Twitter as Scholarship: How Not To Get Fired (Much)
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1) The document discusses how Twitter can be used for open, networked scholarship through many-to-many communication and building communities of practice, but that challenges exist due to its oral nature and collapsed contexts. 2) It recommends navigating Twitter in a way that contributes to scholarship and humanity by building an identity within interest areas, sharing work and crediting others, being patient and friendly in conversations, and believing in the value of contributions. 3) The key is remembering principles like being honest, doing "shoulder checks" of context, not expecting a soapbox, not confusing free speech with privilege, and inhabiting both academic and networked worlds simultaneously.
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Twitter as Scholarship: How Not To Get Fired (Much)
- 1. TWITTER AS SCHOLARSHIP How Not To Get Fired(much) BONNIE STEWART @bonstewart University of Prince Edward Island, Canada LaTrobe University, October 2016 http://xkcd.com/802/
- 3. WINTER IS COMING APRIL 2015. ew.
- 4. How did I get here?
- 6. ACADEMIC TWITTER scholarship what people had for lunch TIMESTAMP: 2013
- 8. Rise of hashtag activism… TIMESTAMP: 2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown#/media/File:Memorial_to_Michael_Brown.jpg
- 10. + backlash & rise of alt/right https://mobile.twitter.com/cartoon_neuron/status/618385493227642880
- 11. + increasing institutionalization of social media = increased perception of professional RISK
- 12. There are a lot of shuttered academic Twitter accounts. https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/3753886017/
- 13. This lens of risk isn’t wrong… but it’s not the whole picture. https://www.flickr.com/photos/the4mahers/6802850117/
- 14. So… HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING & LOVE THE TWITTERZ
- 15. Understanding the intersections between networked & academic premises is the KEY to value & safe(ish) use https://www.flickr.com/photos/28537647@N06/2887726958/
- 16. The work of two 20th century thinkers helped me understand Twitter as 21st century scholarship …and think about how to use it.
- 17. 1. Boyer: Networked practices as SCHOLARSHIP ¤ Scholarship of discovery ¤ Scholarship of integration ¤ Scholarship of application ¤ Scholarship of teaching ! (Boyer, 1990)
- 18. Academia & social media are both reputational economies http://www.flickr.com/photos/8113246@N02/7932198032
- 19. We are trained & acculturated to SIGNALS of scholarly excellence https://www.flickr.com/photos/126451798@N05/15076855933/
- 20. Those within the academy become very skilled at judging the stuff of reputations. Where has the person’s work been published, what claims of priority in discovery have they established, how often have they been cited, how and where reviewed, what prizes won, what institutional ties earned, what organizations led? (Willinsky, 2010)
- 22. The gates are open https://www.flickr.com/photos/vince2012/14557320666/
- 23. Structure of abundance = networks https://plus.google.com/+DaveGray/posts/CQRVeKEsUvFpid=5751686447270321954&oid=117373186752666867801
- 25. …Like a party line with multiple private/public options https://www.flickr.com/photos/94342662@N00/3869483214/
- 26. capacity to contribute to “The Conversation” scale of visibility common interests & disciplines shared ties Network signals do similar work… more openly Factors contributing to perceived influence & value in academic Twitter – Stewart, 2015
- 27. MY STORY: My local cohort, Ph.D year 2 Me, studying networks & education V, 6hrs away, studying music ed Z, working 1hr away, studying leadership in ed
- 28. Twitter = a cohort without borders http://www.flickr.com/photos/bswise/4457290211/
- 29. Many-to-many signals = global communities of practice & mentorship
- 30. Benefits as thinker: just-in-time choral conversation
- 31. Benefits as learner: support & care
- 32. Benefits as writer: crowdsourcing
- 33. Benefits as teacher: opportunities to connect students to real audiences
- 34. Benefits as scholar: connection to leaders
- 35. + expansion of audience https://www.flickr.com/photos/tattoodjay/4129779298/
- 36. + opportunity. Thanks to many-to- many communications on Twitter.
- 37. Academic Twitter = a scholarship of abundance https://www.flickr.com/photos/92998734@N03/8466586880/
- 38. (sometimes change is good.)
- 39. Great. But what about when open, networked signals don’t feel good? And don’t feel like scholarship? https://www.flickr.com/photos/edenpictures/14399024753
- 40. 2. Ong: The CULTURE of an environment is shaped by its communications medium
- 42. …sound kinda like Twitter?
- 44. Academia is the instantiation of what Ong calls ‘high literacy.’ …sound kinda like academia?
- 45. Ong’s secondary orality + secondary literacy “The network message from one person to another / others is very rapid and can in effect be in the present… textualized verbal exchange registers psychologically as having the temporal immediacy of oral exchange.” (Ong, 1996)
- 46. Speech-based expectations Call-out Culture = Collapsed Publics Print-based interpretations
- 47. The ORALITY of Twitter – which demands ongoing participation, performativity beyond rank, casual sociality, & a different type of conflict – creates challenges.
- 48. Challenge: context collapse (Wesch, 2009; boyd, 2011) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_code
- 51. Challenge: the ‘comments section’
- 52. Challenge: differential identity reception & targeting
- 53. Challenge: predatory labour masked as “exposure”
- 54. (Okay, *that* one’s a lot like academia)
- 55. How can we navigate Twitter in a way that contributes to our scholarship & humanity, rather than risking either? *assuming Twitter continues to exist*
- 56. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmesis/21126825/ Remember, the internet is people. Who read signals.
- 57. To start signaling, build an identity
- 58. You need to work on your identity before it will work for you.
- 59. Figure out who you want to signal to.
- 60. ¤ #phdchat ¤ #edchat ¤ #ECRchat ¤ #ScholarSunday ¤ #GetYourManuscriptOut ¤ #acwri ¤ #SaturdaySchool ¤ #highered ¤ #digped ¤ #WithaPhD ¤ #science Connect: #s help you find people with shared interests #
- 61. Share. Your work AND that of others. Cite & credit people. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanr/142455033/
- 62. Be patient. Be friendly. Be part of the conversation.
- 63. Believe in the value of your contribution.
- 64. Twitter can help your scholarship become many-to-many scholarship https://www.flickr.com/photos/122135325@N06/15117809516/in/dateposted/
- 65. But to succeed AND not get fired, it helps to remember: BE HONEST
- 66. Always do a ‘shoulder check.’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooocha/2632434274/sizes/z/in/photostream/
- 67. Institutions are made of people too
- 68. Don’t expect a soapbox
- 69. Don’t confuse your free speech with your privilege
- 70. Don’t aim to be HUGE
- 71. Don’t push to tie open networked scholarship TO academic reward systems
- 73. You can inhabit both worlds – the academic & the networked – at the same time, to the benefit of both.
- 74. What signals will you send? THANK YOU @bonstewart bstewart@upei.ca