All Twittered Out: Thing # 5

http://www.turtletrack.org/

1. I think I like microblogging very much! So far, I have twittered, but I don't really have the hang of it yet. I get notices that certain individuals are "following" me, and I do spare them a fleeting thought. What must their lives be like if following me seems interesting to them?!

I used Twitter in an instructional setting yesterday! What kind of timing is that? I didn't even have to cudgel my brain to find a library-ish application! A summer school teacher had heard about the new graduation requirements and was worried about the impact on staffing. She went to the TEA website and trolled through without finding anything specific. So--since TEA is on Twitter, I suggested she click on the little Twitter button! Came right up....

Did you notice the pictures? Pretty little birds. In Choctaw, they are special because they are the little Chata newsbirds called bishinik. Bishinik survived the Great Flood by perching upside down on the sky. The floodwaters rose so high that they split Bishinik's tail, and that is why he is scissor-tailed today. Since the Great Flood, Bishinik has been a special friend to the Choctaw, alerting the family when strangers approach by tapping out warning messages on the trees.

I thought of Bishinik yesterday on the way home as I listened to NPR. Someone was talking about the brevity encouraged by email and about how he was still too longwinded for his employer. He had emailed important information to his boss; his boss emailed a one word reply--"shorter!" He hadn't even read the email and wouldn't until the message had been pared down to the bone.

The speaker said he had taken the message to heart and had been using it around around the office with much success. Whenever a conversation became too long, he would utter the word "shorter!"and walk off. He suggests that we all give it a try!

If Twitter can limit the number of characters to short bursts of speech, could we possibly do that in person? Looking at the length of this blog entry, I don't think I am the Twitter type. Maybe we all want to blog at length while other people should be made to Twitter!

I wonder what Bishinik would think about that? Have much experience with woodpeckers?