Dana Montello Journal #4
However, I can say it's much better than BB, both discussion board and blog. I can easily log in from a standard user page rather than routing everything through a university account that signs me out every so often. It seems much more dynamic, and the colors are more pleasing (and controllable). On BB, you're just an extension of a student account, probing your professor for information, reading what is presented. You're not a creator or a scholar or a collaborator; you're a pupil. Compared to Twitter, Scalar a godsend of proper text and images as opposed to snippets and web addresses. I can actually converse here, which I couldn't easily do on Twitter. Your Twitter identity is you boiled down to your media savvy aspects. It's not a place for scholarship, but rather where the current check the trends to find out what's new. Identity is being up-to-date and aware. I actually did like Social Book quite a bit, though it's more concerned with annotating than creating versus Scalar. You're a student again when using Social Book, but an empowered one, able to navigate, claim, and make points. You're a participant, unlike in Blackboard.
As far as the identity of Scalar, I'm still learning the ropes so can't definitely say yet. More akin to creation than the others, self is a producer and commenter on what others have produced. You are your work, a blogger in a closed network of tubes. Whether this assessment holds up or is altered by my future experiences will be seen.