"Twitter is weird" ....& amazing

Twitter is weird. Some are using it to defeat dictatorships, and others are using it to tell the world what kind of sandwich they just ate.
Gail Simone

In this case, I think the weird combination of frivolous and important is what makes social media like Twitter amazingly useful in spreading information...or as Ethan Zuckerman puts it

Web 1.0 was invented to allow physicists to share research papers.

Web 2.0 was created to allow people to share pictures of cute cats.

........

With web 2.0, we’ve embraced the idea that people are going to share pictures of their cats, and now we build sophisticated tools to make that easier to do. as a result, we’re creating a wealth of tech that’s extremely helpful for activists. There are twin revolutions going on – the ease of creating content and the ease of sharing it with local and global audiences.

...thus creating what he calls the The Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism.


Another way of explaining twitter...

Open Access Week (October 19-23, 2009)

Scholarly Communication & Open Access
Originally uploaded by librarianrafia

A UT Arlington Library video made the front page of international Open Access Week website!

Feedback on UT Arlington Librarian vs. Stereotype videos!

Looke what a Twitter search on 'Librarian Stereotype' brings up!

UT Arlington Library Outreach (YouTube Channel & Facebook)

Occasionally, after we meet with students we will get feedback like "I wish I had come talked to you sooner" or "I did not know that you helped undergraduates" and so we have talked about ways in which we could reach out to students to say "Hey! We are here for you! Come ask us questions, we love that stuff, for we are librarians!"

We started with the idea of maybe making a facebook fan page but we wanted to have something to put on the page. Then we thought of making mini-ad-type videos to show how accessible! and fun! and helpful! librarians can be!

And so, BEHOLD! The UT Arlington Library YouTube channel!


Here are some blogs that have mentioned our videos (positively, even). Yay!

Promoting & Poking Fun @ Your Libary at CogSci Librarian

Librarians vs. stereotypes + Rock Band at Karen Munro, Learning Librarian

Librarian vs. Stereotype at Please Be Quiet


If you have any comments, or you see us mentioned anywhere else let us know!

ETA: (4/19/09) We are also mentioned here and here(in german) at libtab der/die/das Blog des LibraryTable