Jumping off the bridge

I am a sometimes early adopter of new technology. Since family life has hit me in the face, my energy for newness has slowed somewhat. Mr. Hipteacher's jollies about iPhone apps haven't rubbed off on me--mostly because he's jazzed to have a sound pressure meter always at his disposal, and I hardly even know what that is--and I secretly want to hang on to hard-back books and vinyl records (not because I am old but because they are cool). But I'm not a total luddite. Really. 

That said, I'd like to admit that I totally don't get Twitter. I've read about it and heard about it. NPR tells me about it on my commute. I see Facebook friends are all over it. But, so far, I've been nonplussed. 

But I've decided to give it a try for two reasons.

1. The headmaster of my new school wouldn't shut up (in a good way) about Twitter during his opening of school speech. He mentioned its relevance in Iran over the summer and how we can't be closed to new technology just because it is new. He encouraged us to explore the unknown. And then he said some stuff about Leonard Cohen that I totally can't remember anymore but made me think he seemed really neat.

2. I listened (while in a supply closet pumping milk--more on that later) to a podcast that Bud the Teacher did for the K12 Online Conference 2009 about the difference between networks and communities, and I decided I really like the idea of creating a personal learning network. Then I saw that Hedgetoad is going to plan with other teachers online (so fun!), and everything seemed to be jiving in the same direction.

And so I am jumping into the Twitter, and I will see what I shall see. I found a couple familiar bloggers to follow, like Dana Huff, who totally lives in the town where I grew up (!), and I made a proud little widget for my sidebar here. 

Then I was instantly followed by a rather objectionable person who promised to show me things I did not want to see.

Comments

[Dana Huff]

I didn't get Twitter either until I had tried it for a while and found some good folks to follow. As far as objectionable followers, you probably know this, but you can block them. If you're logged in, just click Block when you're on their page. Also, I have found Twitter easier to use when I have a Twitter client, such as Tweetdeck, Nambu, or Seesmic. You might give one a try. Also, check out Jim Burke's posts about Twitter: http://jimburke.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/what-the-ning-is-a-blog-you-twittering-wiki.html and http://jimburke.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/twitter-cranking-up-the-idea-machine.html. You can see he shared your (and my) skepticism, but he is now an enthusiastic twitterer.

[hipteacher]

Dana,
So far so good. I learned to block right away, and I've already found *so* much to read and think about. Following your suggestion, I am trying TweetDeck, which I like functionally but not so much aesthetically. And I'll check out Burke's posts. I'm a fan.

On a side note, I informally surveyed my students to see how many of them like and use Twitter, and they uniformly said that they HATE Twitter. Maybe because there is more content and less social activity to T?

[Dana Huff]

I know how you feel about Tweetdeck. If you have a Mac, Nambu is prettier, but buggy because it's in beta. Seesmic looks nicer than Tweetdeck. You can change the colors in Tweetdeck, but I don't think it looks right when I do that either.

You are probably right about students and Twitter. Mine are all over Facebook.

[Jonathan Jason]

To me Twitters sounds like a fad. You know what I was thinking last Thursday? (No you don't I know) I'm starting not to like all this communicative technology. I lost my cell phone a month a go and I feel free. I only got facebook because I use it for a class. I like physical communication better. maybe when they make holographic phones I'll feel better.

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I liked this post very much as it has helped me a lot in my research and is quite interesting as well. Thank you for sharing this information with us.

[Shelli Lewi]

Twitter has helped me connect with other teachers and glean ideas and wisdom from them. Stay out there and keep sharing--both the positives and the negatives! :)

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