Archive for category: Opinion

The Value of Twitter Chats

The Value of Twitter Chats

aberthol256 The Value of Twitter Chats

Aberthol, like Twitter chats, is sometimes forgotten about

I often hear how Twitter can be used as a networking source by means of following important figures and taking note of their updates, and sometimes interacting with them to get on their radar. That method of networking is an incredibly passive one that may or may not lead to any results, depending on how popular the figure is and how often they look at their mentions to spot new talent or contacts. That said, I don’t find Twitter to be useless; in fact, there is a much more active approach that can be taken online to gain different insights and gain contacts. Though, it can be incredibly intensive (dedicating an hour to tracking a fast paced conversation), it certainly can pay off; yes, I’m talking about Twitter chats.

The chats function by means of having the common note of a hashtag, which permits other users to track what is being said in the “conversation.” There is often at least one moderator that throws out a question every now and then, in which users flock to answer and offer insights. The beauty of it is that there are numerous mavens and experts that do in fact participate, along with the occasional corporate host. Sometimes, the exchange of ideas isn’t anything revolutionary, but rather, a reinforcement that what you may be doing is right. Then there are other times in which you can find yourself seeing things in a different light based on someone’s short 140 character comment.

But most importantly, you can meet great people that you wouldn’t have otherwise had you stuck to your current circle of followers. Granted, I’m not saying that a Twitter chat will immediately create for you a connection, but it certainly does give some context to you as a person if that is where you “met.” Plus, if you become a regular of a chat, then people certainly become more familiar and are more apt to listen to you and follow you back.

Unfortunately, the whole concept of a Twitter chat can be a bit stressful what with the multitude of flowing comments in any given minute during that one hour. Coming to chat every week isn’t a must, and neither is the “obligation” to stay the full hour. You can jump in at any time, pitch advice at any time, or simply listen throughout. The way to use this particular resource is up to you and the beauty in it is the fact that not only a collaboration of thoughts, but also dynamic. It is to say that nothing in particular is static about the conversation, there is seldom a particular veering towards one narrow direction.

Below is a presentation that I co-presented on a couple of weeks ago discussing networking and features some great Twitter chats for students, along with a link to a grand schedule of chats for a variety of industries and age groups.

Networking: Professional, Social, and Everything In Between
View more presentations from Barbara Leung

Image via Ugly Bird Icons for Twitter

December 9, 2011
Personal Absent Memories

Personal Absent Memories

limitsOfMemoryLogo 1200 640x121 Personal Absent Memories

The question of what happens when photography isn’t available to capture a particular moment, or rather, a memory, has been one that my class has been attempting to tackle in my course on photography and the archive. This notion of absent memory is one that particularly touches me, the reason being that I am able to create this personal connection, drawing on my own experiences, in trying to understand how we remember the unphotographed.

All I have are reconstructions of my memory, that I have attempted to keep alive as best as I can; but even as hard as I have tried, there are always small details that I miss when going over what I constitute to have been true. The narration is in my own voice with what is said reading like a novel; I see the words but cannot hear the audio. The faces aren’t illustrated in their context, but rather, other photographs, such as staff headshots, take their place. I have wound up piecing together a memory with other memories so as to make up for what I cannot precisely recall.

There is no verification, though. Where the photograph may present a point of contention – having us confront our countermemory, there is nothing for the unphotographed apart from the subjective image projected in the mind. The witness is memory itself, but it is trustworthy only to a certain point. When we treat our memory with new context, our postmemory (what we know later to be “true”) interferes and mangles our previous thoughts. Conserving the actual memory is almost an impossible feat – sights are blurred at certain parts, whether it be the small details or faces, and what we hear is subjected to the mixing of our internal record studio, changing the tone and frequency of voices. It is to say that nothing is precise, even if we like to think it to be so.

In effect, absent memories have no bearing on which to ground them. They are abstract, clinging to whatever experience (to which one can relate) they can so as to cement themselves as a “memory,” and therefore not be forgotten.

I write all of this with brevity and with the assumption that the terms are understood. One can uncover the definitions of “countermemory” and “postmemory” via Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida and the notion of “absent memory” via Marita Sturken.

Image via Collective Memory Project

November 18, 2011
Redefinition Through Writing

Redefinition Through Writing

toronto Redefinition Through Writing

View of Toronto from a rooftop

Last week, TedxToronto held their annual conference, with the theme being “redefinition.” I thought it would only be appropriate to contribute, in my own way, despite being remote, my thoughts and ideas on redefinition. My viewpoint on redefinition, though, is not one based on community, but rather on the personal level. And I suppose that greatly bases itself on the experiences that I’ve had, which in turn have shaped my understanding of the word.

In discussing redefinition of the self, I point to the concepts of trauma and recovery. Granted, trauma is a very intimate subject and is one that has no clear lines in determining what is and what is not considered to be painful or marking. It goes to say that trauma is one’s own, and cannot be measured or judged by another. Overcoming this pain is difficult; and I contend that through expressing ourselves, and writing down our experiences that we can be permitted to and aided in moving on.

I propose the idea of writing since it is the one point in which we confront our traumas with great intimacy – revisiting them, re-purposing the experience into our own words, and thus, in a sense, reclaiming what was lost. To contemplate each word that we pen (or type in this case) is an activity that requires great thought and care, since trauma is so personal to us – we want to communicate what we know to be the “truth.” Evoking empathy or feelings isn’t the goal; for if it were, we would write compelling and more flowery text, as opposed to confronting a memory that we have sought to shelve and repress.

It is in this process of reclaiming, though, that we begin to own our memory, and not be owned by it.

At the end of this cathartic experience, we come out different. We are not necessarily changed, but we are more relieved. The memory that we have sought to hide from is now properly archived, and no longer strongly extricated from our mind and living obsessively in our daily conscious.

Whether or not we choose to share the experience is another point. We want to be altruistic and say that we confront our trauma publicly to help others – but is that really the case? For the most part, I would say so. But in some aspects, it is part of the redefining experience; being consciously aware that what you say becomes a part of the archive for others puts an onus on us to be more truthful to not only our readers, but also to ourselves. Instead of convincing ourselves of certain truths, we are forced to tell it as it had happened so as not to lead others astray (which of course comes back to the altruistic argument).

With that said, it comes as no surprise that we see so many texts on traumatic experiences published – it is one way for the author to overcome what has happened in a “truthful” manner.

To sum, redefinition, at least for me, is the reclaiming of one’s traumas through writing, which produces a candid (and sometimes slow) revisit in which we unveil the lies that we have told ourselves and instead, own not only the truth but our memory.

October 3, 2011