Pew's Internet and American Life recently released, "Twitter and Status Updating," a brief report on how Americans are using Twitter's microblogging technology. What does Twitter have to do with Intellectual Freedom, you ask? The following quote from the Pew report hints at the overlap:
Overall, Twitter users engage with news and own technology at the same rates as other internet users, but the ways in which they use the technology -- to communicate, gather and share information -- reveals their affinity for mobile, untethered and social opportunities for interaction. Moreover, Twitter as an application allows for and enhances these opportunities, so it is not so surprising that users would engage in these kinds of activities and also be drawn to an online application that expands those opportunities.
It is the word untethered that I like. I've been on Twitter for only about 6 weeks now. I've been reading about it for years. (Check out this groovy piece on the unforeseen benefits of microblogging and the greater social impact of Twitter: Brave New World of Digital Intimacy as featured in the New York Times)I have to tell you that the difference between what I imagined it would be like (painful, embarrassingly personal lunch confessionals, useless schmoozing) and what it is (resourceful, meaningful to my day job, useful local contacts) has proved to me that you never really know until you try. What I have mostly learned from Twitter is the force with which our world is running on information sharing. I've also picked up something on getting out of the way of emerging technologies.
Twitter updates from the folks I follow suggest that the platform asks the wrong question. "What are you doing?" is the prompt to the 140 character limited tweets we share. About three weeks ago, Beth Kanter, someone I follow as she's a guru in nonprofit technology, suggested that Twitter asks the wrong question. It should be asking us, "What's worth sharing?"
If you aren't on Twitter, allow me to explain the relevance. What my limited experience has shown me is the power of unleashing Intellectual Freedom. To be sure, ACCESS is a giant problem, as in, not everyone has access to Twitter. Setting that large concern aside, if only for the sake of conversation, I am humbled by how efficiently this technology makes information sharing. What we do on Twitter all day is share links and comments about information sources, news and context that give our lives meaning. We pass on the really good stuff to be certain it gets out to those who may need it. I follow folks who study nonprofits (oh and this is big: I follow the newspapers for nonprofit world) and get information as it is released.
How has my short stint in the Twitterverse furthered Intellectual Freedom? I can't measure this very well. I can tell you that this incidental (or ambient according to the NYT piece above) information has informed no less than 7 independent reference interactions, 13 internal library decisions, created 9 online reference interactions, and informed countless personal relationships and professional networks for me and, mostly, the library.
What I am learning is that Twitter is allowing massive amounts of people to share their voice, their thoughts and let information have its day in the sun. What I'd like to point out is that neither Twitter, nor its initial users knew what it could or would do. The question has been changed by the sheer numbers of folks who have seen its ability to efficiently share intellectual content freely. I think this means a lot when we consider regulation of 2.0 technology in that, we may not even know what a given technology is capable of until we sit back and let it develop over time in people's hands. When we step in prematurely to legislate safety we risk losing precious tools for intellectual freedom - not just stifling the basic philosophy of intellectual freedom.
For me, the biggest core concept behind the significance of intellectual freedom in our world is that limiting access, content or thought means limiting possibility. When we step in to try and maintain some sort of safe status quo, we deny that the status quo is not necessarily safe or ideal, but rather familiar and comfortable, and more importantly, we limit the possibility for furthering human potential.
Oh, and if you still happen to be curious about those small intimacies that give a relationship meaning over time, I had chili for lunch, yum;)
Lettie,
ReplyDeleteI've been following more and more people on Twitter, although I don't "tweet" myself. It is very interesting to consider Twitter in the context of intellectual freedom. With regard to this week's topics about children and internet safety, I think your point that "When we step in prematurely to legislate safety we risk losing precious tools for intellectual freedom - not just stifling the basic philosophy of intellectual freedom" is a key consideration. Just like you said you weren't really sure about Twitter until you tried it, I am afraid there is a lot of push for legislation concerning social networking sites/protecting children online by people who don't necessarily fully understand these sites. Ignorance breeds fear, in my opinion, and I think lots of people are simply afraid of some possible negatives of social networking without necessarily seeing the positives.
-beth
Well said, Beth! I especially like just how you put it: "possible negatives" compared to [real] positives.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how much Twitter has been talked about in the media these past months. The first media coverage of Twitter was how it is the new "it" technology, with explanation of what it is to new users. Now, recent reports have been about what kind of people are using it and how it may not be used as much as we think, with 90% of tweets being done by the top 10% of tweeters. And it's interesting the amount of websites that have seemed to be linked or spawned from Twitter. Blip.fm is a twitter for music and Tweeting too Hard is a site to make fun of self-important tweeters. But you make a point about what Twitter actually is: a way to share information. My library co-workers don't seem to understand this and seem hesitant to use the service because they continue to see it in the same way as Facebook or Myspace -just a website for personal information. To me, Twitter is more about sharing information with a community of people, rather than just creating a personalized webspace for oneself. Also, of all the social-networking sites, maybe Twitter is not such a bad one for young people to use. It's not for sharing photos or getting to know people on a one-on-one basis, but rather being part of a community. And like you point out, this has a lot to do with intellectual freedom.
ReplyDelete