Never The Same Twitter
I am currently in Denver attending the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference. As the title suggests, this space focuses on teaching and learning with the support of educational technology, or ed tech. Attendees may be teachers, technology specialists, industry representatives, school district administrators and staff, school administrators, education media folks and certainly many others who may not fit into any of those boxes. The point is that there are over 16000 people assembled here to delve into all things ed tech and related.
I happen to be here by a series of connections and events fueled by my engagement on twitter. As @edifiedlistener, I have built up significant friendships and colleagial bonds which have allowed me to broaden my perspective as an educator, writer and citizen. To find myself in this hotbed of ed tech enthusiasm and celebration, though, comes as a bit of a surprise. While I am a ready learner of new tools and applications, I am conservative in my use of tech in my classroom which happens to be the gym (I’m a physical education specialist). Although true to Twitter, I make only very limited use of other social media platforms. And especially noticeable in this specific environment, I do not yet own a smart phone. (An iPad, yes but no smartphone).
This may seem a minor thing. I assure you, in this environment, it is not. As mobile technology has shaped the current wave of tech innovations, the focus on the smartphone for the delivery of all manner of services is unmistakable. Messaging in various forms, location services, on-the-spot information retrieval — these are some of the most urgent needs being met via smartphones on a minute to minute basis by users. This means that many activities and demonstrations right here rely on the assumption that participants bring this essential tool to the table (like having a pen and paper in previous iterations). While I can do plenty with my iPad and do not miss having this other device in my hands at the moment, there is a difference that is worth noting.
This simple observation has also led me to wonder about what other sorts of divides exist for students, educators and citizens when an essential tool (on which heaps of services and uses are predicated) is absent. When we’re in this center of ed tech creativity and invention, it’s easy to forget that our fundamental assumptions (like widespread and sufficient internet access) may be absolutely wrong in various contexts. How do we account for those circumstances and those populations? Which brings me to the idea of the actual title of this post: Never The Same Twitter.
When we use Twitter or other social media platforms, or even Google search for that matter, we rarely explore the fact that what appears on our individual screens is a function of who we are in terms of what we have searched for in the past, whom we have chosen to follow, whom we have accepted as friends. For every single one of us as users, the results are always different, even if not immediately noticeable. That’s the power (and the risk) of sophisticated algorithms in all of our devices and the software they run. On the one hand, that can be cool. I follow people who interest me on Twitter and therefore benefit from their insights, shares and connections. At the same time, however, I build a significant filter bubble which shields me from messages and input from people and events I do not follow or find interesting.
I was thinking about this as I scrolled through my Twitter feed last night. While there was a fair amount of #ISTE2016 and #NotAtISTE2016 to be found, even more dominant were reports and shares from the Black Entertainment Television Awards #BETAwards. Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar apparently pulled off another performance milestone to top previous showstoppers at the Grammy Awards and Super Bowl Halftime earlier in the year. But the real deal came later when Jesse Williams gave his acceptance speech upon receiving the Humanitarian Award.
For me, as an African American woman, mother, educator, and citizen, this speech made all the difference. It spoke to me on so many levels, also as a writer and speaker. The message and the art of the message converged to make this a towering media experience for me for which I cannot (and refuse to) contain my emotion. And it arrived through Twitter. Through my very unique and individualized Twitter, multiple times.
For most of my colleagues at this huge conference, I bet this was not the case. There is no judgment here, just observation. For others, news of the Chilean win at the Copa America through a penalty shoot out against Argentina perhaps had priority. Or further news regarding fallout from the UK Brexit vote. The possibilities, and in fact, the possibilities of the possible combinations are too massive to contemplate — hence a great use of computing power through algorithms. The key and the most important take away is how we apply our understanding of how different and singular our filter bubbles are and become over time.
I am using my platforms to share my enthusiasm about #ISTE2016 AND one of the best speeches on the state of Black America I have ever witnessed. There is space for both and it feels vital that I communicate that aspect with all the energy I have at my disposal. Because for all of the promises that technology holds, the greatest hurdles to real progress are in fact our narrow minds which resist being “blown” by outside and unfamiliar perspectives. This is the tremendous task we educators, both at #ISTE2016 and #NotAtISTE2016 with all of the astounding tools at out hands need to fiercely pursue: investigating and interrogating our own and each others’ filter bubbles to facilitate our collective growth and maturity now and not in some distant future.
We have to remember that even when we see and hear each other on social media channels, no two experiences are entirely alike. The sooner we understand this and appreciate and actively work with the diversity at our fingertips, the better our chances of creating a more just and humane environment for our children and ourselves.
