On Wednesday, @savasavasava threw out the following question on Twitter:
hey, academic twitter, I’m putting together a presentation and I’d love your help: what is academic twitter?
— sava (@savasavasava) February 22, 2017
It’s a pretty big, and pretty important, question. When I’m asked, I usually say something along the lines of it being academics on Twitter, but that’s not quite right. It’s more than that, but it’s hard to explain until you experience it.
I’ve brought together some of the responses to @savsavasava’s question here, so that those not on Twitter can hopefully get a glimpse of why some of us like it so much.
The modern water cooler
I like to say that Twitter is the modern agora. It is a (privately owned) public space where people come together to chat, exchange knowledge, do business, complain, share cat pictures, and generally try to make sense of what’s going on in the world.
@savasavasava the new office water cooler
— dan greene (@Greene_DM) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava The greatest collection of expertise ever assembled in human history. Mostly, we complain about grading. #RealAcademicBios
— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava privately owned public space where scholars interact mostly to commiserate on sorry state of their institutions.
— chris g (@hypervisible) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava A collection of front facing sarcasm, back channel supportive DMs, and mailing list subtweets about knowledge production.
— Nick LaLone (@Nick_Lalone) February 22, 2017
A broad community
Twitter–any social media, in my opinion–should be about the people who use it. Social media is simply being social through a medium. This allows broad communities and networks to form, which in turn fosters creativity, connection, knowledge exchange, and public engagement. Academic Twitter breaks down the barriers of status–tenured faculty, contract, independent scholars, alt-academics, para-academics– and becomes about the ideas people have, not the rank a person holds in an institution or organization.
@savasavasava a loose collection of academics, alt-academics, and para-academics who often chat about scholarship- & college-related topics
— Tim Carmody (@tcarmody) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava I’ll be controversail and say it’s not a thing. If it’s a thing, it refers to academics using Twitter for whatever.
— Ernesto Priego (@ernestopriego) February 22, 2017
A “time-shifted” conference
A never-ending conference may not sound like fun to some, but in some ways, that’s what Twitter is. But don’t worry: It’s the fun networking in the bar after the panel presentations part of conferences, and you can dip in and out of it as you wish. Also, no expensive hotel fees or air fare.
@savasavasava One of the many ways I think about Academic Twitter is like an ongoing, time-shifted interdisciplinary conference.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava a multidisciplinary conference that never ends and never entirely leaves the bar
— Donna Lanclos (@DonnaLanclos) February 22, 2017
A way to do academics publicly
Twitter is public and provides a platform for us to do our discipline publicly. But it’s not just about sharing facts on ancient Greece, say. @OmanReagan hits the nail on the head: Twitter allows us to humanize our work. When we allow our personality and personal interests to come through on Twitter, the public can see scholars as relatable. Our enthusiasm comes across. We are interesting people doing interesting things, no more or less human than anyone else. Engagement is about connection, and we best connect with people when we allow ourselves to be seen as people.
@savasavasava Academic Twitter is also a way to *do* your discipline in public: to read in public, to share research, to explain your field.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava Twitter also links the academic and the personal, the scholarly and the political. It adds the human back to research results.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
A disability resource
The importance of Twitter and social media to the disabled community is often under-appreciated, but it is a vital tool. Live-tweeting may make a presentation easier for someone to follow. Networking on social media doesn’t require the same energy investment that travel and meetings do. In addition, Twitter is a way to find other marginalized people who share the same challenges and can provide support during difficult times.
@savasavasava Other things: a disability resource to improve access to community, conversation, professional networks.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
A network that breaks down institutional hierarchies and silos
Twitter allows us to engage with other people as people first, and gives us access to people who we might not otherwise meet. It’s pretty awesome to be able to tweet to someone you respect, and even cooler when they reply or RT. I know I’ll never forget getting a RT from an academic hero!
Twitter gives space for the voices that are often marginalized and unheard in traditional spaces. By listening to –and amplifying–people from marginalized groups, we learn to be better people and better academics. Twitter is a classroom where, if we choose to listen, we can learn from each other.
@savasavasava the network that connects shared intellectual interests beyond traditional institutional models.
— Kristen Eshleman (@kreshleman) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava A means for often erased, marginalized, or ignored voices to skip the usual ladder climbing and be heard.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava Way to follow & engage wide range, incl academic leaders, & to find collaborators. Great info source. In many ways a levelor.
— TomSHarrison (@Tomharri) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava super-useful in a conference context, and for strengthening ties that might otherwise dwindle or lapse
— Justin Pickard (@justinpickard) February 22, 2017
A venue for trans-disciplinary collaboration
Twitter, if used well, breaks down barriers of disciplines, departments, faculties, and hierarchical rank to encourage cross collaboration. It’s way to work out ideas and get input from other perspectives.
@savasavasava Collaboration: Every paper panel, conference paper, and journal article I’ve written in last 3 years has started here.
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava at its best, a sounding board & means of routing around some of the intransegencies of institutional hierarchies
— Justin Pickard (@justinpickard) February 22, 2017
@savasavasava the more diverse & interesting shadow college to most brick and mortar schools.
— Karen Gregory (@claudiakincaid) February 22, 2017
Academic Twitter is complex. But however we describe it, it is a community: a community we create as individuals coming together to listen and learn and share with each other.
How do you define academic twitter?
Alison Innes 