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!

blogging 101 workshop

today, with help from two recently graduated seniors, i conducted a blogging 101 workshop for USF staff, librarians, and faculty. the workshop took place at the center for instruction and technology and was part of CIT's june tech-intensive workshop series.

we began at 10 am and i immediately made three promises:

1. you will walk out of here with a blog.

2. you will have a better understanding of how to use a blog and how to sustain a blog.

3. you will have lunch.

we then followed, sorta, this eleven step process.

1. introductions: who are we?

2. discussion: what do you want from a blog? what are your goals?

3. start a blog! (we used blogger)

a. sign up
b. name your blog
c. choose a template
d. done

4. write and publish one blog post.



5. then, lunch! offline! away from computers!

6. settings (with special attention paid to comments setting)

7. everyone comment on two or three other blogs ("blogging is 51% writing blog posts," i declared, offering zero evidence for my statistics, "and 49% commenting on other people's blog posts.")

8. tags and tagging

9. importing images to your blog

10. basic page elements (with a show-and-tell example of creating a blog roll)

11. strategies for sustainability (aeiou)

lis and sara, the two recently graduated USF seniors (and davies scholars) who helped me teach the workshop, were excellent. anytime a workshop participant had a question or showed some techno-frustration, lis or sara would be there with a tip or a suggestion. my thing is students teaching students but students teaching professors is pretty cool too.

something to remember - good learning environments require good food! having lunch was not only a delicious way to divide the three-hour workshop, it was also a welcomed opportunity to log off, walk away from our computers, and interact directly with our food and colleagues.

to keep a blog, you need to feed the blog. i hope the following get fed:

Stan Buller's The End of Government??
Ellen Kelly Daley's Expecting Seamus J
Life Transitions
Tom Lucas' A Jesuit's Garden by the Golden Gate
marcella's Global Sense: Youth Network Resource
My Dog is Better Than Your Dog!!!
Greg Pabst's fishlanguage
Renate's ResearchIdeaForum

a trip to seattle

sarah had a work-related meeting in seattle. i tagged along.

my main priority was to meet j. and j., who, overnight, made crispin and jurg's house a home.


then, i headed south to lacey, to saint martin's university, to be part of an exciting faculty development workshop organized by irina gendelman, nathalie kuroiwa-lewis, and olivia archibald and held in o'grady library.





after the workshop, irina and i spent the night on a walkabout through funky olympia, wandering and pondering, walking and talking about everything, including her nearly completed dissertation.

(update: irina gendelman blogged about the workshop and included notes regarding the speakers of the second day.)

back to seattle, sarah and i headed to lee and sachi's (of common craft) to join jay and anastasia (of juxtaprose) for good food, good drink, good talks, and good times.



saturday was spent with beth in ballard, frowning on the new condos and recent developments, walking and talking about new ideas, and smiling at the beautiful puget sound.


sunday brunch with nancy pearl, joe pearl, and sarah was, as always, delightful.


and then a ferry ride to vashon for a delicious meal with lynne and chris and peyton and an after-dinner stroll along the sound.


good to see you seattle.