academhack » Blog Archive » Twitter for Academia
A blog post about how one instructor uses twitter in academia, followed by many useful comments which are worth reading for further exploration.
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Professors on YouTube, Take 2: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2704/professors-on-youtube-take-2
Sceneweaver Makes 3D Easy to Share: http://mashable.com/2008/01/28/scenecaster-sceneweaver/
Technorati Founder Launches Web Hot or Not. It's Geek Love.: http://mashable.com/2008/01/27/web-hot-or-not/
CSI is a pretty cutting-edge show, and Twitter came up on the series. Interesting commentary both of the investigators have regarding privacy vs. openness. Check it out and decide for yourself.
Okay. Today I was innocently googling for a lost blog that I used to share with some female cyclist friends. When I googled the terms I was looking for, I got two top hits that linked to her blogs and a truckload of my own Twitterings right beneath. I scanned the page and was thinking, Huh! I'm surprised but it's fine and dandy--WAIT A MINUTE! I came across one of dubious nature at the w3top.org site. Using MY Twitter information, they have created a FAKE Twitter-Date hook-up site for ... me? ... based out of the Netherlands? Say WHAT?!?
According to them, I'm also seeking a: woman. Uh-uh ... No, I don't think so!
Like I said, Twittering just got a little creepy, if only because other people use my public information for things of dubious and unauthorized use. My next question is, "How do I make them stop?"
This week, I'm presenting a workshop for FDI at Virginia Tech called, "A Survey of Emerging Web 2.0 Technologies: Engaging Students with Technology to Build a Community of Practice". (Twelve academics are enrolled.)
What gets me is that no matter how many of the Web 2.0 technologies I actually use (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google Apps, etc.), I cannot believe how much more 2.0 stuff there is out there in the world. How does one cover the daily new ones (like Daylert and Microsoft Office Live), let alone existing ones? At best, I can only present a smattering of them ... thank goodness for the Go2Web20.net page.Of interest, the K12 Online Conference 2007 starts tomorrow. I suggest you check it out.
Many of you might be asking, "What is Web 2.0, exactly?" Trusty, old-fashioned, and technical O'Reilly has an answer for you. So do some Web 2.0 platforms out there: YouTube can tell you what Web 2.0 is and so can all the folks contributing at Wikipedia.
YOUR TASK:
YOU tell ME what Web 2.0 technologies are out there.
(Click on "Post a Comment" below!)
YOUR TASK:
YOU tell ME what Web 2.0 technologies are out there.
(Click on "Post a Comment" below!)
- Use Google or a search visualization tool. If stumped, try Go2Web20.net.
- Which ones do you currently use? Why? How do you use them?
- Which ones would you like to use? Why? How would you use them?
UPDATE: It works! I got TwitterBox in SL to work and I now sing my Tweets out loud! Hooray!
- - - - - - -
"Join Twitter! Everyone else is doing it. It's the cool thing to do."
Between the "peer" pressure and my own sense of growing old in an increasing technological divide of me, the young, and the even younger, I'm guilty. But, hey, I'm still cool! (Or is it "tight"? "Phat"? Whatever.) "Sure, I'll try it. Why not?"
I pause before asking, "So, um, what was it called again?" Famous last words.
Twitter is interesting. When you first try to figure out what it is, there isn't a clear definition of it. It's a site that simply contacts you (via IM, cell phone, email, web, etc.) to ask you, "What are you doing?" You reply in 140 characters (that's CHARACTERS, not words), it is then posted and distributed amongst your friends, family, or the world to read.
Why would anyone want to do this? More so, who gives a damn?
I asked that very same question. It's a bit like micro-managing or babysitting a 5-year-old. Constantly Twitter may ask, "What are you doing?" What seems like five minutes pass, and I'm asked again, "What are you doing?" Again, "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" And, "Now?"
"I'm thinking about killing you Twitter." (Hey, that's less than 140 characters!)
I was about to uninstall it when I stumbled across Clive Thompson's article in Wired.com. In "Clive Thompson on How Twiter Creates a Social Sixth Sense," I came to understand how Twitter works and why people would want it. If you haven't a clue about why you'd tell the world (and send a bazillion text messages to your friends) about your every little passing thought, action, or whim, Thompson is able to give some perspective.
FYI: Twitter exists as a HUD on channel /282 in Second Life, too. There's a great blog post about Twitter in SL by Ryan Bretag. If you're interested in using Twitter in SL, grab TwitterBox from http://ordinalmalaprop.com/twitter/.
AmsDiane Gustafson tweets away at http://twitter.com/amsdiane/
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