Personal, professional, political: the social media quagmire

I have always been, and remain, a reluctant Twitter user.* And lately Twitter is conspiring to make me even less of a fan. Along with other social media forums.

To the extent possible, I have attempted to keep my political, personal, and professional lives somewhat separate on social media. I've read blogs and Twitter satisfied my FOMO by linking me to the best thinkers and newest publications in education and technology. Facebook let me keep up with friends and relatives, providing as well an endless supply of wit, humor and mindless trivia. And well, those old fashioned things called newspaper and magazines, both online and in print, were my source of reasoned political opinion from both the left and the right.

While there has always been some overlap in social media, I felt I had been able to keep communication spheres somewhat distinct. But the lines over the past year or so have blurred.

Politics seems to have wedged its way into both my personal and professional communication arenas. While education has always had a political element (I was the state school library organization's legislative chair for many years), tweets and posts have become more about national politics in general. Friends and relatives now share more political diatribes, satire, and outrage than they do photos of entrees and grandchildren. Just how sad is that? And our mainstream media has become more overtly polarized as well.

Perhaps trying the spaces between personal, political, and professional spheres of communication have always been an illusion. And maybe I am the only person who needs the occasional respite from the loudly banging drums and blaring trumpets of political screed. Or maybe I am too far into geezerdom to "get" social media.

But thank you my friends and colleagues for keeping politics from your tweets and posts to the extent your conscience allows. 

* Discussion via bumper sticker, The 140 character discussion, Poster Power on Twitter, 10 useful Twitter alerts, I killed my Twitter account, etc.

BFTP: What's the big deal about tpyos?

Hugh Howey, author of the Wool series* of science fiction novels, has an interesting take on typographical errors in his post, Happy INIEpendence Day!:

We all know this person, right? You send out a quick Tweet or Facebook update, and some friend informs you that you’ve split an infinitive, left a modifier dangling, ignored the necessity of the Oxford comma, or some other rule you didn’t learn in grade school and you sure as hell don’t remember now. You might have as an excuse that you were typing on your cramped cell phone or that you honestly don’t care about these rules. My rationale is normally that I goofed. Because even though I make a living at writing, I don’t know much about it. I just have ideas that I want to communicate, and I rely on spellcheck to make this as pain-free for the reader as possible.

Because really, what is language for? When you distill it right down to its essence, it’s all about the teleportation of ideas and imaginings, right? Think about how strange this process is: I see something in my mind, or I have a thought, and by emitting a strange series of sounds (or by drawing a string of symbols), I can implant into your brain what was previously in mine. Bizarro. And yet we do it every day and take it completely for granted.

If language is meant to communicate, why do we get in an uproar when it does its primary job, but with slight imperfections? In most cases, the intent of an error-filled sentence is clear. Heck, you can leave all the vowels out of this entire blog post and most people would still be able to read it. The Idea-Teleporter that we call “language” can be missing quite a few bolts and springs and still do its job.

And yet, many people expect perfection out of a tool that does not require it. It’s like wanting a car that not only delivers us to our destination, but emits no road noise, has plenty of cup holders, and will not break down. Ever. It can’t simply do what it was meant to do, it has to do it without error or a scratch. I can’t think of many things that are held to this standard, but the written word seems to be one of them.

Even as former English teacher and something of a grammar snob, I appreciate Howey's attitude. When I taught writing, I suggested to my students that they pay attention to the mechanics of writing because punctuation, spelling, sentence construction, and other "rules" will help them make their meaning clear - and poor mechanics can distort or hide a message. While I am always embarrassed when I find a careless mistake in my writing (and I have never re-read anything I've written without wanting to make at least one grammatical change), I don't know how much the missing word, extra comma, or wrong homonym really stands in the way of the meaning. 

The worst thing about grammar nitpickers is that others, fearing their criticism, may not be willing to publicly share their ideas. And while this is sad for adults, it's tragic when it happens to kids.

Oh, there is a typo in the title of this post. Can you find it?

* Anyone who is a fan of dystopian science fiction should give Wool a shot. Independently published, Howey had a great style, sympathetic characters, and great tension. And buying it for the Kindle is less than the cost of a used paperback.

Original post July 2, 2012.

When do we want creativity?

Our district office building is full of teachers this week who are learning how to teach ina prescribed fashion that suits our new reading series - something that is happening in thousands of district around the world.

Yet at the same time, these same teachers are hearing the message from educational reformers that both they and their students need to exercise creativity - that it will be the creative people who, in an economy beset by automation and outsourcing, will thrive.

Teach exactly like this - and be creative.

The question is not whether to go by the book or to try new things, but when to go by the book and when to try new things. In my experience, even the best teaching method, best resources, and best intentions never work with every student. It is for the kid you've told a thousand times and still doesn't get it, as the quote above describes, you need to get creative, ignoring the best practices and school-supplied texts.

When I am in the dentist's chair, I am reassured knowing the professional who has the power to cause great pain or great pain relief is following recommended procedures. But I also would like to think that the dentist, when it is called for, can find a creative solution to a unique toothy problem. It's not if creativity should be used - but when.

Don't value creativity for creativity' sake. Value it because it can solve problems and create opportunities that standard practices cannot.