Nick
I take Danny and Janet's point on this. I have observed fragments of
tech-related museum conversation recently on Twitter between small groups of
people some of whom I follow, and some I don't; what I've seen has been a
salutary lesson on the downside of clique-forming and niche conversation
evesdropping.
Twitter really doesn't seem to me to a good place to help large groups of
people feel they can join in to conversations they might feel they have
something to contribute to. Quite the opposite in fact: I've tried to submit
comment into recent Twitter-threads about MCG-like stuff and have often felt
unwelcome or ignored.
The great thing about the MCG list is that all can contribute; all views are
seen and can be considered; we're where 'the many eyes are,' rather then in
Twitter, where in friend groups or follow chains you're in a smaller cabal
of like-minded users. And of course, with the MCG list there's an easily
searchable archive of list comments.
BUT: and it's a big butt, as they say in the Simpsons, there are ways of
using Twitter (using tags that amalgamate subject-threaded comments
together) which could open out closed and sometimes secretive circles of
comments. We denizens of Brighton can follow Brightonfeed, which uses the
#brighton hashtag to pull all comments about our fab town into one Twitter
stream, which you then sign up to in your usual Twitter follow crowd.
MCG could look into this, might be cool?
Jon
Jon Pratty
Publisher: Disability Arts Online
Digital publishing consultant: culture sector
Journalist: arts, technology and society
Twitter/jon_pratty
www.disabilityartsonline.org.uk
http://machineculture.wordpress.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Nick Poole
Sent: 25 July 2009 02:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: MCG and Twitter
Dear MCGers,
As long-standing members of the MCG will know, I am not exactly an
early-adopter of new technologies(!). However, it has recently become clear
that a lot of discussions which would normally have happened via the MCG
list have been happening on Twitter instead.
I am not sure whether the MCG is on Twitter, but it would be extremely
useful to know how many of you are habitually using Twitter and whether this
would be a useful information channel in future?
It is in the nature of Twitter to be ephemeral, but nonetheless, if a
significant majority of you are using it in place of RSS or Outlook, then it
is clearly a useful vehicle for MCG business.
Yours sincerely,
Nick Poole
Chief Executive
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