I really like this idea. Maybe you can ask, is the lack of facticity itself a part of the power to influence? Or can facts be conveyed in the same ridiculous style?

Yes, I’ve wondered about the term counterpublic, since “counter” makes it sound like there is a binary opposition between two things. Perhaps “alternative public” would be better, since then we’d be able to account for different types of marginal(ized) digital publics, such as Black Twitter, #GirlsLikeUs, but also Reddit, 4chan, or other…[Read more]

Yes: but how does this speed contribute to the ability to speak politically on social media? And to form a counterpublic?

I hope you’ll raise this question in class! To what extent does a digital place/network function as an actual space–a cafe, a bookstore, a club house? Or do digital spaces arise only momentarily before they shatter again?

And yet, we know that digital spaces leave traces: they can be surveilled, their members tracked. How to build a digital…[Read more]

Yes, social media is a good way of reaching people who otherwise might not be involved, but it can also reach people who are dangerous–potential harassers or trolls. How should a community build care and support that’s inclusive and yet protect itself from harm from exposure?

Great: I think you’ll be interested in reading more in depth about #GirlsLikeUs next week. A key question that your thoughts raise to me is: how do we harness social media to foster community, when at the same time community can mean the risk of exposure to threats (trolls, harassers, etc.)?

I liked your earlier idea also, but this one seems particularly compelling. What do you think is the learning goal or general objective of your project? It seems interesting to balance incorrigible mendacious style with truth-telling: the idea seems to have interesting potential to explore whether Twitter style leads to untruths or not.

It’s interesting how seriality enables the Twitter form to develop quite complex thoughts/artworks, but this process often goes unacknowledged in considerations of the medium. The point about impatience may then be more about society than Twitter itself…

Definitely! It’s great to see you bring questions to our session. Audience management is a key component of Twitter (and any medium): whether you want to encourage others to contribute to your work determines some strategies for writing. Will you @ people, for example? Will you reply to people? If you’re creating a multiple-character piece with…[Read more]

And you should definitely see if you can experiment with growing a following/interacting with them in your own Twitter project! Whether it’s Twitter or some other social media platform, gaining firsthand experience on what it takes to grow an audience (perhaps for a fake business!) can be illuminating about how people can be drawn to products…[Read more]

Great! I’m glad you liked “Black Box.” Indeed, these liberating straitjackets are what you can use in your own projects as you explore the Twitter medium.

This is an interesting point! I hadn’t thought so much of streaming services. Wonder what propels the dynamics described in the article you link?

Well, you raise a lot of interesting points, Leigh. But I think the matter may be even more nuanced! The white writer of the RS article (can we even “know” that he is white? he appears white, but what does that exactly mean?) isn’t calling Wells’s story his own, but he is certainly fact-checking Wells, as if the story depended for its “value” on…[Read more]

I think you’re right that this story raises fundamental questions about the media/Hollywood. Ultimately, the movie was actually directed by Janizca Bravo, a Black woman director, and certainly the fact that Wells’s story is now available as a movie will allow her fate to be encountered by many more people. In other words, what is tricky is that…[Read more]

Right–what made Wells’s story go viral in the first place? Did you read any of the comments on Imgur? I found that part fascinating: clearly many people found Wells’s narrative nearly irresistible. How does Wells’s style and its “Twittery-ness” allow or even encourage that kind of popularity?

Commodification is certainly at work here. But I think there’s also a larger question of the kinds of narrative that the Twitter medium might enable, that may have been (in fact were and still are) systematically sidelined by more accepted media.

Great questions. Something to ponder: Wells’s story has clearly been stoled–yet, the movie version (which was directed by a Black woman, Janicza Bravo) also works to amplify Wells’s voice. How do we deal with this paradox?