Community Contribution 4

Affordances of Platforms that Support PLNs

Technology has influenced my PLN by allowing me to connect with people and information that I probably would not have access to face-to-face. Most of my face-to-face PLN comes from my university environment, such as classmates, instructors, and professors. My digital PLN is much broader. For example, I have found psychology labs through the UVic Psychology website and reached out through email or LinkedIn when their research matched my interests. Digital technology therefore makes it easier for me to actively search beyond the people I happen to meet in my classes.

The idea of affordances helps me understand this difference. Digital platforms make searching, accessing, and connecting across distance much easier, while face-to-face environments afford more personal and direct relationships. I have learned a lot from YouTube videos, criminal documentaries, research, and people whom I would probably never meet in person. These connections have helped broaden my knowledge and worldview. At the same time, I find it harder to develop a close social relationship with someone when the connection exists only online.

I also see recommendation systems as a useful affordance rather than only a limitation. Risko and Gilbert (2016) describe cognitive offloading as using the external world to reduce cognitive demands. Because my time is limited, recommendations can reduce the amount of searching I need to do by showing me recent information related to my interests. I can use this as a form of first-hand searching and then investigate more deeply when something interests me. However, Tony Fadell’s idea of “noticing” also reminds me to pay attention to how technology is shaping these everyday choices. 

For me, digital PLNs are therefore a double-edged sword. They lower barriers to information, research, and different perspectives, but they cannot completely replace the personal connections that I gain through a face-to-face PLN.