Let me start by saying that I am so happy that the results from the situation with US Airways Flight 1549 turned out the way that they did without loss of life. As I noted last night, it was an event where the social networking power of Twitter certainly outshone the big media networks in its immediacy, apolitical nature, photo angles, etc. in the first minutes following the event.
Later though, once the media outlets were aware and rushed their crews to the event, the coverage got more universal, in depth, and complete with pundits.
There is a lot of mention these days about people developing their PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) on resources like Twitter. I’ve been following this conversation and have been really analysing things but have been hesitant to throw my entire eggs in that basket. I see the potential, I actively try to participate in discussions, I follow interesting people and have some interesting people following me as well.
I still feel that there’s something missing though. I think it’s becoming clearer as I take a look at Twitter versus traditional media as above. It seems to me that an appropriate analogy is that Twitter is wide and the traditional approach is deep. I know that this may be upsetting to some but I feel that it’s the nature of the beast. At 140 characters, Twitter is like an instant index to the resources. And what an index! It’s also parallel in nature as well. Last night, there were comments flowing about the US Airways incident but at the same time, there were people who weren’t aware of it and life was progressing for them, and then there were also other news events flooding through.
Amid reports from New York, for example, there was a separate stream about a big black out in Toronto. There were also reports of the continued conflict in Gaza.
But, New York was persistent. As I read and learned and learned and read, I found a number of things.
- First pictures from the scene
- A Wikipedia entry
- Scary fact about Air Canada’s Jazz
- National Public Radio puts a Twitter photo upfront
- A picture of the airplane before the landing
There can be no doubt that such breadth of information is only available on a service like Twitter. However, it only goes so far. For true learning, we still have to turn to something else to dig deeper. Twitter is an integral part but it doesn’t stand alone.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Doug- you make great points here. I am a huge fan and advocate of Twitter, but having a deep conversation is difficult to do in 140 chara or less. I have been thinking of a Twitter analogy for some time and really like the idea of an index-with a quick scan of tweets you can quickly discover if the conversation is worth digging into.
As we look at ways to create a PLN’s for ourselves and students, it is important to note that it is still about finding ways to make deep and lasting connections. Twitter can ignite this, but other tools are needed to sustain the relationship.
Thanks for the links and coverage of the crash-it really is a miracle!