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Tweeting for Science

At risk of veering off course of this blog’s typical topics, I am going to post about tweeting.  This topic is timely given my previous post about the lack of social media use in Ocean Sciences, the blog post that it spawned at Words in mOcean,  and the Twitter hash tag #NewMarineTweep. A grad school friend asked me recently what I like about tweeting (ironically, this was asked using Facebook).  So instead of touting my thoughts on Twitter to my limited Facebook friends, I thought I would post here and face the consequences of avoiding DCXL almost completely this week on the blog.

First, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.  Check out these resources about tweeting in science:

That being said, I will now pontificate on the value of Twitter for science, in handy numbered list form.

  1. It saves me time.  This might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s absolutely true.  If you are a head-in-the-sand kind of person, this point might not be for you. But I like to know what’s going on in science, science news, the world of science publishing, science funding, etc. etc.  That doesn’t even include regular news or local events.  The point here is that instead of checking websites, digging through RSS feeds, or having an overfull email inbox, I have filtered all of these things through HootSuite.  HootSuite is one of several free services for organizing your Twitter feeds; mine looks like a bunch of columns arranged by topic.  That way I can quickly and easily check on the latest info, in a single location. Here’s a screenshot of my HootSuite page, to give you an idea of the possibilities: click to open the PDF: HootSuite_Screenshot
  2. It is great for networking.  I’ve met quite a few folks via Twitter that I probably never would have encountered otherwise.  Some have become important colleagues, others have become friends, and all of them have helped me find resources, information, and insight.  I’ve been given academic opportunities based on these relationships and connections.  How does this happen? The Twittersphere is intimate and small enough that you can have meaningful interactions with folks.  Plus, there’s tweetups, where Twitter folks meet up at a designated physical location for in-person interaction and networking.
  3. It’s the best way to experience a conference, whether or not you are physically there. This is what spawned that previous post about Oceanography and the lack of social media use.  I was excited to experience my first Ocean Sciences meeting with all of the benefits of Twitter, only to be disappointed at the lack of participation.  In a few words, here’s how conference (or any event) tweeting works:
    1. A hash tag is declared. It’s something short and pithy, like #Oceans2012. How do you find out about the tag? Usually the organizing committee tells you, or in lieu of that you rely on your Twitter network to let you know.
    2. Everyone who tweets about a conference, interaction, talk, etc. uses the hash tag in their tweet. Examples:    
    3. Hash tags are ephemeral, but they allow you to see exactly who’s talking about something, whether you follow them or not.  They are a great way to find people on Twitter that you might want to network with… I’m looking at you, @rejectedbanana @miriamGoldste.
    4. If you are not able to attend a conference, you can “follow along” on your computer and get real-time feeds of what’s happening.  I’ve followed several conferences like this- over the course of the day, I will check in on the feed a few times and see what’s happening. It’s the next best thing to being there.

I could continue expounding the greatness of Twitter, but as I said before, others have done a better job than I could (see links above).  No, it’s not for everyone. But keep in mind that you can follow people, hash tags, etc. without actually ever tweeting. You can reap the benefits of everything I mentioned above, except for the networking.  Food for thought.

My friend from WHOI, who also attended the Ocean Sciences meeting, emailed me this comment later:

…I must say those “#tweetstars” were pretty smug about their tweeting, like they were the sitting at the cool kids table during lunch or something…

I countered that it was more like those tweeting at OS were incredulous at the lack of tweets, but yes, we are definitely the cool kids.

Oceanographers: Why So Shy?

Last week I attended the TOS/ASLO/AGU Ocean Sciences 2012 Meeting in Salt Lake City. (If you are a DCXL blog regular, you know I was also at the Personal Digital Archiving 2012 Conference last week: my ears were bleeding by Friday night!).  These two conferences were starkly different in many ways.  Ocean Sciences had about 4,000 attendees, while PDA was closer to 100.  Ocean Sciences had concurrent sessions, plenaries, and workshops, while PDA had only one room where all of the speakers presented.  Although both provided provisions during breaks, PDA’s coffee and treats far surpassed those provided at the Salt Palace.  But the most interesting difference? The incorporation of social media into the conference.

There are some amazing blogs out there for ocean scientists: Deep Sea News and SeaMonster come to mind immediately.  There are also a plethora of active tweeters and bloggers in the ocean sciences community, including @labroides @jebyrnes (and his blog) @MiriamGoldste @RockyRohde @JohnFBruno @kzelnio @SFriedScientist @rejectedbanana @DrCraigMc @rmacpherson @Dr_Bik .  I’m sure I’ve left some great ones out- feel free to tweet me and let me know! @carlystrasser).

That being said, ocean scientists stink at social media if OS 2012 was any indication.

First, the Ocean Sciences Meeting did not declare a hash tag – this is the first major conference I’ve been to in a while that didn’t do so.  What does this mean?  Those of us who were trying to communicate about OS 2012 via Twitter were not able to converge under a single hash tag until Tuesday (#oceans2012). Perhaps that isn’t such a big deal since there were only a dozen Tweeters at the conference.  This is unusual for a conference of this size: at AGU 2011 in December, I would hazard to guess that there were more like 200 Tweeters. Food for thought.

Second, I heard from @MiriamGoldste that there was actual, audible clapping when disparaging comments were made about social media in one of the presentations. For shame, oceanographers!  You should take advantage of tools offered to you; short of using social media yourself, you should recognize its growing importance in science (read some of the linked articles below).

Now for PDA 2012. A hash tag was declared (#pda12) and about 2 dozen active tweeters were off and running.  We had dialogues during the conference, helped answer each others’ questions, commented on speakers’ major conclusions, and generally kept those that couldn’t attend the conference in person abreast of the goings-on.  Combine that with real-time blogging of the meeting, and you had a recipe for being connected whether you were sitting in a pew at the Internet Archive or not.  Links were tweeted to newly-posted slides, and generally there was a buzz about the conference.

So listen up, OS 2012 attendees: You are being left in the dust by other scientists who have embraced social media.  I know what you are thinking: “I don’t have time to do all of that stuff!”  One of the conference tweets says it best:

More information…

Read this great post from Scientific American on Social Media for Scientists

COMPASS: Communication partnership for science and the sea. I attended a COMPASS workshop two years ago at NCEAS and was swayed by the lovely Liz Neeley that social media was not only worth my time, but it could advance my career (read “Highly tweeted articles were 11x more likely to be cited” from The Atlantic).

Generally all of the resources on the Social Media For Scientists wikispace

Social Media for Scientists Recap from American Fisheries Society blog

As for how social media relates to the DCXL project, isn’t it obvious? I’ve been collecting feedback straight from potential DCXL users using social media.  Because I have tapped into these networks, the DCXL project’s outcomes are likely to be useful for a large contingent of our target audience.

zach morris cell phone
It seems that oceanographers are stuck in the olden days of communication. For those keeping count, that’s TWO DCXL blog references to Zach Morris’ cell phone. From www.funnyordie.com