Twitter is a great tool to host a group discussion on a chosen subject at a specific time. However, it is easy for the conversation thread to be lost in the Twitosphere with hundreds of tweets appearing on your timeline.
A useful tool for the classroom
A simple way to filter out content and focus the discussion for classroom purposes is a Twitter TweetChat. TweetChat creates Twitter-based online-chat rooms, based on Twitter’s hashtag feature (for example, #iranelection or #tweetpals2).
You select a hashtag, and TweetChat creates a virtual "chat-room" that shows you all the tweets that people are posting that include that hashtag in realtime.
With a clean, uncluttered interface, it is easy to login to TweetChat using your Twitter account.
Twitter's Retweet (RT) feature enables you to quickly share and discover Tweets. Peter Finalyson, who leads a non-profit that uses Twitter, is featured in this video. He explains why retweeting is exciting for him and what happens when you post a retweet.
There are two ways to Re-Tweet. If you use the Re-Tweet button located under anther person’s tweet, then you re-transmit their tweet via your Twitter account. Their username, avatar and tweet will appear among your own tweets in your timeline. This Re-Tweet is sent to your whole following.
If you decide to do a manual ReTweet, you start your tweet with RT and then add a Mention (@username).This allows you to add a comment if the tweet is not using the full 140 characters. Using the « RT » prefix only works with shorter tweets.
Following someone on Twitter is a way of subscribing to their Tweets. When you start following another Twitter user, you'll begin to see their Tweets in your Timeline. Followers are people who receive your Tweets. This video features comedian Baratunde Thurston.
Antidote is a complete set of software reference tools for writing French. Tools include an advanced grammar checker that corrects the whole text at once, an important collection of ten dictionaries, and an interactive summary of grammar rules. Seamlessly integrated with major word processors and email programs, Antidote's tools are available instantaneously right from your text.
La Dictée Éric-Fournier has developed a new e-learning service — a series of videos entitled Astuces Antidote (Antidote Tips). These short video clips explore the different facets of the Antidote HD software while promoting its use as a pedagogical tool (in French only).
Twitterature: Literary classics rewritten for the 21st century You might think Shakespeare and Twitter have nothing in common, but reporter Mari Fagel found two students who are bridging the generational gap.
Twitterature is the amalgamation of ‘twitter’ and ‘literature’; the goal is to use the tweet as a literacy device, all the while respecting the limits of the 140 characters.
Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin are students at the University of Chicago and authors of Twitterature — the novel, published on April 1st, 2010. In this work, you will find over eighty of the greatest works of western literature – from Beowulf to Bronte, from Kafka to Kerouac, and from Dostoevsky to Dickens – each distilled through the voice of Twitter to its purest, pithiest essence.
Yet, the question begs to be asked: is Twitterature in a printed format still considered to be Twitterature? Do tweets need to be online to be considered Twitterature? Stéphane Bataillon conducts a state-of-the-field review on this very matter: Twittérature, la littérature sur Twitter : un état des lieux. According to Wikipédia, "twittérature" pre-dates "twitterature" as the former exists since Twitter's early beginnings in July 13th 2006, at the exact moment when it went live on the Internet. The Institut de Twittérature Comparée (ITC) is an excellent online resource (in French) to learn more about "twittérature".
"L’Institut de Twittérature Comparée (ITC) existe parce que Twitter existe. Parce que la littérature existe. Parce qu’il est possible de rédiger des textes en moins de 140 caractères (espaces compris). Parce qu’on peut être drôle et intelligent à la fois et vice versa. Parce qu’on peut être aussi simultanément dense et léger, brut et subtil, lent et rapide, cérébral et viscéral, poétique et discursif. La twittérature existe enfin parce qu’une nanorhétorique des antithèses, oxymorons compris, stimule l’essor et l’éclat ; elle y trouve sa piste d’envol et son champ d’exploration." (ITC)
Examples of Tweeters who write Twitterature
Very Short Story @VeryShortStory
Twitter sized fiction for your entertainment. Stories by @sean_hill. Feedback welcomed. Send me a noun and I'll use the ones that inspire me in a story. Thanks.
smallplaces @smallplaces
Story by @nickbelardes began April 25, 2008 and ended March 8, 2010. It's the first literary Twitter novel.
Félix Fénéon @novelsin3lines
Narratives compressed into a single frame, these 3-line news items from Le Matin “are the poems & novels Fénéon never otherwise wrote.” Translated by Luc Sante.
Twaiku @twaiku
Everywhere haiku twitters for your soul
SHARE! If you have suggestions on Twitterature, please tweet them to @cuckoografik!
Twitter is the simplest social network with its 140-character tweet. Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets, 2nd Edition by Paul McFedries (Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2010) is a great resource for getting started in Twitter.
Curious about the Twitosphere? Do you want to be a Tweeter with tweet cred? Are you aware of Twittiquette? Do you want to create a twoosh? Check out the glossary!
You can modify your blog template to fit your own design (Layout Tab > Edit HTML). Always make a copy of your original template before tweaking the code.
An easy way to customize your blog is to replace the blog header (Layout Tab > Page Elements) .
Make sure to download page headers that are provided under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization dedicated to allowing creators to easily and freely share their work with others through the use of six basic types of licenses.
In simple terms, make sure you have the rights to Share (copy, distribute and transmit) and to Remix (adapt) the work for Non Commercial uses.
Or better yet, make your own headers!
You can also copy and paste HTML code (<embed> tag) from other websites that share their content into your blog.
Neighbours, 1952
"In this Oscar®-winning short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower." — National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Musique Plus is another site that allows you to embed their videos. Just click on the "embed" button to copy the HTML code into your blog.
In the YouTube interface, you can easily copy and paste HTML code from your movie into your blog.
Here are the video and audio upload settings that YouTube recommends:
Video Format: MPEG4 (.AVI or .MOV)
Resolution for 4:3 video: 640 x 480 pixels (this is the older TV format)
Resolution for 16:9 video: 1290 x 720 pixels (this is wide screen)
You can also put images into your blog that are saved on your own server rather than in Blogger. This gives you more control over your images and allows you to make roll-overs.
TIP: When you import an image into Blogger, you can specify the size. Anything on the Web needs to be 72 or 96 DPI (dots per inch) as a computer screen can only display these resolutions. The average digital camera saves pictures at a very high resolution or size. This is why the blog application needs to crop the image so that the image will fit into the template and also to improve download speed.
by role (Editor, Journalist, Webmaster, Photographer)
TIP: It is advisable not to copy directly from Microsoft Word into the Blogger interface as Word brings a lot of unwanted formatting into your blog post. You can either paste your text into a simple text editor before pasting into Blogger or use the "T" icon at the top right of the Compose window to remove the formatting.
Research
Think about the overall concept of your blog. Will there be a particular theme? What would you like to blog about? What is your subject matter? Look at other blogs that inspire you to get ideas.
Set-up
a) Create a Google Account. This will help you link other accounts (Blogger, Google Maps, Picasa and YouTube).
b)
Write all your account details in a book or make a digital file in Google Docs for easy access.
Create Blog
When you create a Blogger account, you will be able to create your
a) URL (web address)
b) Template
c) Page Elements
d) Blog Settings
e) Personal profile
Create Posts
a) Paste content from other software (Notepad, Word or Dreamweaver)
b) Explore difference between Compose and HTML mode
c) Edit list of posts
d) Modify the time and date of posts
e) Use tags to structure content f) Embed external content (maps, videos, sound, slideshows)
Modify Blog Template to your own design
a) Replace blog header
b) Make copy of blog template
c) Tweak HTML code (page layout, colours, images)
d) Export your blog content into an XML file to save or import into new template
Promote your blog a) Use other social media tools (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) to promote your blog
Cuckoo Grafik provides simple blogging tips — from Blogger to microblogging (Twitter). This blog was used as a pedagogical tool for these Metropolis Blue Educational Programs.
Tweet Pals - Twitosphère is an innovative programme designed to provide young Canadians aged 13 to 16 with a unique linguistic and cultural experience through correspondence in their second official language, on the social network Twitter and on a blog.
NEIGHBOURS / VOISINS is an innovative project targeting young people aged 14 to 19 in an extracurricular context. It aims to improve young Canadians' linguistic abilities in the second official language through the development, creation and production of an electronic magazine.
Why the Cuckoo?
Renowned for its unique voice, the cuckoo bird is the harbinger of spring & the usual occupant of the cuckoo clock. Although it has developed somewhat of a bad reputation in ornithology & folklore, Cuckoo Grafik has adopted the bird as its moniker & mascot: for its voracious (art) appetite, its strong work ethic & its competitive drive. More about Cuckoo Grafik.
