digf15 social media assignment

About the Assignment

There are several goals the social media assignment, including:

  • engaging our readings outside of class
  • collaborating with classmates
  • sharing information about your projects
  • reflecting your processes for completing digital work

To achieve these goals, there are four parts to this assignment:

  1. Getting started
  2. Live-tweeting/Instagramming and collaborating
  3. Following professionals in the field
  4. Creating a Storify that curates your tweets and Instagrams into a critical reflection of your work processes

Please see the Twitter workshop page for information on replies and retweets.

Getting Started

  • If you do not yet have one, create a Twitter account and install the Twitter ap on your phone. The account should have a professional feel.
  • If you do not have one, create an Instagram account and install the app on your phone. The account should have a professional feel.
  • Create a professional bio that locates you as a student at Saint Joseph’s University, identifies your area(s) of study, and lists a few personal interests
  • Make your accounts open for anyone to follow; having a locked account essentially tells your audience that you would rather not know who they are and results in them not requesting the your follow approval (if you are concerned about spam and/or who is following, in the Settings enable the option to get an email whenever you have a new follower; this will allow you to see when someone follows and to Block them if necessary)
  • Add links to your web site
  • In the Twitter Settings
    • under the Mobile tab, set your phone number and when you’d like text message alerts (I have it set for DMs because they are rare, and not after 11pm)
    • under Security and Privacy, I recommend UNCHECKING Tweet location, Personalization, and Promoted Content
  • add a photo of yourself or something that you feel represents you in some way
  • On Twitter, follow @billwolff, @saintjosephs, @sjucomm, and if you would like, other Communications faculty (@aesthetically @rachaelsullivan @patchbaydoor @academicdave @jmikelyons) and everyone in #digf15:
  • On Instagram, follow billwolff and everyone in #digf15:
    • to be added
  • Any tweet or Instagram that is about class in any way should include the #ctpf15 hashtag.
  • Link your Instagram to your Twitter stream
  • Tweet an announcement when each of your projects have been posted to your portfolio page including the title, the link to it, the #digf15 hashtag
  • I encourage you to experiment with one of the many Twitter desktop and mobile apps (such as Tweetdeck), which are overwhelmingly useful for organizing and posting Tweets (as with my mobile, I use Tweetbot).

Part 1: Live-Tweeting Class Discussion, the Readings, and your Work Process

Starting the 2nd week of the class, each class period will have 1 student volunteer to live-tweet the class discussion. The goal here is to try to take what is said in class and bring it to the online space where others, including those in class, can engage that discussion. Often these discussions diverge from what is happening in class, and that is fine.

When live-tweeting, you can tweet:

  • quotes that people (including @billwolff) said
  • thoughts or comments about what has been said (funny snark is okay; mean snark isn’t)
  • links to things associated with topics being discussed (such as videos, photos, articles, etc)
  • @mention the authors who we are discussing to let them know we’re discussing them and what is being said
  • other fun stuff

Be sure to use the #digf15 hashtag. Though others in the class should join in the conversation, but we want to be sure this discussion doesn’t take away from the FTF discussion.

I’d also like you to start live-tweeting as you are doing the work for the course. That is tweet about what you are reading about. These can be quotes that intrigue you or just thoughts about the texts. Be sure to use the #digf15 hashtag. Try to limit tweets like, “This article is boring. #yawn,” as such tweets will make to look foolish and show little thought about the text itself. You should @reply to other class members frequently so that we can begin discussions about the work outside of the classroom and then continue those discussions when we meet in the classroom.

There is no required number of tweets to tweet about your readings, work, or in-class discussions, but it is expected that each should garner many tweets per week (many = more than 5 per week). The more you tweet the more engaged the class can and will become in a dialogue outside the class. Do, however, be sure to make it clear what you’re reading, working on, or discussing. This can be done in the content of the tweet or by using a hashtag for an author’s name —you can even search to find the author’s Twitter username and add it to your tweet. This is important because we want to be sure we know which text you’re tweeting about.

Live-tweeting works most effectively when students begin discussing the texts online. And, as one student recently wrote in a reflection on their work:

Recording Your Work Process

Just as you are live-tweeting your ideas on the readings, I’d like you to use Instagram and/or Twitter to record your work process: how you approach the readings (do you annotate, for example?); what it looks like when you are in the field; what it looks like when editing your audio and visual work; and so on. Take a combination of photos and very short videos. In the videos add some narration.

One of the most important parts of being a creator of any kind of content is being self-aware of the ways in which you create that work. That means taking a few moments now and again to step back and reflect on what you are doing. By recording your work process, my hope is that you will start reflecting on what works best for you, what needs improvement, what isn’t working, and so on.

These recordings will be used along with your live-tweets to create your Storify Reflection as the end of the semester.

Following Professionals in the Field

to be added

Storify Reflection

to be added

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