Diverse PLN Benefits: How does having a diverse PLN improve your learning and personal/professional growth? Share any experiences or examples you have.

Having a diverse PLN improves learning in both personal and professional growth as extending your network to many like minded individuals opens doors to endless opportunities for unique experiences. A personal example of mine would once again come from my music background! Through Instragam, I’ve connected with hundreds of producers from around the world, both smaller unknown names to multi-platinum grammy nominees. While my peers taught me about the music industry and the basics of how to navigate the entertainment business, I would say my fondest memories with my producer friends are hanging out with them in real life. Nothing compares to sharing a meal with people who inspire and collaborate with you!

Creating an Inclusive PLN: What steps can you take to ensure your PLN includes various voices and perspectives? Think about actions you can take to promote inclusivity.

The key to ensuring a variety of voices in your PLN is by eliminating any bias or preconceived stigmas about people! Our goal is to make members feel welcome, and their skills/ideas should be valued regardless of sex, race, age, or religion. We live in a time where education is more accessible than ever, so seeing that every individual has something distinctive to bring to the table will ultimately benefit us in the long run. Treating all members with respect will go a long way. A simple action you can take to make someone feel included could be as little as liking or replying to their unnoticed comment(s) as it shows them that someone is reading and valuing what they have to say. Ultimately, this creates a positive environment! 

Social Media Dynamics: Different social media platforms have unique features and cultures. How do these differences affect how you interact with others in your PLN? Reflect on your behaviour and interactions across platforms.

I find that depending on the social media platform, the more formal (or informal) your posts/responses will be to other people. The example that sticks out most prevalently is how I interact with someone on Instagram versus Reddit. On Instagram, my engagement is much less thought out and comments are never too long, which helps me create short interactions toward my personal learning purposes. Responses posted to Reddit tend to be more lengthy or thought out as the forum relies on in-depth conversation in order to create a successful thread. This benefits my professional learning goals as I have more value comments made to my posts, and more reliable chances of getting detailed answers to my queries. 

Challenges of Inclusivity in Digital Spaces: What difficulties have you faced, or do you think you might face, in making your PLN inclusive? Consider ways to overcome these challenges and build a supportive and inclusive PLN.

A fond memory I have of working within the music industry came when a young teenage producer reached out to a large producer network for help getting an entertainment lawyer. This sparked conversation as the network didn’t feel obligated to help the young talent and instead rambled about how other young producers dealt with similar problems. That day, a number of us hopped on a livestream discussing the topic to which many young producer’s acknowledged their privilege in having access to reliable resources. When many of us young producers explain the challenges of being a minor in the music industry to these older folks, they seemed to sympathize with our circumstances and felt more in-tune with the youth. The start of inclusivity always begins with conversation. If we are keen on sharing and listening, positive connections will result from our PLNs.