Athabasca University | AU Student/Staff Login | Invited Guest Login
Active tweeting as active reading
On re-distributing dialogue in graduate studies. As a supervisor of several MA-IS students, I was delightfully surprised, recently, to discover that one of them, Heather Clitheroe, pursuing a directed reading course on postmodernism, has been tweeting her responses to the texts. Five reflections accompanied her first reading session:
8:35 PM Sep 14th: Right. Time to settle down with 150 pages of late capitalism goodness.
9:08 PM: I have a feeling that reading about aesthetic production and commodification is going to sour my love of Apple.
9:27 PM: Reading about pastiche. Experiencing postmodern anxieties. Thanks a lot, Fredric Jameson.
9:31 PM: Oh, lord. Now realizing that pastiche applies to Mad Men. Dammit!
9:54 PM: Gah. Mind slowly being warped by Jameson's critique of postmodernism. You'll find me in the fetal position under my desk.
The responses are fascinating in both content and form. Here's Twitter being used as a kind of active reading log. Two of the above tweets express the understandable anxiety that accompanies digging into a text as dense and daunting as Jameson's Postmodernism. But two others make critical connections between this text and everyday social contexts (e.g. Apple, Mad Men). The student's not specifically sharing reading impressions with me, but knows that since I "follow" her (hm, even in scare quotes that still doesn't sound right), I'll be receiving these broadcasts. And the broadcasting dimension of Twitter means that this active reading log is at the same time a public monologue, open to the replies and relays of others. A localized kind of open access initiative, here's active reading and critical reflection happening on a global public platform, and in a textual genre that demands brevity and clarity, thus countering the popular image of academic research as gratuitously long-winded obscurantism, and at the same time capturing a very human sense of the mental and emotional labour that research demands:
6:29 PM Sep 15th: Only a couple of chapters to read through tonight. The whole cultural logic of late capitalism? Somewhat troubling.
But then, in yesterday's tweets, the student began adding annotations to the active-reading tweets, in the form of commentaries on linked snapshots of underlined pages:
12 PM Sep 16th: This just in: Jameson's work on postmodernism is critical of soccer moms. Yay! http://twitpic.com/2p129n
12 PM: And he's marginally in favour of knitting! Woo! http://twitpic.com/2p12qs
And, finally, a later expression of effort and investment:
10:30 PM Sep 16th: Too tired to read critiques of postmodernism. I tried. I failed. To bed!
Beyond digging Twitter's demonstrated potential here as an active reading log, I'm still not sure what to make of this development. Scribbling in the margins of a book is a venerable scholarly tradition, but what are the implications of taking the scribbling public? Heather's soccer mom tweet prompted this exchange:
1:00 PM Sep 16th: @lectio Interesting. Does he have any thoughts on the Star Wars prequels?
3:00 PM: @m_cahill a few chapters ago, he was talking about remakes. Shall find it for you tonight.
12:33 PM Sep 17th: @m_cahill suspect Jameson probably isn't a fan of mix tapes, what with the whole fragmentation issue. Bummer. Was so hoping to send him one.
Furthermore, How might it be assessed or acknowledged as a vital part of the learning process? What does this do for (or to) the supervisory relationship between student and professor? Am I out of bounds in suggesting the student tag these tweets to help track them as learning?
11:40 AM Sep 17th: Would u consider tagging your tweets on pomo reading with #pomo (I see them as a critical part of your reading & learning process)?
Happily, it would seem not:
12:38 PM Sep 17th: Just me and Fredric Jameson's schtick on the loss of historicity for lunch. Breakfast left far behind. Haha, #pomo jokes.
- Conway, Kyle. How To Read Like You Mean It (AU Press, 2023)
December 1, 2023 - 10:33am
Mark A. McCutcheon
Mark A. McCutcheon
Tag cloud
Comments
It's the first time I've live-tweeted textbook reading, though I've groaned and moaned about term papers on Twitter (and on my own blog) before. I was surprised to see that you'd picked it up - and a tiny bit chagrined to realize that you knew that I was only just starting the book...though you knew I'd just come back from vacation.
To be honest, I wasn't tweeting with my professor (you!) in mind, though I know you follow me - several months ago, another student and I were tweeting about how different it seemed to have a professor on Twitter. Interesting, but different. But in a good way. If anything, I'd worry that you'd find it intrusive - like taking work home with you (or carrying it around with you, if you have it on a smart phone!). I study through my breaks and lunch hour at work, and in the evening at home, so tweeting as I go comes pretty naturally.
My circle of Twitter friends are fairly diverse, and though most have received post-secondary education, I don't think too many of them have encountered theory before...but I know that they've enjoyed the occasional observation or blog post about it. It's challenging to try to actively engage theory, but even moreso to try to do it with any kind of humour. Twitter does allow for a quite a bit of joking around, and I think that helps to dispel the slightly poncey image of theoretical study. My great fear is turning into one of those boorish grad students who only ever talk in big words about incomprehensible things.
To some extent, I suppose tweeting Jameson - in particular - is something of a direct act of engagement with postmodern theory. It's certainly fragmented, and Twitter arguably lacks any amount of historicity or depth to it...and the mishmash of tweets 'in the wild' contributes to that directionless feel that Jameson seems to think postmodernism has. Theory as praxis, maybe?
It seems on one level that Twitter is heightening a certain self-consciousness about one's studies (at your end) and supervision (at mine). And surveillance, as sociology tells us, always affects performance. So I wasn't sure about how to broach the topic at first, anxious that it would be a bit like jumping out of the blind to scare the wildlife one's been observing. But it doesn't look like your Twitter practice has changed since opening it to discussion.
For my part, I don't find the textbook tweeting intrusive at all. I (usually) dive into the tweetstream only after business hours. And I've only got a stupidphone. (Yes, because I'm a Luddite :)
No, if yesterday's late night #pomo study party is any indication, it hasn't affected my twitter habits at all. More interesting was that I was asked for the name of the book...and received a recommendation for my reading list. Also a Youtube link. And two new followers (one was a spambot, though).
Good lord, a stupidphone? Perish the thought.
Heather and Mark,
Your tweeting Heather and the comments that followed have given me the idea of using Twitter for reluctant readers in my elementary level classes to record their reactions to home reading books (or reading in class for that matter). With demonstration of how to use Twitter to record reactions and responses, students could record their thoughts about their reading. The novelty might motivate more participation and it would give students a jumping off point for formal writing when it was required.
I've got to try this. Thanks for the idea!
Great idea, Mary. (Since Twitter is a broadcast app, do make sure your use of it adheres to relevant privacy law & policy.)
I'll be curious to hear how it goes with your students -- let me know! (But keep it to 140 characters ;)
Will do, Mark. I'll be teaching Grade One in Feb. so I'll be using it with parents' help, which will help with the rules and regs and establish it as technique to increase engagement with text ( the practice can grow with the kids). Should be interesting!
I wonder if you could use Twitter as a model for a bulletin board - with little bird cutouts? Kids could 'tweet' their responses visually with a drawing and a few sentences and stick them to the wall.
A great idea, Heather. I'll try that too. Anything to get them reading, responding and discussing.