2010.05.22 19:00 - Hither, Thither, Tweeters Twitter

The Guardian for this meeting was Pema Pera. The comments are by Pema Pera.

Pema Pera: Hi walking-on-water Steve!
stevenaia Michinaga: love SL for that
Pema Pera: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: how are you?
Pema Pera: fine! peaceful Sunday morning for me
stevenaia Michinaga: I trimmed hedges
stevenaia Michinaga: are greek food at a local church festival
stevenaia Michinaga: ate
Pema Pera: so now you smell green, I presume?
Pema Pera: love Greek food!
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, sneezing
stevenaia Michinaga: now, relaxing

stevenaia Michinaga: looking forward to the Art as Being pictures,
Pema Pera: yes, me too!
Pema Pera: such a nice idea
Pema Pera: a kind of "Art of Seeing" too :)
stevenaia Michinaga: Frozen time
stevenaia Michinaga: hello Cal
Pema Pera: Greetings, Calvino!
Pema Pera: Good evening, Eliza!
stevenaia Michinaga: hello eliza
Eliza Madrigal: Hello Pema, Steve, Cal :)
Calvino Rabeni: Good evening everyone !
Pema Pera: well, I decided to take the plunge and get into twitter . . . .
Pema Pera: I had been resisting a long time :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Yay :)
Pema Pera: Good evening, Bleu!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bleu! :)
Bleu Oleander: hi everyone!
stevenaia Michinaga: I have had a twitter account, I find I am using it once a year
stevenaia Michinaga: not sure that is the intent
Eliza Madrigal: Oh... didn't know you are on there Steve... should look you up :)
Pema Pera: I guess there are two ways to look at twitter: as either yet another way to spend time on being connected, or as a relatively more distilled and efficient way
stevenaia Michinaga: hello Bleu
Pema Pera: (poetic way)
Bleu Oleander: hi steve
Pema Pera: and very efficient for you, Steve, once a year :-)
stevenaia Michinaga: I have my photo Blue, looking forward to a place to hang it
stevenaia Michinaga: Bleu
Bleu Oleander: oh great!
Bleu Oleander: have to work on the space for the photos this week
stevenaia Michinaga: one moment , a perlexing thought of what, the next, a photo :)
stevenaia Michinaga: *Perplexing
Bleu Oleander: i'm still working on mine
--BELL--

Eliza Madrigal: Ah, just tweeted back Pema :)
Pema Pera: :-)
Pema Pera: ah, the @ sign means a directed tweet, at someone?
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, and at the end, the # is a tag which means the tweet will show up under a particular category
Bleu Oleander: was wondering that too the @ sign
Eliza Madrigal: as you'll notice with eden and storm, who keep up with the poetry categories
Bleu Oleander: do you put the # yourself?
Eliza Madrigal: Yes
Pema Pera: so how do I add the @ -- right at the beginning of the writing in the box?
Eliza Madrigal: That's how one is able to look up a particular topic or news item
Eliza Madrigal: Sure, you can add the #, OR you can hit 'reply' to a tweet the person has sent :)
Eliza Madrigal: @ I mean
Pema Pera: so I can start "@ElizaMadragal and then a message"?
Pema Pera: with just a space between name and the beginning of the message, in the message box?
Eliza Madrigal: yes
Eliza Madrigal: I'm not quite sure honestly, when a message is sent just to the person, or when it appears to everyone... perhaps in cases like yours and patty's, where you've restricted access, then it only appears to the person...
Bleu Oleander: how do you put web links into the tweet? it looks like they use some kind of shorthand
Pema Pera: and presumably to all people on the restricted address list?
Eliza Madrigal: yes I think so, and yes there is a shorthand site... though I forward articles so rarely that I've not kept a link
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, looking, I think 'direct messages' are separate, and that the main box is open to the access list
Bleu Oleander: I think anyone can see my tweets even though i restrict who can follow me
Eliza Madrigal: Ah
Bleu Oleander: I think restricted just means they have to ask to follow you
Bleu Oleander: but otherwise it's all public
Eliza Madrigal: I was going to ask for Steve's twitter name but... :)
Bleu Oleander: :)
Eliza Madrigal: I enjoy it when topics from sessions spill into twitter
Bleu Oleander: one of the other PaBers may have him on their follow list
Bleu Oleander: I've been on twitter for over a year, but just now starting to use it more

Eliza Madrigal: its a nice place to share little updates and 'little birds' :))
Calvino Rabeni: Might I ask - where did "little bird" come from?
Bleu Oleander: also fun to follow things like CERN
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: I was referring to the guardian sessions when Pema suggested we bring little birds, but hm, yes where did that come from Pema?
Pema Pera: the image of cupped hands, showing something precious, cradling, like a bird's nest, . . . :)
Calvino Rabeni: Ah, it's a metaphor that has wings, and also a kind of ambience
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Pema Pera: :)
Pema Pera: and sometimes noisy
Eliza Madrigal: birds can be insistent
Calvino Rabeni: Most of our environments have little ubiquitous birds - surrounding us but usually unnoticed
Eliza Madrigal: I notice that some like to have picture accounts and also send links to share via twitter too... not a bad idea
Pema Pera: . show me birds of ubiquity singing songs of antiquity forever new
Bleu Oleander: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Nice Pema
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Calvino Rabeni: Birds are good networkers - twitter's a fabulous metaphor - I wionder who thought it up?
Calvino Rabeni: "It just seemed natural" - probably that's the answer
Calvino Rabeni: Also birds - some of them - have great memories
Pema Pera: (technical question: can you get the twitter screen to refresh itself automatically, without having to do that by hand?)
Calvino Rabeni: I had the impression, it did that
Eliza Madrigal: hm, only if you sign off. Usually it will gather them and have a button '2 new tweets' etc
Eliza Madrigal: It may refresh on its own after a while, but not every few minutes
Pema Pera: (probably something you can set)

Eliza Madrigal makes a terrible tech person
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: "see the little thingy in the corner....?" "Just push it and see what happens..." hehehe
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Eliza Madrigal: somehow I get by :)
--BELL--
Calvino Rabeni: After the art projects, maybe a zoo or aviary would be fun
Calvino Rabeni: Animals are a good awareness reminder
Bleu Oleander: sl does nice birds
stevenaia Michinaga: I must be off
Pema Pera: bye Steve!
Bleu Oleander: bye steve
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Steve :) Nice to see you and to add you to tweet list :)))
stevenaia Michinaga: see you all on twitter
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Fly well Steve
Eliza Madrigal: I was preoccupied with whether I was hearing owls or doves here, for quite a while...
Bleu Oleander: :)
Eliza Madrigal: it must be owls at night?
Calvino Rabeni: Birds are the hands of nature's clock
Eliza Madrigal: Hmm... how so?
Calvino Rabeni: Marking the hours and the seasons
Bleu Oleander: they wake my puppy up every am
Calvino Rabeni: There's a bird in eastern US that sounds like - hmm, the beep of a watch or the test tone of a smoke detector
Calvino Rabeni: It makes its rounds in the early moring
Calvino Rabeni: *morning
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Pema Pera: :)
Calvino Rabeni: visits each station of it's territory once, chirps the same signal
Calvino Rabeni: And then, it is done for the day :)

Eliza Madrigal: When my younger daughter was about four, she was given a clock that had bird sounds on every hour... she came to immitate them all, then wanted a field guide...
Bleu Oleander: :)
Pema Pera: what a nice present!
Calvino Rabeni: Calvino Rabeni wonders if it influenced her life in a significant way
Eliza Madrigal: She loved it, and learned so much... became fascinated to the place where she was teaching everyone, but somewhere along the lines she said "no more bird presents" to the relatives... heh
Calvino Rabeni: Children are surrounded by animal pictures
Eliza Madrigal: It influenced her in that she has a wonderful memory and notices everything :)
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: Alertness and brightness
Calvino Rabeni: Birds are *great* observers too :)
Calvino Rabeni: Certain people can "read" the bird soundscape
Bleu Oleander: very smart some of them
Eliza Madrigal nods
Calvino Rabeni: Determining what events are happening in the environment
Bleu Oleander: I love that video of the crow making and using a tool
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, yes... who would think until you see that?
Calvino Rabeni: Every environmental niche has its birds
Calvino Rabeni: For instance, crows thrive in urban environments
--BELL--
Calvino Rabeni: Geese - the Canada Goose - seems like a Globally successful species, adaptable and independent
Eliza Madrigal: Florida is a particularly nice place for bird watchers I think... cranes and egrets and anhingas... Oh, herons...
Calvino Rabeni: Hello Paradise :)
Pema Pera: hi Paradise!
Paradise Tennant: smiles hi everyone :)
Bleu Oleander: hi P
Pema Pera: hello and goodbye, Paradise, must be off to lunch
Eliza Madrigal: all so unusual. Dr Seuss found much inspiration here :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Paradise :)
Paradise Tennant: enjoy :)
Bleu Oleander: bye Pema
Pema Pera: bye everybody!
Bleu Oleander: look forward to your tweets
Paradise Tennant: waves at Pema :)

Calvino Rabeni: In case you'd like to know, Para, the topic tonight is "birds"
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Bleu Oleander: and tweets
Eliza Madrigal: hehe... yes funny night
Bleu Oleander: are you a tweeter P?
Paradise Tennant: smiles has to tweet :) though I have heard lots about it
Paradise Tennant: not yet tweeted :)
Eliza Madrigal: Pema just signed on to twitter... think our talk of haiku-ing and such got to him :)))
Paradise Tennant: ahh
Paradise Tennant: is there a playasbeing tweeting group :)
Calvino Rabeni: Jubiliant tweets are one of my favorite types :)
Eliza Madrigal nods @ Paradise
Eliza Madrigal: Several PaBers are on there, and then there is a group Storm opened for notices
Paradise Tennant: nods
Eliza Madrigal: Been a while since you tweeted Cal...
Eliza Madrigal: you used to check in pretty regularly :)
Calvino Rabeni: Knowledge usually trumps Expression in the twitter world, but there's sure a lot of variety :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes
Calvino Rabeni: Lately my tweets would have been something like - a real bird just landed nearby, ...
Calvino Rabeni: Maybe my mind was resisting abstract thinking
Paradise Tennant: that soounds like a very appropriate tweet to me :)
Calvino Rabeni: Next week I will be back in the Big City, and the tweet urge may return
Eliza Madrigal: I was hesitant to use twitter but I guess its like everything else... that one makes choices which determine what it requires...
Eliza Madrigal: I don't post every three minutes "Im eating a sandwich!"
Paradise Tennant: kind of amazing when you .. think of how connected .. we are .. on a technical plane sort of .. communicating out of our bodies so to speak
Eliza Madrigal: definitely!
Calvino Rabeni: Orality is part of our human way - twitter kind of brings it back
Bleu Oleander: makes a local group out of very non-locals!
Eliza Madrigal: Yes! Its funny how tech has done that... brought back letter writing and gestures.. checking in, etc
Calvino Rabeni: Permitting us to create these little, spontaneous expressions of what our thinking is doing in the moment
Calvino Rabeni: Quite so Eliza !
Paradise Tennant: and look into other people's day to day world so to speak ..
Bleu Oleander: do you connect your twitter to your cell?
Bleu Oleander: fears doing that
Calvino Rabeni: RIght, it seems part of the "noosphere" - the connected present distributed "mind"
Paradise Tennant: how does it work .. is it like a email account or is more group based
Eliza Madrigal: Eos tweeted from a coffee shop while we were in SF
Calvino Rabeni: Some people - maybe most - think - what good would twitter do - what could you do with it?
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, well during the protests in Iran, I think many people began to see its potential
Calvino Rabeni: Then after they try it, it catches on - generates new ways of being related and connected
--BELL--
Bleu Oleander: yes
Eliza Madrigal: that said, for me its mostly that I really enjoy our community and like to hear from everyone throughout the day :)
Calvino Rabeni: Understanding the way twitter is used to _coordinate_ the actions of many people in real time
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, yes
Eliza Madrigal: Well it can be like Eden said of her drop day exploration... like a thread connecting
Eliza Madrigal: continuity
Calvino Rabeni: Very quickly a new sense of presense, or used for that
Eliza Madrigal: Nice to see you guys... Thanks for a lovely chat tonight :)
Eliza Madrigal: Bye for now
Bleu Oleander: nite Eliza
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Paradise Tennant: take care eliza .. :)
Bleu Oleander: need to go too
Bleu Oleander: cu take care
Calvino Rabeni: Well, it seems a good time for me to do that also, I hear dinner
Paradise Tennant: ll nite nite bleu gtsy ..
Bleu Oleander: bye :)
Paradise Tennant: kk nite nite cal :) enjoy dinner :)
Calvino Rabeni: Xenophobia - the fear of Other - might become an endangered species in the "always connected" world we're moving into
Calvino Rabeni: You log readers :) Consider tweeting your friends *right now* :)
Calvino Rabeni: Zooming away I go