Spotlight

You can now follow JISC infoNet on Twitter.

As mentioned in a previous post, many of the team now actively use Twitter and have found it a useful communication tool.

Twitter has been successfully used to create communities and networks within both JISC and the education community, providing access to great discussions and resources, giving instant feedback and proving useful at conferences and events.

Link: http://twitter.com/jiscinfonet

Twitter seems to be the next big craze to have won over the mainstream media, according to an article in yesterdays Times (Twitter: we all need to be in the loop). It pointed to the idea that Twitters rise in popularity and cultural impact was down to people just wanting to stay ‘in the loop’.

Twitter has really taken off in the mainstream media with a number of celebrities, including Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross, starting to use the service. Even The Sun and the Daily Mail have joined in, writing articles about celebs picked up from celebrity ‘tweets’.

Whether you think Twitter is a good or bad thing, the JISC Advisory Services will be looking at the potential of Twitter by trying out the micro-blogging technology at its awayday next week.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a messaging service that allows people to post short (140 character) messages of their thoughts and opinions. A number of people in the JISC Services have already been using Twitter for a while so it will be interesting to see how successful it is next week.

If you wish to follow our ‘tweets’ the hashtag being used for the event is #ASaway09. (PDF - Further information about using Twitter)

You can follow some of the JISC infoNet team who are already on twitter:

Steve Bailey
David Cornforth
Jacquie Kelly
Andrew Stewart

Some other interesting twitter feeds you might also be interested in:

BBC Technology
Guardian Technology
mStonerBlog