Using Social Media for Public

Engagement

Alison Innes

Social Media Coordinator

Faculty of Humanities, Brock University

8 May 2018

Classical Association of Canada Annual Conference

Société Canadienne Des Études Classiques Congrès Annuel

University of Calgary

Download slides

& bonus content.

Opportunities

Opportunities to work in new and different ways (Carrigan 2017)

Sourcing suggestions and information

Keeping community informed

Being visible to media

Promoting completed work

Public scholarship that is persistent, visible, spreadable, searchable (Carrigan 2016)

Contemplative rather positivistic (Culik-Baird 2017)

Learning from people you wouldn’t normally engage with (Cohen 2018)

Generating knowledge through research (discovery), synthesis (integration), practice

(application), teaching (Stewart 2015)

Promotion vs Engagement

One-way advertising

Lacking personality

Pushing own content

Multi-directional & conversational

Personable

Sharing others’ content in addition to own

Asking genuine questions & Exchanging ideas

Promotion comes through consistent quality

engagement

Thinking about how to Engage

Finding Places to Engage

Engaging with Popular Culture

Jeff Wright

@TrojanWarPod

Pulling Back the Curtain

Scott Lepisto@ItineraPod

Expanding the Audience

Live coverage of talks and

conferences

• #BrockTalks

• #BrockHRI

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Examples:

• Tweeting lectures

• Takeover assignments

• Podcast assignments

• #1P95 & #1P95

• #clas2P61 (Instagram)

• #worldofrome with

@opietasanimi

ihub Niagara (podcast)

Dr. Camille Rutherford

@crutherford

Expanding the Conversation

Ryan Stitt

@greekhistorypod

• Single host

• Scripted

• Usually 1 hr

Elizabeth Keohane-

Burbridge

Christine Caccipuoti

@HistoryFootnote

• Rotating hosts

• Scripted

• Short—usually

10~15 min.

Mark Sundaram &

Aven McMaster

@AllEndlessKnot

• Cohosts

• Some script

• Conversational

• Usually 1 hr

Darrin Sunstrum &

Alison Innes

@mythtakepodcast

• Cohosts

• Conversational

• Usually 1 hr

Podcasting as:

• Learning

• Research

• Extension of

academic work

• Networking

• Maintaining

connections

post-degree

Selected Sources

Donna Alexander. 2017. ”Twessays and Composition in the Digital Age.” Hybrid Pedagogy. Blog.

Mark Carrigan. 2016. Social Media for Academics. Sage. Print.

Mark Carrigan. 2017. "Social Media is Scholarship." The Chronicle of Higher Education. Online.

Philip Cohen. 2018. "How I engaged my way to excellent research success and you can too." Family Inequality. Blog.

Amy Mollett et al. 2017. Communicating Your Research with Social Media. Sage. Print.

Camille Rutherford. 2010. “Why Twitter Matters: Twitter Uses for Professors.” University World News. Online.

Bonnie E. Stewart. 2015. “In Abundance: Networked Participatory Practices as Scholarship.” IRRODL 16.3. Online.

With special thanks to the Twittersphere for examples and suggestions:

Dr. Sophie Hay (@pompei79), Liz Gloyn (@lizgloyn),Tina Adcock (@TinaAdcock),Jess Clark (@JessicaPClark),

Daniel Joseph Samson (@ruralcolonialNS), Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco), Brock Humanities (@brockhumanities), Keri Cronin

(@profcronin) The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL), Darrin Sunstrum (@darrinsunstrum), C Rutherford (@crutherford),

Ryan Stitt (@greekhistorypod), Footnoting History Podcast (@historyfootnote),

The Endless Knot Podcast (@AllEndlessKnot/ @alliterative /@AvenSarah),

MythTake @mythtakepodcast), Hannah Čulík-Baird (@opietasanimi)

Bonus Content

Find out moreDaniel Samson, Associate Professor, Department of History, Brock dsamson@brocku.ca

Twitter: @RuralColonialNS

Read more about #JamesBarryDiary online at

http://niche-canada.org/2018/04/04/weather-and-emotion-in-james-barrys-diary-1849-1906/

Jessica Clark, Assistant Proffesor, Department of History, Brock jclark3@brocku.ca

Twitter: @JessicaPClark

Allison Glazebrook, Professor, Department of Classics, Brock aglazebrook@brocku.ca

Visit the “Brock Odyssey 2017” student blog at http://www.brocku.ca/blogs/brock-odyssey-2017/

Nadine Brundrett, Instructor, Department of Classics, Brock nbrundrett@brocku.ca

View the student Instagram takeover #clas2p61 at https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/clas2p61/

Keri Cronin, Associate Professor, Department of Visual Arts, Brock keri.cronin@brocku.ca

Twitter: @profcronin

Camille Rutherford, Associate Professor of Education, Brock camille.rutherford@brocku.ca

Research includes educational technologies and social media

http://www.drcamillerutherford.com/

Twitter: @crutherford

Finding Your People with Hashtags

Inviting Conversation

• Tapping into hashtags

• Public “office hours”

Using HumourTips for online engagement:

• Irony and sarcasm can

be tricky. If in doubt,

use cues like emoji and

gifs.

• Punch up, not down. Be

aware of your privilege

and place in the

hierarchy.

• Respect student learning

and resist the urge to

post student work and

errors.

• Understand the

gif/image/hashtag

before making the joke.

• Cat photos are almost

always appropriate to

spread joy.

Collaborative Learning

Listening to Marginalized VoicesSocial media provides a unique

opportunity to hear from people whose

voices are often marginalized in

academia. Take the opportunity to learn

from people whose experiences are

different from yours.

Etiquette tips for online engagement:

• Try not to get defensive if your own

racism/ biases/ ableism, etc., gets

called out. Thank the person,

apologize, and do better in future.

• Don’t create extra emotional labour

for people by tagging them into

conversations and debates. Do your

own homework before asking

questions. Remember, people don’t

owe you their time.

• Avoid “concern trolling.”

• Watch and learn how to be a good

online ally and amplify minority

voices.