Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Dead Tweeting the Conference

When I started my account, Twitter gave me this green and white avatar; click to see what it made me think of.
So of course our Publicity and Communications department wants to approve everything that any of our university's employees ever says publicly that might in any way reflect on the university, so that they can "manage the message" and "build and protect our brand". Therefore we have a pretty strict policy regarding social media, which on the one hand I find pragmatic if not reasonable to follow because #DontShitWhereYouEat, but on the other hand fuck you because #AcademicFreedom.

It was therefore with great interest that I noted that P&C wanted us to "live tweet" our experiences at certain events. This not only would open the sluiceway right past their own approval mechanism, but also might run afoul of rules at the events themselves. For instance, professional societies often have their own policies regarding leaking conference information to the public.

I determined that to live within all applicable rules, I could nevertheless "dead tweet" a conference after the fact, by removing any information that could identify the specific conference, my institution, or myself. I therefore give you these Publishable Units...










13 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2015 at 11:27 AM

    I could retweet every single one of these at every single conference I attend.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 7, 2015 at 1:43 PM

      Same here, with the possible exception of the word "lab." And the "more of a comment than a question" apparently spans all disciplines.

      Delete
    2. Contingent CassandraApril 7, 2015 at 9:11 PM

      Exactly what I was thinking (including the lab-exception part). Apparently conference sessions are a fairly universal form of misery.

      Delete
    3. Contingent CassandraApril 7, 2015 at 9:13 PM

      Well, we also don't usually have data (unless you're talking about pedagogical research). And we very, very rarely have funding (assuming no one is thanking their department for travel funding for the conference, which we do have, and for which I am grateful).

      Delete
    4. EC1April 7, 2015 at 9:26 PM

      There is a special circle of hell reserved for people whose "question" is in fact them talking about their own research.

      Delete
    5. Ogre Proctor HepApril 7, 2015 at 10:39 PM

      How often have you seen a session chair switch off the speaker's powerpoint and put up hir own, in order to use the Q&A period to essentially shout down the speaker?

      The first time I saw it was back in the day of carousel slide projectors. The speaker and chair took turns shouting at the poor AV guy in the back of the room to switch back to their carousel. I thought it might progress to fisticuffs.

      Ideally the chair(s) could take note of the number of people waiting to ask questions and cut off the longer winded ones if the speaker is too gracious to do so. An effective line I've seen used is "this seems like a conversation that could be continued over beer."

      Delete
    6. AnonymousApril 8, 2015 at 12:33 PM

      I'll admit, I have never seen a data duel during a presentation. It never occurred to me that that would happen. Now I'm more inclined to go to conferences, just to see it. Maybe I'll even volunteer to chair a symposium...

      Delete
  2. Middle-Aged and MoroseApril 7, 2015 at 3:22 PM

    sometimes I just want to shout "ASKING A FRELLING QUESTION!"

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  3. Contingent CassandraApril 7, 2015 at 9:15 PM

    It would be interesting to know how your PR folks envision the live-tweeting going. Perhaps they should provide a template? Perhaps we should imagine what that template might contain? Prominent mention of the university's name for one, I assume.

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    Replies
    1. Ogre Proctor HepApril 7, 2015 at 10:23 PM

      You used a word involving "vision" in conjunction with this activity, but I suspect vision had naught to do with it. I think they saw how this Twitter thing was being used by the young people (prospective students) and wanted it the way a six-year-old sees a friend with Pokemon cards and wants them.

      Delete
  4. UnknownApril 7, 2015 at 11:35 PM

    Great hash tags. Don't Bogart that Mic.

    It's okay to just ask vendors for their free stuff. It's their advertising, so you're supposed to be picking up the pens and notepads and then dispersing the brand name like pollen. I have worked those tables, and nobody wants to schlep the promotional googaws back home.

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    Replies
    1. Madame LibrarianApril 8, 2015 at 10:02 AM

      I am often totally frank in my pen and note pad hoarding: "My students will love these! They always need pens and sticky notes." This has resulted on more than one occasion with being told to stop by at the end of the conference to pick up the leftovers. So many notepads and pens to give away...

      Delete
    2. Ogre Proctor HepApril 8, 2015 at 9:52 PM

      Good points. I've also been in the right place at the right time to lighten someone's load in that way. Pens, notepads, water bottles, USB flash drives, T-shirts, umbrellas, etc. have gone home with me. My head tells me that spreading the name around is exactly why I should take the stuff. My heart tells me I shouldn't accept a gift unless I'm actively considering that company's goods or services. Clearly, I have a problem.

      Delete

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