Affinity Space!

This is my Affinity Space right now.  My Affinity Spaces have changed over the course of my life and I am sad to see that I do not have quite the social life I once had when I was younger; however it was nice to discover that I was still a part of something, part of a group.  It dawned on me I am part of a lot of groups in fact, as we all are.  Sometimes we are just the lurkers and sometimes we are the masters passing out information and knowledge to the group.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJvcjwPjm-4&feature=youtu.be

Pinterest/ Home Improvement

1.       Common Endeavors -  The sense of community can be felt among the users as they are working towards various similar goals, which is to improve their home and land doing it themselves.  People are from all over the country and world adding to the group as a whole.  Members of this group are from all socioeconomic backgrounds none of which are of any real importance.  Pinterest is the portal that connects .  Identity is your own.

2.       Newbies & Masters – share the common space.  Some are great pools of knowledge while others simply gather the information that is being freely given.  It ranges from people are who very skilled and have turned themselves into semi-professionals while you have others who struggle with more simple things, to those who simply “lurk” and give no other indication of their being involved other than to continue to pass along and to possibly help collect additional information for the group.

3.       Some portals are stronger than others.  Pinterest being the main portal also leads to other portals.  Primarily these are websites, tutorials, videos, and photos.  Some hold a vast amount of information that can be highly useful while others are sharing more so than to help teach.

4.       Content organization is transformed by interactional organization – Pinterest changes with each person who pins, shares, comments, adds, or ignores.  The content is member driven and therefore some information can be more easily found if repined and shared by multiple people and other information can simply be ignored if no one else feels the need to keep this information for themselves on their “boards”.

5.       Both intensive and extensive knowledge are encouraged.  Pins can be created by a user to showcase a photo or their own website (as I have mine) to share with others.  It is used to share the knowledge I have with others who may be needing the same information.  trust me I have Googled which primer paints work the best, and in finding a video on the subject someone has just did all that work for me.  I like to pass along the same thing.

6.       Both individual and distrusted knowledge are encouraged.  All information is welcome be it through own personal experience or something they have found to be helpful.  The beautiful thing about Pinterest and the DIYers is that everyone is wanting to both gain more knowledge and to share more knowledge.  If one person grows all have the potential to grow as well.

7.       Dispersing knowledge is encouraged.  Multiple boards can be created to share the information.

8.       Tactic knowledge is encouraged and honored.  Usually this comes through in picture tutorials which have shown me a LOT of things.  Some people learn visually and these truly help.  Creating your own tutorials for something you may know is very much encouraged and sometimes requested.

9.       Different forms and routes to participation – can be a lurker, and simply add and pin as you like, or you can create and truly search out good information people may need or enjoy.  Participation can be in spurts (as I do) or it can be continuous.  It simply just depends on a person’s preference though you will miss a lot if you don’t get on for days.

10.   Leadership is porous and leaders are resources – these are evident in their personal websites.  Some websites are beautifully crafted to help people complete more DIY projects around the home than others.  Everyone is a valuable member, especially when they want to be one.  You can share you wealth of knowledge or pass along what you see never really adding to what is already available.  Leadership changes with each new project or tutorial.  Anyone can be a leader at any time, it is user generated.