Download the Tweeting during workshops handout here
Twitter is a surprisingly good tool for taking notes and sharing them during workshops and lectures. This is the virtual equivalent of passing notes in the back of the class often results in interesting online conversations. Tweets work better when they are ‘thick’ rather than ‘thin’* - in other words, information dense. Here are some examples.
Announcing
Check with the presenter they are ok with you tweeting, then find out if there is a #hashtag for the event. If not, write a tweet about where you are and make up a hashtag to use. If you know fellow tweeters are in the room, mention them in your tweet so you can all use the same one, like so:
I’m at @thesiswhisper’s workshop “Write that journal article in 7 days. Hashtag #7daypaper cc @jasondowns @anitranot #phdchat
I included “#phdchat” at the end of the tweet because lots of PhD students hang out there and this will alert them that I am doing something interesting. Follow up with a tweet that includes a link to the workshop description (if there is one) and what you might tweet about; this gives people a reason to ‘tune in’ to you, like so:
The @thesiswhisper says it can take only a week to write a paper http://www.slideshare.net/ingermewburn/write-that-journal-article-in-7-days-12742195 I will share her tricks on #7daypaper
Note: I didn’t start that last tweet with @thesiswhisperer. If I did that, my tweets would be effectively invisible to anyone who wasn’t following both of us. For a fully private conversation, use the Direct Message function.
Listening
There’s a couple of ways to make informative tweets as you listen. As a summary:
Now @thesiswhisperer is talking about journal descriptions. It’s important to read them or else you risk rejection #7daypaper
Picking out a quotable quote:
“There are two ways to think about writers” says @thesiswhisperer “plotters and pantsers” #7daypaper
A reflection on what you heard or did:
We just did a spider diagram exercise: https://sites.google.com/site/twblacklinemasters/using-a-spider-diagram-to-make-research-questions It really helped me clarify my paper outline #7daypaper
Enjoy your workshop!
*Here's an explanation of think and thin tweets
Note: This handout is released under the creative commons share a-like attribution license. You may circulate and change it, but be cool – acknowledge Dr Inger Mewburn as the original author.