Looks like an incitement to riot. Or, at the very least, a major way of CMers getting "outed". I think the the RGM must be this "Britney Spears" person...
And, just to annoy Strelnikov, here is a totally gratuitous fart noise, which is over 140 characters long, which shows that even when I'm silly I'm too deep for Twitter:
Personally, neither for nor against. I'm more likely to join Twitter than Facebook (a CM Facebook page: is there one?). I guess questions would be: what can it do that the website can't; what could posters do that they shouldn't on the site; and, how to deal with followers of a trollish persuasion?
I think we could nominate 140 character summaries/reactions to each post and tweet those. Plus, we could collect random one-liners from our students to post. The problem is that this might put too much pressure on the mod, since I can't just think of something absolutely brilliant (and let's be honest, everything I say is brilliant) and post it. I'd need to have an intermediary. So there's that.
I'm a longtime reader, but never a poster, so feel free to ignore.
I think twitter appeals because it allows for quick and easy posting. However, in most cases, a twitter account represents one person. As AM points out, having an intermediary would be cumbersome to the mod (and would defeat the purpose of twitter, IMO.) In order avoid this, all potential posters would need to have access to the page. I believe there is such as thing as a group twitter page, which may require posters to have their own accounts in order to join, but I don't know much about it.
Even if it was doable, I don't know if a twitter page would offer much that the blog doesn't. And I personally would not want to see the blog end in favor of twitter (I'd still probably read it though).
Even just using it as a modified RSS feed -- one tweet per post, mostly the title -- would be great, allowing those of use who use twitter (don't look, not this handle) a really lazy way to share CM material.
Matilda's wrong, by the way: there are many institutional and group twitter feeds, if that's the model CM chooses. And it's a great tool for driving traffic to a website which regularly posts its traffic statistics.
Frankly, there are some seriously CM-worthy conversations that go on out there: any CM'ers who are into storify could easily put some nice quick posts together (e.g. #DearStudents or #Grading)
There's a powerful adjunct faculty presence there, which matches CM's community reasonably well.
Ah, I see now that Ahistoricality is referring to twitter hashtag feeds, rather than the main feed of a group account. My mistake.
Yes, a hashtag feed would be an option to consider that would give individual posters an easy way to contribute, and would be easier than adding people to a group page as I was originally thinking (using something like GroupTweet).
The only issue I can think of with the hashtag feed is that it allows anyone to post anything, and I don't know if comment moderation is possible in feeds.
My apologies for any deleted comment messages I've left behind; I'm pretty rubbish at commenting without an edit option.
I have to confess Twitter seems like the second stupidest thing behind Facebook to me. (I am the RGM, after all, and limited in the manner.)
But we get Twitter requests all the time and maybe there's a way to do it without it being insane.
Seriously, do I just put hastag-whatever on anything I post? Is that the method? #collegemisery and #stupidstudents and #yaroisthechrist? Does that help? Why would anyone search those hashtags anyway? Does that make sense?
Does anyone remember the IBM Selectric. Man, that fucking rocked.
The Selectric was great, but the real mannah from heaven was the Correcting Selectric II. Getting that machine was like getting my iPhone. It made life so easy. It was revolutionary and awesome to be able to correct a mistake with just a couple of clicks. It took less than a second! Just thinking about it, I still feel the awe. It was wonderful.
When I was a child, I used an old Draper we had at home. I don't remember the details of why I was using that old typewriter, but it seemed completely normal to use all caps all the time.
10 PRINT "I don't go as far back" 20 PRINT "as the Selectric, but" 30 PRINT "I do remember learning" 40 GOSUB 1000 50 PRINT "Oh yeah, and also finding" 60 PRINT "my dad's Playboys by the" 70 PRINT "computer. That must have" 80 PRINT "been the beginning of" 90 PRINT "internet porn." 99 END
1000 PRINT "how to program in BASIC" 1010 PRINT "using a Commodore 64" 1020 PRINT "in the early 80's." 1030 RETURN
As a young sailor in the late 1970s, I had the opportunity to take a typing course taught by Air Force guys at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX. The two hours of typing class came after a six-hour training day in the real technical training being delivered there.
Instruction basically consisted of AF NCO (usually somebody who had lost their security clearance and was waiting for transfer or discharge) standing in front a giant wall chart that had the QWERTY keyboard displayed, with diagrams showing which fingers were used for which keys.
The hardware were bile-green Korean war vintage manual Royal typewriters...the ones with no letters printed on the keys...the better to reinforce the concepts of "touch typing" displayed on the chart.
After 90 minutes of practice text and three smoke breaks (even though smoking was allowed in the classroom then), we would take our daily test. 25 WPM with more than 5 errors was the standard. There were only three or four pieces of text used for the text. I remember their beginning words to this day: "The Red Sea is a body of water that..." and "The Judge Advocate General Corps of the Unites States Army..."
I languished in typing class for nine weeks while my buddies slowly but surely tested out.
One day --and it was right around this time of year-- we walked into the typing class and the manual Royal typewriters were gone. In there place were shiny new IBM Selectric IIs....with beautiful, high-contrast white letters on their shiny new black keys.
"Do NOT look a the letters on those keyboards during today's testing period" were the instructions from the NCO at the beginning of our first test on these marvelous ebony symbols of progress.
Of course I looked. And tested out that day. Two more hours of liberty restored!
Another element of proof to my claim: "new hardware solves every problem".
Bring on the Tweets (even though it's not technically hardware...you get my drift).
I went to Administrative Specialist School at Keesler AFB, Mississippi. It was a 24 week self-paced course that included typing tests at certain intervals during the course work. The aim was to make you a typist if you didn't know already. Having taken typing in High School I was ahead of the curve.
One day I had a timed test and went to the testing room. There were enough students in the school that they could give a test at any time. I got my originals and sat down at my Royal Manual typewriter. (IBM Selectrics were not standard at that time.) Anyone who has used a Royal manual knows the keys have to be pressed firmly, and that they are loud.
There were others in the room, but I didn't know these were neophytes who still typed in a cadence. (ie: T - h- e - space - q - u - i - c - k- space - b - r - o - w - n). I sat down and began rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat DING! ZIP, Rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat-ratty-tat-tat-ratty-tatty-tatty-tatty-tat-tat DING! ZIP.
Suddenly I realized I was the only one typing. Everyone else in the room was just looking at me since I was completely throwing their rhythm off.
Well I won't tweet or follow - blogging is quite ENOUGH of a timesuck so I am not starting with Twitter and my facebook is the bare minimum to allow college friends to find me and email if they want to.
I'm not a current tweeterer, though I think I may have created an account once. I do use RSS to read one or two twitter accounts, but am not sure using the twitter side of CM would be better than the RSS feed I have already.
The question I think Ahistoricality and Matilda were pondering is whether the hoard of regular contributers could tweet on their own, or if the Mod(s) or some other select group with _the_ password to the unholiness would have to do it for them.
I do not think it fair to request the Mod(s) tweet for us. I don't really want to be in possession of a password to a joint account, unless there are significant user controls available. I do not wish to make a pseudonymous twitter account so as to join in the fun. I would not do any kind of contributing-like things with a real twitter account.
But, it would bother me not in the slightest if any of all ya'll wanted to do any of the above. So I guess I'm saying, "Have fun, I'll sit back here and watch."
So potentially I could create an Academic Monkey account and tweet my student comments or brilliant thesis statements, ending with @collegemisery to share?
I might try that out when I get some free time later this week.
AM - I think you are referring to @replies (arg, more jargon). According to my imperfect understanding, if you make your own account and begin a tweet with @collegemisery, it will appear on your twitter page, but might not appear on the CM page unless CM replies to it (you should try if you want though because I am not sure).
If you include the hashtag #collegemisery, like Ahistoricality suggested, your tweet would appear in a separate #collegemisery feed (not the same as the CM page feed).
Finally, if the CM account was activated as a group account using a service like GroupTweet, then you could supposedly sign into the CM account using your own login/password and tweet directly on the CM page. Or, like Alan said, the mod could share the CM login with other contributors and not have to do the group account thing.
That's the extent of my twitter knowledge, so anyone who's still interested in the twittering will have to take it from there.
I am somewhat intrigued by The Twitter, but I doubt I'll get involved in that. Likewise with The Facebook and The Foursquare and The Pinterest and the CM app and the CM outpost on the moon (sponsored by The Newt). But if these things help to spread the Gospel of The Misery, then I will pray to the Holy Yaro that they all succeed.
I think we'll try it for the week and see what comes of it. It's a time suck, pure and simple. If you have a Twitter account and are amenable, use the Twitter buttons below a recent favorite post from CM and hashtag it appropriately. See if maybe it livens things up...
The other week I read a series of tweets to a class. According to the tweets the writer is in the room and wants a twitter campaign to get rid of me. The other students are doing their best to "out" him/her as "anyone who can't pass your class must be a real dick."
OH MY GOD SO EXCITED
ReplyDeleteWhere are we going to get material for our 140 characters?
Should we send them in to the general email? Or we could require each post end with a 140 character line summarizing their misery....
To quote Frog and Toad: Squeeeeee!
What have you DONE?!
ReplyDeleteIn the name of all that is holy and unholy, why?
ReplyDeleteI swear, I don't know what happened. One minute it was all nice, and then I just pushed some buttons.
ReplyDeleteLooks like an incitement to riot.
ReplyDeleteOr, at the very least, a major way of CMers getting "outed".
I think the the RGM must be this "Britney Spears" person...
Frod save us.
I'll have nothing to do with it.
DeleteAnd, just to annoy Strelnikov, here is a totally gratuitous fart noise, which is over 140 characters long, which shows that even when I'm silly I'm too deep for Twitter:
Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttttttttttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttttttttttttttt!
Aww, but the misery is so much more satisfying in paragraph form.
ReplyDeleteA twitter dedicated to 140-character smackdowns would be fun though...
140 charaacter smackdown would be fun.
DeleteBy the way, following us by our real names could out us. So stop it. Signed, Britney Spears (PhD Sociology, Tuktoyuktuk U)
Seriously, we'd like to discuss how or if we should utilize Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have been given a horrible lesson in "words have consequences". I do like you tweeting links to new posts. And smackdown.
DeletePersonally, neither for nor against. I'm more likely to join Twitter than Facebook (a CM Facebook page: is there one?). I guess questions would be: what can it do that the website can't; what could posters do that they shouldn't on the site; and, how to deal with followers of a trollish persuasion?
ReplyDeleteI think we could nominate 140 character summaries/reactions to each post and tweet those. Plus, we could collect random one-liners from our students to post. The problem is that this might put too much pressure on the mod, since I can't just think of something absolutely brilliant (and let's be honest, everything I say is brilliant) and post it. I'd need to have an intermediary. So there's that.
ReplyDeleteI'm a longtime reader, but never a poster, so feel free to ignore.
ReplyDeleteI think twitter appeals because it allows for quick and easy posting. However, in most cases, a twitter account represents one person.
As AM points out, having an intermediary would be cumbersome to the mod (and would defeat the purpose of twitter, IMO.)
In order avoid this, all potential posters would need to have access to the page. I believe there is such as thing as a group twitter page, which may require posters to have their own accounts in order to join, but I don't know much about it.
Even if it was doable, I don't know if a twitter page would offer much that the blog doesn't. And I personally would not want to see the blog end in favor of twitter (I'd still probably read it though).
No content here -- just wanted to say I lurve your handle ("They made one gasp / And stretch one's eyes").
DeleteEven just using it as a modified RSS feed -- one tweet per post, mostly the title -- would be great, allowing those of use who use twitter (don't look, not this handle) a really lazy way to share CM material.
ReplyDeleteMatilda's wrong, by the way: there are many institutional and group twitter feeds, if that's the model CM chooses. And it's a great tool for driving traffic to a website which regularly posts its traffic statistics.
Frankly, there are some seriously CM-worthy conversations that go on out there: any CM'ers who are into storify could easily put some nice quick posts together (e.g. #DearStudents or #Grading)
There's a powerful adjunct faculty presence there, which matches CM's community reasonably well.
Ah, I see now that Ahistoricality is referring to twitter hashtag feeds, rather than the main feed of a group account. My mistake.
DeleteYes, a hashtag feed would be an option to consider that would give individual posters an easy way to contribute, and would be easier than adding people to a group page as I was originally thinking (using something like GroupTweet).
The only issue I can think of with the hashtag feed is that it allows anyone to post anything, and I don't know if comment moderation is possible in feeds.
My apologies for any deleted comment messages I've left behind; I'm pretty rubbish at commenting without an edit option.
I have to confess Twitter seems like the second stupidest thing behind Facebook to me. (I am the RGM, after all, and limited in the manner.)
ReplyDeleteBut we get Twitter requests all the time and maybe there's a way to do it without it being insane.
Seriously, do I just put hastag-whatever on anything I post? Is that the method? #collegemisery and #stupidstudents and #yaroisthechrist? Does that help? Why would anyone search those hashtags anyway? Does that make sense?
Does anyone remember the IBM Selectric. Man, that fucking rocked.
The Selectric was great, but the real mannah from heaven was the Correcting Selectric II. Getting that machine was like getting my iPhone. It made life so easy. It was revolutionary and awesome to be able to correct a mistake with just a couple of clicks. It took less than a second! Just thinking about it, I still feel the awe. It was wonderful.
DeleteWhen I was a child, I used an old Draper we had at home. I don't remember the details of why I was using that old typewriter, but it seemed completely normal to use all caps all the time.
10 PRINT "I don't go as far back"
Delete20 PRINT "as the Selectric, but"
30 PRINT "I do remember learning"
40 GOSUB 1000
50 PRINT "Oh yeah, and also finding"
60 PRINT "my dad's Playboys by the"
70 PRINT "computer. That must have"
80 PRINT "been the beginning of"
90 PRINT "internet porn."
99 END
1000 PRINT "how to program in BASIC"
1010 PRINT "using a Commodore 64"
1020 PRINT "in the early 80's."
1030 RETURN
As a young sailor in the late 1970s, I had the opportunity to take a typing course taught by Air Force guys at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX. The two hours of typing class came after a six-hour training day in the real technical training being delivered there.
DeleteInstruction basically consisted of AF NCO (usually somebody who had lost their security clearance and was waiting for transfer or discharge) standing in front a giant wall chart that had the QWERTY keyboard displayed, with diagrams showing which fingers were used for which keys.
The hardware were bile-green Korean war vintage manual Royal typewriters...the ones with no letters printed on the keys...the better to reinforce the concepts of "touch typing" displayed on the chart.
After 90 minutes of practice text and three smoke breaks (even though smoking was allowed in the classroom then), we would take our daily test. 25 WPM with more than 5 errors was the standard. There were only three or four pieces of text used for the text. I remember their beginning words to this day: "The Red Sea is a body of water that..." and "The Judge Advocate General Corps of the Unites States Army..."
I languished in typing class for nine weeks while my buddies slowly but surely tested out.
One day --and it was right around this time of year-- we walked into the typing class and the manual Royal typewriters were gone. In there place were shiny new IBM Selectric IIs....with beautiful, high-contrast white letters on their shiny new black keys.
"Do NOT look a the letters on those keyboards during today's testing period" were the instructions from the NCO at the beginning of our first test on these marvelous ebony symbols of progress.
Of course I looked. And tested out that day. Two more hours of liberty restored!
Another element of proof to my claim: "new hardware solves every problem".
Bring on the Tweets (even though it's not technically hardware...you get my drift).
@ Pat from Peoria:
Delete10 PRINT "Awesome!"
99 END
Sorry, had a bug in that first comment.
A bit of military memorabilia.
DeleteI went to Administrative Specialist School at Keesler AFB, Mississippi. It was a 24 week self-paced course that included typing tests at certain intervals during the course work. The aim was to make you a typist if you didn't know already. Having taken typing in High School I was ahead of the curve.
One day I had a timed test and went to the testing room. There were enough students in the school that they could give a test at any time. I got my originals and sat down at my Royal Manual typewriter. (IBM Selectrics were not standard at that time.) Anyone who has used a Royal manual knows the keys have to be pressed firmly, and that they are loud.
There were others in the room, but I didn't know these were neophytes who still typed in a cadence. (ie: T - h- e - space - q - u - i - c - k- space - b - r - o - w - n). I sat down and began rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat DING! ZIP, Rat-tat-tat-rat-tat-tat-ratty-tat-tat-ratty-tatty-tatty-tatty-tat-tat DING! ZIP.
Suddenly I realized I was the only one typing. Everyone else in the room was just looking at me since I was completely throwing their rhythm off.
I finished up the test and slunk out.
Holy god, there are like 30 posts already.
ReplyDeleteand a whole bunch of followers (but still nobody reading).
DeleteWell I won't tweet or follow - blogging is quite ENOUGH of a timesuck so I am not starting with Twitter and my facebook is the bare minimum to allow college friends to find me and email if they want to.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a current tweeterer, though I think I may have created an account once. I do use RSS to read one or two twitter accounts, but am not sure using the twitter side of CM would be better than the RSS feed I have already.
ReplyDeleteThe question I think Ahistoricality and Matilda were pondering is whether the hoard of regular contributers could tweet on their own, or if the Mod(s) or some other select group with _the_ password to the unholiness would have to do it for them.
I do not think it fair to request the Mod(s) tweet for us. I don't really want to be in possession of a password to a joint account, unless there are significant user controls available. I do not wish to make a pseudonymous twitter account so as to join in the fun. I would not do any kind of contributing-like things with a real twitter account.
But, it would bother me not in the slightest if any of all ya'll wanted to do any of the above. So I guess I'm saying, "Have fun, I'll sit back here and watch."
So potentially I could create an Academic Monkey account and tweet my student comments or brilliant thesis statements, ending with @collegemisery to share?
DeleteI might try that out when I get some free time later this week.
AM - I think you are referring to @replies (arg, more jargon). According to my imperfect understanding, if you make your own account and begin a tweet with @collegemisery, it will appear on your twitter page, but might not appear on the CM page unless CM replies to it (you should try if you want though because I am not sure).
DeleteIf you include the hashtag #collegemisery, like Ahistoricality suggested, your tweet would appear in a separate #collegemisery feed (not the same as the CM page feed).
Finally, if the CM account was activated as a group account using a service like GroupTweet, then you could supposedly sign into the CM account using your own login/password and tweet directly on the CM page.
Or, like Alan said, the mod could share the CM login with other contributors and not have to do the group account thing.
That's the extent of my twitter knowledge, so anyone who's still interested in the twittering will have to take it from there.
I don't tweet, but good to know no reads what we write. Still.
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat intrigued by The Twitter, but I doubt I'll get involved in that. Likewise with The Facebook and The Foursquare and The Pinterest and the CM app and the CM outpost on the moon (sponsored by The Newt). But if these things help to spread the Gospel of The Misery, then I will pray to the Holy Yaro that they all succeed.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying to the Holy Yaro from now on.
DeleteI like the College Misery header now: Skeletor goes Corporate.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that we need to update our long term goal to be: College Misery, the Twitterized Musical"?
ReplyDeleteI think we'll try it for the week and see what comes of it. It's a time suck, pure and simple. If you have a Twitter account and are amenable, use the Twitter buttons below a recent favorite post from CM and hashtag it appropriately. See if maybe it livens things up...
ReplyDelete...or is the final nail in the coffin.
The RGM
Je do not tweet.
ReplyDeleteThe other week I read a series of tweets to a class. According to the tweets the writer is in the room and wants a twitter campaign to get rid of me. The other students are doing their best to "out" him/her as "anyone who can't pass your class must be a real dick."
ReplyDeleteJust built an account to follow along: @BurntChrome1, as some other churl has taken my name.
ReplyDeletePlease stop plagiarizing my tweets.
ReplyDeleteHey, did you see that since CM has a twitter, now the MLA has rules for tweet citation?
ReplyDelete