The after-life has jumped on the social networking bandwagon as 23rd Pres. Benjamin Harrison is posting on the micro-blogging site Twitter. It's an interesting experiment in historiographic metafiction sidling up and wedging itself into the evolving and porous fabric of social networking.
Some tweets are interesting.
Some are kinda funny as he interacts with other dubious Twitterers.
The "associate" of Mr. Harrison claims they are not affiliated with the Pres. Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis but knows Mr. Harrison VERY well. Knows his personality, voice and history. They say that the idea behind the Twitter presence is to inform people today of some of the parallels of history from 100 years ago.
Set in the year 1900, the last full year of Harrison's life. Mr. Harrison has one foot firmly planted in the 19th Century and those views often contrast when he interacts with contemporary figures who have one foot firmly planted in the awaiting 20th. Newspaper articles, fun facts, books, illustrations and just life observations by Harrison will be featured.
Interactivity, open-mindedness, a sense of humor and a suspension of disbelief is asked and probably needed. The idea is that in the year 1900, Mr. Harrison received a steampunk looking "contraption" on his door-step. In it were instructions of how to link it to his outlets and another note explaining how imperative to the future all of this is. He then begins corresponding with his associate in the 21st Century, then with his audience. As his comfort with it grows, his "tweets" will be a bit less formal. He has no idea why this is happening or what it is he is supposed to say to the future.
They hope to inform his audience of a somewhat forgotten American President and show some of the events that happened during his presidency. To interact in character AND with historical accuracy and to maintain respect for his memory as a President but to have a bit of fun too. They have plans to "live-tweet" with teachers and their classes. They ask anyone interested to DM @Pres_BHarrison for information.
So go on, have some fun and follow along @Pres_BHarrison on Twitter.
Mini Bio: Benjamin Harrison reached the rank of brigadier general during the Civil War, and served in the U.S. Senate for six years. As an odd tidbit of trivia, Harrison was the last bearded president we’ve had. Harrison’s presidency offers a dichotomy of success and failure. He made a number of foreign relations successes during his presidency, setting in motion the U.S.’s backing of the Panama Canal, the annexation of Hawaii, creation of the modern steel-hauled navy and setting up Samoa as a protectorate are among his foreign policy actions that did more in the late 19th century to push America toward its superpower status in the world. On the other hand, he was, at best, a mediocre domestic policy president, pushing forth a number of decisions that helped bring on, but didn't solely cause the depression of 1893, the worst in the nation’s history to that point. He was also seemingly completely unaware of the strife facing the poorest Americans. Though, on the other hand, he did focus great energy on resource conservation and the rights of African-Americans, much more so than other presidents of the era.
Showing posts with label Social Networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Networking. Show all posts
8.21.2008
A Message to Twitter
RE: Twitter Tweeps. I did high school, lets see ... 24 years ago. I taught Elementary age kids for several years and at work, I supervise people who are mostly in their Twenties. I don't need to re-live cliques on Twitter.
Yes, they exist. No, I'm not jealous and no, I'm not talking about the 'celebrity' Twiterati. Just the (mostly) Genxers who seem to talk a big game about how well they understand new media. "It's in our DNA," said a young intern of mine. Ok, great. I mean that. But so is the need to associate with like people. That's in your DNA as well. I love that there are things you can teach me, show me and ideas that can change or even challenge my preconceptions. I just hope you realize that I and others in our 30's, 40's and up can do the same for you.
Aren't we on here to learn and improve ourselves? Broaden our horizons and our social-circles? I love Twitter, I follow less than 200 and have about 100 followers. I just try to be myself and sometimes engage in conversation (which is the hardest part for me, since I'm fairly shy.) I'm not trying to be popular or a Twitter celebrity. I have my own real-life accomplishments that I'm very proud of, thank you very much. I'm the first to admit, I don't do small talk well, but I do like sharing bits of my life, bizarre thoughts and inane observations. I've met some really wonderful, smart and engaging people on Twitter and have discovered some great sites, blogs, videos, memes and books.
It's not my age, I've always hated cliques. No, I wasn't unpopular in High school and now seeking revenge. I went to a very small rural school. There were 75 people in my class. Class-mates that didn't vary much from first grade. I was liked by the stoners, the FFA, the nerds, the geeks, the athletes and the teachers. I fought cliques from the inside then and I'll do it now. They just don't make sense to me. Why exclude the opinion of someone? For what reason exclude them?
What's the point of using a social network that potentially reaches across and bursts apart our pre-conceived boundaries of age, race, class, economy and geography only to use it to talk to people who look, think and believe just like you and make fun of, exclude, or talk about people who don't. If so, IMHO yer doin' it wrong.
I leave you, dear reader, with a challenge. Go make a new contact with someone you wouldn't normally. If your an atheist, say hi to that openly Christian or Muslim or Jew that you follow. A bit homophobic? Find something in common with that sarcastically funny lesbian or the English tranny you follow. Look at the avatars of those you follow? Are they all white? Fix that. Is there someone you follow who doesn't have a lot of money? Say hi and find something in common. I doubt that they'll hit you up for money. Invite those older, younger, shorter, taller or less funny to the next Tweet-up. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something.
7.14.2008
How Could It End Like This? NPR Cancels The BPP
Sadly it's true. NPR gave my favorite show The Bryant Park Project the boot! News leaked yesterday in the NYT and was "officially" broken to the fourteen staffers of BPP this morning.
The BPP's Producer Tricia McKinney left this message on their website today:
We are still absorbing the news of our untimely demise. We will still produce new shows for the next two weeks, and we'll keep on blogging and twittering. We may also dip into the Best of the BPP, stuff we're really proud of.
Though the number of listeners were small, especially compared to the traditional NPR standbys, the BPP website did accrue millions of page views monthly. Anemic station carriage and a flagging economy likely conspired to doom the show and it's not surprising that NPR claims they spent $2 million over nine months with nothing to show for it. But was nine months really long enough? Given another year, I suspect that the BPP would have brought more non-NPR listeners into the fold; it’s too bad we won’t get to see that happen.
Various postmortems in the blogosphere also cite internal politics, staff turnover and flawed execution. I enjoyed the show. I loved their goofs. Such as the time they tried to cue a soundbite and ended up playing their entire library of Sound FX. It was endearing. They blogged, they twittered, they broadcast themselves just being goofy. It was different. It was fun, It was interesting and I became "friends" with the people on the show and even behind the scenes. Those who listened generally felt the same, judging from the comment thread.
As of this afternoon, there were 343 comments posted, 99% are positive and sharing their shock and disbelief with the cancellation of the BPP. Here is my comment on the thread:
I don't have much I can add that the others have not already said. Sad. Silly. Awful. Regretful.
What can I say? It's a mistake. NPR's wonderful, I've listened daily since the day of the Stock Market Crash in 1987 and The BPP was the future.
Radio as we know it is dying. You can stream stations on your iPhone!! With the BPP's informal (though substantive style) use of micro-blogging (twitter), blogging and ear to the NET Generation, it could have been the launch pad for NPR's revival.
I'm afraid that this "expensive experiment" canceled before it was given a chance, is the radio version of NPR's jumping the shark. Not the BPP itself, but the act of canceling it and not allowing it to grow or gain an audience and mature.
Sorry BPP gang, you were all great! I'll especially miss Laura's Tweets.
Sent by David M. | 12:41 PM ET | 07-14-2008
- If you want to leave a comment here's the thread.
- Contact NPR's Customer Service here.
- If you want to contact the NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard and her staff to leave your two cents, the address is here.
- Listen to host Mike Pesca verbally flipping off NPR in the opening of today's first hour. (Click 'Listen Now' and it will open in a Media Player pop-up window) Food Grain Collection & Monitoring Committees FTW!
- Read my past post (say that fast!) about my love of this show here.
6.13.2008
Tim Russert - RIP *update*
I was home today and on Twitter when one of the people I follow tweeted that there was a rumor around that Wikipedia keeps updating reflecting Tim Russert's death on June 14, 2008. Weird! My Twitter friend works at a local TV News affiliate, so he was checking it out. He tweeted back that there was a rumor floating around that Russert had died of a heart attack and NBC was soon going live with Tom Brokaw delivering the news. I checked out Tim Russert on Wiki and sure enough, it said he had died. I checked the NYT, NPR, BBC, CBC, MSNBC, Reuters and Propeller. Nothing! Then twenty minutes later, NBC goes on the air with an emotional Brokaw announcing this sad news. (See video below) It's amazing how the Internet, bloggers and micro-bloggers have changed journalism. Journalists sometimes call themselves a Fourth Estate, but I believe the instantaneous movement of news is something that will probably drive major stories in the future, drive how journalists report it.
It was quite ironic that the man so much in the mold of good, solid, old school Murrow journalism had his death reported first by Wikipedia and Twitter. I can't draw any conclusion to that, just observe it.
Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after being stricken at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. My prayers are with his son, wife and Big Russ. If it's Sunday, It's Meet the Press.
The Mayor of Buffalo, NY ordered all flags in the city to be flown at half staff in their hometown son's honor. His wife and son, sadly, were still in Italy on vacation. Russert left early so he could prepare for Sunday's show. - Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
Mitch’: Mr. Russert’s death is bringing out emotional remembrances from his NBC colleagues, who have been on the air without a break for nearly an hour. Ms. Mitchell made a very rare public reference to her marriage to Alan Greenspan and how Mr. Russert had helped her through the romantic side of her life. She is now tearing up over remembering that Mr. Russert called her “Mitch” and the fact that her father calls her that also.
NBC is saying on its Web site that the cause of death was a sudden heart attack. The network said he was in the studio recording promotions for this Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”
The New York Times.com
*UPDATE* In the June 23 New York Times, there is a story that deals with the story being spread on Twitter and Wikipedia. It sites that a "junior executive" at the Internet Broadcasting Services posted the news on Wikipedia and has since been fired. Read the story here. LINK
6.12.2008
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