My American Twitter Diary
Twitter is text messaging service where you can subscribe to other's text messages, and they can subscribe to yours. I go to twitter.com and send a message and 217 people will receive that message. Similarly I receive 269 people's text messages. Twitter turns everyone into a sort of text radio transmitter, sending out text waves. Reading Twitter messages is like standing in crowded room. You pay attention to certain conversations or broadcasts, and participate it ones you choose.
I highly recommend it to people who can find the time to use it. You meet amazing people on Twitter. The text messages must be 140 characters or less so everyone has to be ultra concise. I follow a lot of educators who post messages with great ideas and technologies they have come across. I also get into great conversations, since you can direct messages at particular people by starting your message with "@" and their name. You can see all my messages at http://twitter.com/steve_collis
Recently I went to America to see a range of schools there. I thought it would be interesting to review all the Twitter text messages I sent while on the trip! Here they are. It is like a micro-diary of my trip.
About a 100 messages over 14 days... I put the ones which tell you what I am actually doing in bold:
| Fri Oct 24 03:21:38 | NewProfessionalBlog: On the maiden flight of the Airbus A380 http://tinyurl.com/6zaons | ||
| Sat Oct 25 05:17:03 | Safe in Atlanta. 1.15am here but I am wide awake! Ron Clarke conference tomorrow. 1st impressions of US: lovely people & large serving sizes | ||
| Sat Oct 25 21:47:24 | just bought a tacky top for 'prom night' tonight. Proper Internet not quite up and running yet... almost. Ron Clark Academy jaw dropping. | ||
| Sat Oct 25 23:39:28 | stuck in Atlantan traffic! What fun! | ||
| Sun Oct 26 04:11:57 | Finally I have my wireless internet running. The silly thing needs software to install - software you have to download from the internet! | ||
| Sun Oct 26 04:13:41 | Oh the humanity. So I had to try to freeload a connection - wondered the streets of Atlanta until I finally eked out the 12 mb download! | ||
| Sun Oct 26 13:10:02 | Listening to Kim Bearden, cofounder of the Ron Clark Academy. She is telling her story. Riveting stuff. | ||
| Sun Oct 26 19:22:30 | NewProfessionalBlog: The Ron Clark Academy - PART 1 http://tinyurl.com/5vypmp | ||
| Mon Oct 27 03:13:16 | Posted observations of an astonishing school in the US: http://tinyurl.com/5vypmp | ||
| Mon Oct 27 17:46:36 | @maggiemarat Are you going to the T&L conference, perchance? We are about to board a plane to Seattle ourselves! | ||
| Mon Oct 27 17:49:32 | Now that I'm connected and am in America, it's time I extended my US network on Twitter. Can you DM suggestions for US educators 2 follow? | ||
| Mon Oct 27 18:00:58 | @loonyhiker hi Carol from the Atlanta airport. I've been in the US for 2 days now. Experiencing minor culture shock but it's a lovely place! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 00:54:07 | at baggage claim in Seattle! intending on claiming my baggage! See if I don't! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 01:16:50 | gorgeous sunset in Seattle with autumn trees dense along the highway | ||
| Tue Oct 28 04:46:29 | using Twitter seach to figure out who else is at t&l conference in Seattle and make twitter friends with them! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 04:47:23 | @markomni lovely place just downstairs from the Pan Pacific,... | ||
| Tue Oct 28 04:54:41 | @roswellsgirl late reply now but I've seen some pretty interesting uses of moodle. Keen to chat at t&l. Listen for my Australian accent! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 05:09:20 | @dmcordell I am in the US and will be at t&l - would be delighted to chat. | ||
| Tue Oct 28 05:14:02 | Found delightful place to eat tonight. No sugar no batter, no fat, no deep frying, no cream on the side, no massive refillable softdrink. | ||
| Tue Oct 28 05:24:47 | @cwoldhuis no time for a photo, I was too busy capturing it in a text message in 140 chars or less. Gilbert was disgusted at me typing away! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 05:51:57 | @ldumicich I KNOW! It's insane isn't it! Last night I had sashimi. I tells ya, it wasn't sashimi once they had battered and fried it! | ||
| Tue Oct 28 17:25:15 | Coffee in the US is beautiful! Tastes like coffee in France. Much better than Australian coffee and I don't know why. | ||
| Tue Oct 28 21:12:03 | heh heh Gary Stager's presentation about to begin - drawn into debate with him about Ron Clark's methods. | ||
| Wed Oct 29 23:45:52 | I feel like head butting something. | ||
| Thu Oct 30 01:43:56 | on top of the Needle in Seattle. Nice view! Next catch Monorail and find some grub. Then to airport for overnight flight to Chicago. | ||
| Thu Oct 30 11:10:26 | Arrived in Chicago. Now rental car on wrong side of road to the Illanois Maths and Science Academy. | ||
| Thu Oct 30 11:11:30 | thanks @ausbetina and @ackygirl for the OzTweets! | ||
| Thu Oct 30 12:53:55 | Broadcasting my breakfast in Chicago http://tinyurl.com/6689ts | ||
| Thu Oct 30 12:59:07 | Watch me and my colleagues have brekky at the International House of Pancakes in the US of A http://tinyurl.com/6689ts LIVE NOW :-) | ||
| Fri Oct 31 01:56:20 | Now in Philadelphia. Two school visits tomorrow - Science Leadership Academy and Delaware County Christian School. | ||
| Fri Oct 31 12:09:09 | > 1 million expected in Philadelphia, just down from our hotel. Why? A baseball victory I hear. Exciting, but transport to SLA hard. | ||
| Fri Oct 31 12:10:51 | @chrislehmann looking forward to visiting your school this morning! | ||
| Fri Oct 31 15:29:43 | The Science Leadership Academy was fascinating. Will blog on it asap (gotta post part 2 of Ron Clark first) | ||
| Fri Oct 31 15:31:25 | Next, Delaware County Christian School, and navigating the big parade in Philadelphia - it's going mental due to a huge baseball final win. | ||
| Fri Oct 31 15:35:47 | Bizarre mix of Halloween and baseball parade in Philadelphia. They should move election day to today too and make it a trifecta. | ||
| Fri Oct 31 22:17:10 | Very long queues just to get onto platforms at Suburban Station in Phili. Luckily we were coming out, not in. | ||
| Sat Nov 01 15:07:06 | Now en route to New York on a train. Quiet weekend and then IS 339, Beacon School, School of the Future, and Suffern High School, then home! | ||
| Sun Nov 02 04:07:53 | Spent today walking around New York. It's HUGE and full of tourists like us, even more than I remember in Paris. Saw stand up comedy 2nite. | ||
| Sun Nov 02 16:32:14 | @TCFR moi aussi je viens d'arriver a NY. Je visite des ecoles ou ils font des choses extraordinaire (pas forcement avec l'informatique) | ||
| Sun Nov 02 20:02:49 | @Mrs_Banjer good morning! Quite cold in NY - it is 4pm here. Enjoy your Monday! | ||
| Sun Nov 02 21:28:27 | Slammed against a wall with a new blog post. I'm publishing anyway. It is very rough! Twitter will announce it shortly automatically. | ||
| Sun Nov 02 21:52:19 | NewProfessionalBlog: Very 1st Draft Summary of Some Ed Discourses... http://tinyurl.com/5vpqgm | ||
| Mon Nov 03 22:03:32 | Obama's granny died. Lots of b | ||
| Mon Nov 03 22:03:55 | lots of buzz in NY about the election. | ||
| Mon Nov 03 22:08:01 | The end of what feels like a very long day. Visited IS 339 in the Bronx this morning and the Beacon School this arvo. Ah so much to blooooog | ||
| Mon Nov 03 23:12:52 | @ldumicich Have you ever looked a potato in the eye? | ||
| Mon Nov 03 23:27:49 | @nstone I am reading Robert Ludlum at the moment. Bears no resemblance to reality I am sure. | ||
| Tue Nov 04 14:36:41 | Sitting in professional development sessions in School of the Future in NY http://tinyurl.com/6jpew3(New_York_City) | ||
| Wed Nov 05 04:18:53 | Absolutely delighted to be in New York for such a significant day in the history of America! It's quite moving! | ||
| Wed Nov 05 04:32:25 | I am very impressed with McCain's speech. It was sensitive, gracious, sincere. Well done America. Not a moment too soon! (if 4 yrs late) | ||
| Wed Nov 05 04:37:30 | The crowds in Times Square and at The Rockefeller were very international, Americans almost a minority. I was there until an hour ago. | ||
| Wed Nov 05 04:38:39 | It was funny - the TV people were trying to get everyone to chant, which we all did, but I could hear Dutch, French, and New Zealandish! | ||
| Wed Nov 05 11:29:34 | This will be my last tweet for many, many hours. Off to Suffern High in NY to see @maggiemarat this morning - then v. long trip back to OZ! | ||
| Wed Nov 05 22:21:36 | free 15 minute wireless internet cards being handed out in JFK airport. sigh... I kept walking past in various disguises to get xtra ones. | ||
| Fri Nov 07 04:19:41 | Back in Sydney, jet lagged, & feeling rather disoriented after a very intense couple of weeks. Have purchased and installed "Far Cry 2". | ||
| Sat Nov 08 07:02:30 | In a foul mood cause my body thinks it's 2am. Listen, body, it's 6pm, mkay? SMACK! SMACK! | ||
| Mon Nov 10 10:15:50 | Dear Twitter, sorry for ignoring you. I admit to taking you for granted - the friend that is there according to my agenda, my time. Oh well! |