Yes We Can / Si Se Puede
I am nominating myself as a candidate for the LiveJournal Advisory Board elections. I would like to serve on the Advisory Board because video websites, online newspapers, and other sites have stopped offering an option to link or share items on LiveJournal, and many people are not aware of LiveJournal as an alternative to other blogging or social networking sites. If I could serve on the Advisory Board, I would construct and distribute surveys to find out why this is the case. I would also assist in recommending a marketing strategy to increase the visibility of LiveJournal, as well as suggesting other features which might make LiveJournal more appealing to new user populations.
I have been an active LiveJournal user and advocate since 2003. Long before Facebook, LiveJournal has allowed me to stay in touch with friends in other parts of the country, as well as make new ones. Through its very existence, LiveJournal has supported my writing habit. It is a lot easier to write on a daily basis when you know that people actual are reading and commenting on what you write. Not only that, but LiveJournal has given me “HTML 101” and Web 2.0 skills that have helped me complete other tasks for work.
The biggest change I would like to see LiveJournal make in the next year is to educate potential users on the different blogging/social networking options that LiveJournal currently provides. The current LiveJournal interface gives some people the impression that they must write a great deal in order to be a LiveJournal user. Including a live chat function through LiveJournal in the next year would also increase usage.
I believe that the current LiveJournal community’s greatest concern is whether or not LiveJournal will still exist within the next five years. They are also concerned about the security of the information that they post, as well as LiveJournal’s current policies that block many posts or entire journals due to potential “adult content”. If LiveJournal prohibits outright pornography, then any other warning is unnecessary.
I am an academic librarian who works at a university that promotes Web 2.0 tools to faculty and students. My background is in English/ESL secondary education, where I have used reading/writing workshop and journaling strategies in my classroom. Based on my experience teaching the Millennial Generation, they do not have the reading or writing skills that students had ten years ago, nor do they have the phenomenal technological skills that studies would have educators believe. LiveJournal could be used as an effective teaching tool for students; the students in grades 7-12 who use LiveJournal tend to have better writing skills, and include “reading” as a hobby. LiveJournal can be used as a tool to help students improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills; it is also a great way for students with common interests or challenges to meet each other, share their lives, and support each other.