Twitter provides a great way
to have conversations. By tagging their tweets
with hashtag specific to the conference
conference goers do a variety of things:
they live-tweet presentations, take notes,
share resources and insights, ask for
help, and connect with others to build
their professional network.
Backchannels allow presenters and attendees to
participate and interact in ways beyond
the typical conference session. They also
allow members of the scholarly community
who aren't physically present at the
conference to join in on conversations.
In this study, we wanted to get a better
understanding of exactly how academics
use conference backchannels, so we
decided to examine the tweets a post
that related to two academic conferences
the American Educational Research Association
(AERA) conferences that occurred in
2014 and 2015. Our specific questions
were around the ways in which professors
and students participate in backchannels,
how hashtags are used, and how participation and
the types of tweets posted changes over time.
We looked at over 1,400 users who
are identified as academics - both
professors and students. We also looked
at over 350,000 tweets they posted just
before, during, and right after these
conferences. Academics - students or
professors - were responsible for just
over 40 % of these tweets
this means that the majority of the
tweets came from non-academic accounts
such as publishers, other professionals
like teachers or librarians, or
institutional accounts.
However, even though academics
represented the minority of participants
they were more active than non-academics
in both tweeting and retweeting.
We then looked at the 20 most common
hashtags used in the conference backchannel.
These hashtags mostly related
to conference topics, interest groups,
educational research communities,
and the conference locations. Some of
these hashtags for more commonly used by professors -
#queersig, #LGBT, #lgbtq, and #bullying
for example. Other hashtags were
most often used by students. Some
examples where #education, #edchat,
#literacies, and #edresearch
when you compare the 2014 and 2015 backchannels
we found the number of participants in
the #AERA15 hashtag increased, but the
overall number of tweets declined. Only a
small minority of those who tweet
during #AERA14 returned to tweet during
#AERA15. We also found that tweets
academics posted to the backchannel were
different than other tweets they posted
outside of the conference time.
For example, backchannel tweets typically
included at least one hashtag but rarely
contain links. In addition to the hashtags
academics use a variety of other hashtags.
Some related to specific events that
occurred at the same time as a conference.
#BaltimoreUprising for example.
Professors are more likely than students
to use these hashtags. The hashtags more
frequently used by students were ongoing
rather than event-specific.
Overall the sentiments expressed in the
background tweets were generally
positive, though the event base hashtags,
many of which related to civil rights
issues, were more likely to contain
negative sentiment. The implications of
our Study can be divided into four main areas.
First, backchannels provide a
unique venue for both scholarly and
non-scholarly participation around
conferences. While academics might use
the backchannel to share research,
publishers also use it to market
products. The fact that backchannel tweets
use more hashtags and fewer links and
other tweets suggest some academics use
the back-channel more for commentary and
conversation around topics rather than
for sharing resources. Second, the
purposes and attitudes academics have for using
Twitter maybe changing. Rather than
simply using it to promote their work
academics are using Twitter for a
variety of both formal and spontaneous
conversations. And while these tweets are
generally positive, it does not appear
that economics are afraid to express
their frustration in discontent with
current events. Third, while professors
and students may participate equally
the ways they participate are
different, suggesting these groups have
different expectations and different
goals for the backchannel. By using
hashtags like #emergingscholars, students
seem to be using the platform for
intellectual growth and career
development,
while professor instead use the
backchannel as a way of participating
contemporary events or affecting social change.
And finally, since professors and
students use the backchannel in different
ways, it's likely that factors such as
academic roles and their related power
dynamics, influence how they participate
in these hashtags. Might not the faculty
member, with the relative job security,
be more willing to tweet their views on
social justice issues than a student
worried about impressing members of a
hiring committee?
More research into this area would be
worthwhile. A more detailed explanation
of our study and discussion of these
implications can be found in the
published paper. Thanks a lot for tuning in.
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