Hi, I', Tamara, and I'd like to introduce myself.  Since the purpose of this particular blog/learning journal is to document learning and complete assignments for BGI's Social Media for Social Change class (BGIMGT566sx), I'll focus on that aspect of myself.

I'm a newbie.  There, I said it.  Yes I am an avid user of email and Facebook.  I watch videos online. I enjoy online researching though am often suspicious that I could be doing it better if I knew more of the tools that are available.  But the truth is that I have been more of a consumer of online content than a creator.

Other than my normal sense of shyness and desire to maintain personal privacy, I suppose the other reasons for my quietude come as a combination of things.  I am unfamiliar with the tools and I possess a general queasiness about the concept of "personal branding". I'm also aware that there are guidelines and mores and that I do not know what they are, and have some doubt about whether I have anything interesting enough, new enough, or fascinating enough to warrant making a personal contribution to the overall chatter.  Knowing folks who are such good writers and publicists can be intimidating.

Clearly I'll just have to get over it in order to get the most out of this class.  That's a good thing.

Through class, I am having the pleasure of discovering Delicious.  Heard the name for years, but never knew what it was or why someone would want it.  Now I see loads of potential. It seems useful as a collaborative tool and also as a way to organize research results.  As a newbie, I also find it a bit gawky to get around.  Wish I could bring up my tag list when I go to save something, so that my tags will be more consistent and complete. Wish the BGI video could be updated to whatever version I am looking at as it is slightly and annoyingly different than the one that is covered. 

No doubt the class will figure this stuff out together, so no worries.  Learning Delicious is pretty fun even with a few little glitches.