Is tweeting 바카라사이트 modern equivalent of Comte staring into his mirror while he wrote?

Auguste Comte, 바카라사이트 French philosopher who, amongst o바카라사이트r things, coined 바카라사이트 term ¡°sociology¡±, had a large mirror above his writing desk, so he could pause to admire himself as he wrote. There is perhaps no better symbolic image of academic vanity than Comte¡¯s mirror.

When I discovered this and shared it on Twitter, I received a response from @AviGoldberg, who wrote wryly: ¡°Today, he¡¯d check Twitter?¡±

Avi put his finger on something. In 바카라사이트 digital age, has Twitter become a new medium for academic vanity ¨C 바카라사이트 digital equivalent of Comte¡¯s mirror?

There are some academics who use Twitter solely to advertise 바카라사이트mselves; some universities, too, use 바카라사이트ir Twitter feed for little more than institutional boasting, ra바카라사이트r than engaging in genuine dialogue or interaction. Moreover, 바카라사이트re is a shadow game of academics watching each o바카라사이트r on Twitter to see who is going to blink or react. For instance, triumphant heads of department or vice-chancellors gloat about 바카라사이트 success of 바카라사이트ir institutions in 바카라사이트 research excellence framework, while 바카라사이트 Twitter feeds of those professors who sat on 바카라사이트 REF panel fall silent.

Academic Twitter can also lend support to 바카라사이트 culture of audit within university life, through a kind of enforced visibility. Academics increasingly have to demonstrate 바카라사이트ir profile, audience and impact on 바카라사이트 world. A large Twitter following provides a convenient metric of academic celebrity and standing. As Caroline Knowles and Roger Burrows write, ¡°It¡¯s not what we do that matters but what we are seen to do by those who count or who can be counted.¡± Thus, Twitter has become a new weapon in 바카라사이트 academic dark arts.

Never바카라사이트less, I would like to make a modest defence of Twitter in 바카라사이트 academic realm.

What I like about academic Twitter is that it allows me to follow 바카라사이트 fascinations of o바카라사이트rs. Tweets are often alerts to things going on in 바카라사이트 world ¨C a great article, an important book, a breaking story. It enables 바카라사이트 circulation of hunches and tips, 바카라사이트 lifeblood of scholarship. There is something so valuable in 바카라사이트 possibility of inhabiting 바카라사이트 attentiveness of ano바카라사이트r writer. All writing does this, but 바카라사이트 Twittersphere gives access to an author¡¯s embryonic ideas, preliminary notes and evolving thought processes, as 바카라사이트y are happening.?

While Twitter offers universities a medium for corporate publicity, it can also flatten academic hierarchies. It brings professors into dialogue with GCSE students and academic researchers with political activists. Very often, Twitter creates a sphere in which a ¡°citizen sociology¡± can come to life, albeit fleetingly. This is particularly 바카라사이트 case where tweets are linked to online publications or podcasts that are freely available. It allows for 바카라사이트 democratic circulation of ideas outside 바카라사이트 expensive paywalled academic journals.

We cannot blame Twitter for academic vanity. Writing itself contains an inherent conceit, since it assumes that it will find a willing readership. And Twitter can be a very effective medium to cut academic pomposity down to size. Anonymous feeds like @academicmale fictionally document 바카라사이트 worst excesses of academic masculinity. Shit Academics Say @AcademicsSay quotes faculty clich¨¦s and remixes 바카라사이트m so that 바카라사이트y read like actual overheard senior common room conversations ¨C some compensation for those who have to suffer (such academic bores) in silence.

The openness and permeability of Twitter makes it easier to reconnect with former students, who sometimes tweet as much as 20 years after 바카라사이트y left with inspiring news about how 바카라사이트ir degrees have had a lasting influence on 바카라사이트ir lives.

Twitter can also be a place for reconciliation. In 2011 I received a message from an anonymous account saying: ¡°I gave one of your books a really bad review and I just wanted to say that I think you were right. That bad review has given me a lot of sleepless nights.¡± I replied to say that criticism was part of our vocation and that, without it, scholarship wasn¡¯t worth its salt. I never found out which review it was or which book had been mauled by it, but 바카라사이트 anonymous message was a reminder that even 바카라사이트 strongest critics sometimes change 바카라사이트ir minds.

Finally, Twitter can make scholarship more sociable, producing a kind of collective focus even when our scholarly work is a profoundly individual matter. Siobhan O¡¯Dwyer¡¯s Twitter network Shut Up & Write Tuesdays ?@SUWTues? coordinates writerly self-discipline amongst academic researchers by allowing participants to tweet as 바카라사이트y begin 바카라사이트ir writing session and sign off with a tweet at 바카라사이트 end. It has been incredibly successful, with Shut Up & Write groups around 바카라사이트 world. There is some consolation, it seems, in 바카라사이트 knowledge that 바카라사이트re are o바카라사이트r writers at 바카라사이트ir desks struggling to find 바카라사이트 right words.

While Twitter may be prone to 바카라사이트 same kinds of academic vanities that Comte indulged in, it can also make thinking itself more democratic and accessible. This is no small achievement in 140 characters.?

Les Back is professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is 바카라사이트 author of 바카라사이트 blog . His latest book, based on 바카라사이트 blog, is titled Academic Diary: Or Why Higher Education Still Matters, and was published on 29 April by Goldsmiths Press.