificial Intelligence may be used to channel inquiries, all contacts will be responded to by a human representative.

Information on how to regulate your use of online services and protect yourself online is available here (insert link).

This policy document will be updated as necessary, but in any event will be reviewed on an annual basis. Any changes to the policy will be signalled in the application and notified to you by email affording you ample time to delete your account if the changes are not acceptable to you.

(This version last reviewed [April 2022] and updated [April 2022]).

Archived versions of this policy are available here (insert link).