getting started with twitter in 14 easy steps

on monday, june 1, from 10 am to noon, i'll be leading a workshop called getting started with twitter. the workshop is part of USF's center for instruction & technology and is for USF faculty, staff, and librarians.

this blog post serves as a rough outline for what we'll most likely be covering. comments and feedback encouraged.

getting started with twitter

intro: who are we?

basic twitter

1. creating a profile

2. following other people

3. tweeting

4. replying

5. RTing

advanced twitter

6. linking (with tinyurl)

7. favoriting

8. DMing

9. searching twitter

10. finding yourself (or the @yourname link)

enhanced twitter

11. tweetdeck, tweetie, and apps like that

12. integrating twitter with facebook

twitter tips

13. thinking about thin and thick tweets

14. already existing information optimally uploaded, or aeiou

wrap-up: collective brainstorming session about how each of us may use twitter in our academic (or not so academic) lives.

update: here's a photograph of today's workshop participants!

congratulations class of 2009!

to the class of 2009 - celebrate your accomplishments, find a place where you can make a difference, and make us proud.

last class of eating san francisco

for our last class, the students and i in eating san francisco prepared a final feast. the assignment was for each of us to prepare a dish that was a) delicious and b) made from local, seasonal ingredients.

after a semester of delicious meals - in north beach, the mission, the castro, chinatown, and cole valley - this meal, the one we made collectively, was by far the most delicious.


(to learn more about what was served, roll your mouse over the annotated version on flickr.)

in addition to cooking a delicious meal, my students made media documenting their culinary creations. here's what they made:

Marco Abellera, Locally Prepared Dish
Chris Begley, Locally made Fruit n Nut Couscous for the last ESF of the year
Sam Blackburn, ESF's Final Feast. Best Meal of the Year!
Jessica Elkus, Napoleons!
Teresa Garcia, ESF: Pollan and me (and ESF: Final class banquet)
Jessie Hill, Localvore
Michael Kao, Local food
Stephanie Luu, ESF-Cooking Your Own Local Food
Kelli McCloskey, Cook A Delicious Meal For The Fiesta!
Austin O'Kane, Local, Organic and Everything a Meal Should Be…
Laura Plantholt, Cooking with Seasonal, Regional Food (and flickr set a delicious seasonal, regional dish)
Joel Weston, Turkey and Papas
Ashley Williamson, Strawberry Shortcake!
Ali Winston, ESF: The Last Supper


wow, ESFers, what a class, thank you. let's keep eating san francisco.

first and last class of digital media production

back in late january, during the first day of class for digital media production, i wrote in chalk all of the tools and platforms we'd be using spring semester. under the names of the tools and platforms, i made two - and sometimes three - columns based on things like use vs don't use, know it vs don't know it, and read vs write. then i asked students to get out of their seats, approach the blackboard, and record, in chalk, their start-of-the-semester levels of knowledge and experience of each of these digital media platforms.


fifteen weeks later, on the last day of class last thursday, i re-wrote in chalk the names of the tools and platforms. i put an X through yelp and video because we ended up not covering them. for about an hour and a half, the students and i discussed each of the tools and shared our likes and dislikes. we collectively brainstormed and agreed upon appropriate questions and statements for each of the tools and platforms. for example, do you plan to keep using twitter? yes or no. each time we agreed upon a question, i asked the students to get out of their seats, approach the blackboard, and record, in chalk, their positions. when we were finished, the blackboard looked like this:


thanks, DMP, for an excellent and prolific semester.

an academic miracle

next week, classes finish. then finals. then graduation. and then an academic miracle - the seasons change - and spring becomes summer. i love summer.

5 ways my students use twitter

this semester, all of my students (12 students in digital media production; 17 in eating san francisco) are using twitter.

i require them to do two things on twitter. first, for each of them to follow everyone else in the class. second, once they have completed a class project (a video, a blog post, a flickr set), they must tweet about it and include a link to it. other than that, they are free to use twitter, or not use twitter, in any way they choose.

over the semester, my students have come up with some really creative and collaborative uses of twitter. i'm impressed.

here's 5 ways my students use twitter

1. to announce and link to a blog post about one's role and contributions to the campus newspaper.


2. to set up - and say thanks for - interviews with people for class projects.


3. to negotiate dinner reservation times for class field trip.


4. to announce and publicize events taking place on campus.


5. to share readings and resources relevant to last night's class discussion.


and


(my students also, from time to time, use twitter in completely inane ways; maybe one day i'll blahg about that.)

last project and final feast assignments

last project and final feast for eating san francisco

last night, we made our way to zazie in cole valley for dinner and to mcdonalds on haight for dessert.



1. working solo or collaboratively with others, create and share a story about our evening. your story must involve zazie, mcdonalds, and michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma. make sure you use pollan in a significant way. as always, your project must rest upon a platform that a) supports multimedia, b) is open to the public, and c) allows visitors the opportunity to comment on your work. when finished, and no later than class on wednesday, thick tweet your project.

2. for our last class on wednesday, make sure you have read pollan's omnivore's dilemma and be ready to discuss it.

3. also, working solo or collaboratively with others, prepare a delicious dish for wednesday's class. your delicious dish must be made from local, seasonal ingredients. if you don't know what that means, find out. also, when preparing your meal, consider shopping for local, seasonal ingredients at USF's farmer's market on sunday. document the process. as always, your project must rest upon a platform that a) supports multimedia, b) is open to the public, and c) allows visitors the opportunity to comment on your work. when finished, and no later than next friday (may 8 15) at 5 pm, thick tweet your project.

student made media about a field trip to chinatown

last week, eating san francisco took a rare saturday field trip and found ourselves in chinatown. students were assigned to make media about their experiences.


here's what they made:

Marco Abellera, China Town - Eating San Francisco
Chris Begley and Ali Winston, Saturday Morning in Chinatown
Sam Blackburn, ESF Does Dim Sum! (plus flickr set)
Teresa Garcia, ESF Chinatown Project
Jessie Hill, Phoenix Talons and a Little Bit of Heart
Michael Kao, Chinatown
Stephanie Luu, Eating San Francisco-Dim Sum
Kelli McCloskey, Chintatown Project
Nick Minnott, Tin How Temple/ Chinatown/ Chicken Feet
Austin O'Kane, Dim Sum Experience
Katie Olson, Adventures through Chinatown
Laura Plantholt, Dim Sum for Dim Dummies
Joel Weston, Just a Tourist
Ashley Williamson, Good Fortune in Chinatown