...hashtags and retweets/140 characters in these streets...
As interface points that can be generated by anyone in the Twitter community, hashtags allow users to take advantage of digital spaces to congregate around a shared interest or topic area. Although relatively new compared to other forms of community building within the academy, hashtags have been shown to be as valuable and has yielded positive results within learning. Further, digital spaces have the ability to facilitate collaboration at a level of frequency that geographic spaces do not have the ability to do. Given my own need to be kept accountable in my academic progress, I started using the hashtags #ThesisThursday and #ManuscriptMonday as a way to keep myself on track throughout the dissertation process. I thought it would be a great way to interact with other scholars, and that perhaps people may want to join in.
Sure enough, individuals, both academic and not, began jumping in on the conversation and engaging in dialogue regarding my areas of research. Soon after, I reached out to my colleagues at the University of Maryland to invite them to join in the discussion, and now, here we are. Below is a brief description of how we plan on using the hashtags, we invite you all to join throughout the day with your progress.
#ManuscriptMonday
Each Monday at 2p EST, we'll send out a reminder to tweet about any current research project you're working on. It doesn't have to be a manuscript or even a publication, just a discussion around any exciting research that comes your way would be great. On the second Monday of each month, we will facilitate a Twitter chat for folks to find collaborators on related areas of interest. Please use the hashtag #MMCollab so that tweets can be easily accessible. In the coming months, we can also facilitate conversations around other relevant topics related to publishing such as selecting a journal, the review process, submitting to conferences, and more!
#ThesisThursday
Like #ManuscriptMonday, #ThesisThursday will consist of a reminder tweet at 2p EST, however, please feel free to tweet throughout the day, and even through the week. For this hashtag, we would like to see graduate students discuss their progress on their thesis/dissertation, how they came to the decision to work on this project, interesting findings, plus anything else you wish to discuss. We hope that these weekly conversations will provide a space for all of us to provide an update of our weekly progress as well as visibility among other graduate students working on their thesis.
Sure enough, individuals, both academic and not, began jumping in on the conversation and engaging in dialogue regarding my areas of research. Soon after, I reached out to my colleagues at the University of Maryland to invite them to join in the discussion, and now, here we are. Below is a brief description of how we plan on using the hashtags, we invite you all to join throughout the day with your progress.
#ManuscriptMonday
Each Monday at 2p EST, we'll send out a reminder to tweet about any current research project you're working on. It doesn't have to be a manuscript or even a publication, just a discussion around any exciting research that comes your way would be great. On the second Monday of each month, we will facilitate a Twitter chat for folks to find collaborators on related areas of interest. Please use the hashtag #MMCollab so that tweets can be easily accessible. In the coming months, we can also facilitate conversations around other relevant topics related to publishing such as selecting a journal, the review process, submitting to conferences, and more!
#ThesisThursday
Like #ManuscriptMonday, #ThesisThursday will consist of a reminder tweet at 2p EST, however, please feel free to tweet throughout the day, and even through the week. For this hashtag, we would like to see graduate students discuss their progress on their thesis/dissertation, how they came to the decision to work on this project, interesting findings, plus anything else you wish to discuss. We hope that these weekly conversations will provide a space for all of us to provide an update of our weekly progress as well as visibility among other graduate students working on their thesis.