A guide for librarians for using Twitter as a means to teach information literacy. Presentation for Easy Bib Summer Professional Development Series. July 10, 2013.

1. A guide for librarians for teaching information literacy in a
social media universe
Presented by Neil Krasnoff
@txlibraryguy
An Easy Bib Summer Professional Development Presentation
July 10, 2013

2. Driving Question for today
How has Twitter changed the
world of information and how can
teacher-librarians adapt to the
new landscape?

3. Pre-requisites for this presentation
 Previous participation on Twitter or a belief that
librarians must participate in this forum
 Some experience teaching secondary or college
students information literacy strategies or a belief
in its importance
 A positive attitude about social media and a belief
that teaching skills related to Twitter is critical for
preparing Young Adults for college and career

4. Imagine if we were Driver’s
Ed instructors…
And we had little or no experience driving
And our lessons only focus on what NOT to do
And lessons NEVER take place in an actual car
Source: Dan Haesler
www.danhaesler.com/2012/10/02/driving-down-social-media-way

5. My Biography (going backwards)
40-something dad of a 1-year old
On Twitter (@txlibraryguy) since 2010
On Facebook since 2008
A High School Librarian since 2001
Began education career as science teacher 1994
Lifelong introvert, learner and amateur researcher

6. My Experience during DFW
Tornados April 3, 2012
http://media.nbcdfw.com/images/654*368/TrucksTossed040312_722x406_2219054846.jpg

7. Chronology April 3, 2012
 11:20 Eating lunch and looking at Twitter
 11:22 Notice Tweet about tornados in DFW
 11:23 I tell principal 5 minutes before warning siren
 11:40 Students and staff in interior hallway to duck and cover
 12:05 I am with students and continue to check Twitter for info
about #tornados while colleague films the funnel cloud that
destroyed truck stop in previous picture.
 12:55 I tweet after 1st duck and cover
 1:02 Another tornado warning and back to duck and cover.
 1:05 I exchange tweets with member of Twitter PLN in DFW

8. My Twitter activity during DFW
April 3, 2012

9. Lessons learned about Twitter during
DFW tornados of April 2012
 Early alert, preceded
tornado warning by 20
minutes
 Emotional support from
shared experience
 Potential for thousands
of journalists reporting
on scene
 During tornados many
Tweets were unreliable
with no way to verify
 Key information was
actually missing when it
really counted
 Most people are too
afraid or occupied to
play this role
Pros Cons

10. Topics of presentation
 The importance for librarians to participate on Twitter in
order to teach information literacy
 Compare and contrast information search and research
process before Twitter and after
 Tweet citation and a little about decoding of Tweets
 Case studies of hoaxes and conspiracy theories to
understand pros and cons of Twitter as information
source
 Guidance for creating Twitter-centric learning experiences
that promote information literacy

11. Changes Wrought by Twitter
Before Twitter In Twitter era
In print world, ‘current’ could mean last
year or last month or last week
Information from yesterday or minutes
ago is often no longer current
Selling point of library databases was
credibility, superior content and ease of
citation, determining authorship, etc.
Library databases are free of noise and
distraction. Better environment for
deeper learning in addition to
predictability and reliability.
Credibility synonymous with well-
established authors and publishers and
respected journals
Twitter users earn credibility through
self-promotion and users must use their
own methods to decide who is credible
Information search and social
networking separate
Information and social networking inter-
linked, often related to marketing and
political persuasion

12. MLA Tweet Citation
Using one of the most famous historical Tweets:
Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). “Helicopter
hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare
event).” 1 May 2011, 3:58 p.m. Tweet.
Notice the entire Tweet fits in the citation!!!!!!!

13. Rules for MLA Tweet Citation
 Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author’s
real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are
known and they differ. If only the user name is known,
give it alone.
 Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation
marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the
entry with the date and time of the message and the
medium of publication (Tweet).

14. Finer points of MLA Tweet Citation
The date and time of a message on Twitter reflect the reader’s time zone.
Readers in different time zones see different times and, possibly, dates on the
same tweet. The date and time that were in effect for the writer of the tweet
when it was transmitted are normally not known. Thus, the date and time
displayed on Twitter are only approximate guides to the timing of a tweet.
However, they allow a researcher to precisely compare the timing of tweets
as long as the tweets are all read in a single time zone.
In the main text of the paper, a tweet is cited in its entirety (6.4.1):
Sohaib Athar noted that the presence of a helicopter at that hour was “a rare
event.”
Source: http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweet

15. Top Influencers of Twitterverse
Celebrities/Entertainers dominate top 100
#1 #2
Both Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga have over 40
million followers.
Source: http://twitaholic.com/
Twiitter accounts are managed professionally to
engage fans and promote artist.

16. #4 is ‘President Obama’
• This account is run by Organizing for Action and is
designed to inform supporters of the President of
upcoming efforts to further his agenda in Congress.
• Like Gaga and Bieber, it’s run by highly paid
professionals whose main goal is to keep loyal
fans/supporters and attract new customers/voters

17. Traditional Media-Twitter Winners
CNN (Breaking News)
12.2 Million Followers
New York Times
8.7 Million followers
Time Magazine
4.7 Million followers
The Economist
3.4 Million followers
Wired Magazine
2 Million followers
Winner= Twitter following higher or nearly equal to previous circulation

18. Traditional Media-Twitter Losers
Daily Beast (formerly Newsweek)
585,000 followers
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
273,000 followers
Reader’s Digest
48,800 followers
EBSCO Databases
6,012 followers
Loser= Twitter following substantially lower than peak circulation or userbase

19. Internet Hoaxes before Twitter
Malepregnancy.com
• Bogus information spread
relatively slowly, but
could persist
• Most sophisticated
internet users not fooled
• Opportunity to refute
urban legends/hoaxes
(Snopes.com)
• Librarians used
deliberate hoaxes to
teach information literacy

20. Internet Hoaxes on Twitter
• Bogus information
spreads incredibly
quickly
• Sophisticated and
interested parties
often fooled
• Hoax lifespan usually
short
• To succeed, one must
fool gatekeepers or
hack their Twitter
account

21. Apple Screw Hoax
Timeline August, 2012
 Hoax masters in Sweden post fake internal email from
Apple with pictures and schematics of ‘asymmetric’ screw
to Reddit. Coincides with morning in Silicon Valley
 Spreads virally via Reddit to blogs and then Twitter. DIY
Jailbreakers and Tech insiders are main audience.
 Mainstream news Websites including Yahoo and Wired
pick up story by evening
 Rumor thrives and Twitter and millions believe story for
days.

22. Wired Magazine
on fake Apple Screw
Tweet 4:30pm on August 8, 2013-First day of hoax

23. Wired Magazine on fake Apple
Screw
Tweet 5 days later August 13, 2013

24. Wired Magazine: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/if-theres-a-screw-theres-a-way-
custom-screws-wont-stop-the-diy-community/
A Wednesday posting on Reddit shows an asymmetrical screw, allegedly designed by
Apple, that would be impossible to remove with tools currently available on the market.
While the authenticity of the screw is in question, and while such a screw would
certainly slow down the device dissection efforts of average users, no one should fear
that any specially designed screw would keep out serious DIYers for long.
Wired reached out to iFixit co-founder Kyle Wiens to ask his opinion on the legitimacy
of the design. According to Wiens, the design is a bit too far-fetched: “My gut feel is
that this isn’t from Apple. The threads are unrealistic, and I suspect that a head like that
is too complex to use as a tool head. Existing tool designs tend to be simple because
the head needs to withstand a fair amount of torque.”
There’s also the issue of price. “If this is an Apple design, it
looks like it would be expensive to manufacture. Apple uses tiny
screws, and that’s a very complex screw head,” Wiens said,
adding in an email, “Tiny + Mechanically Complex = Money.”

25. What do hoaxes on Twitter teach?
 The role of fact checking by traditional
journalists such as of Wired Magazine is still
important
 Reading thoroughly, beneath headline is
important . Must click on link in Tweet.
 Retweeting mindlessly is a sure way to lose
credibility. Critical thinking is vital to
maintaining credibility

26. Conspiracy Theories
 Because Web 2.0 forums such as Blogs, YouTube and
Twitter give every user a platform, they are a perfect
venue for all sorts of conspiracy-minded individuals and
groups
 Unlike hoaxes, which their originators do not to believe,
Conspiracy communities have a commitment to telling
the ‘truth’ as they see it.
 Examples of large conspiracy communities:
Anti-Vaccine movement, 9-11 Truth, Obama Birthers, ‘New
World Order’ conspiracies

27. Anti-Vaccination Conspiracy
Search Entity
Anti-Vacc results
“Vaccines” (top
10)
0/10 7/10
(discounting
results for band
called “Vaccines”)
9/10
(discounting results
for band called
“Vaccines”)
Ranking of top
Pro-Vaccine
Result
1st 1st 8th
Top Anti-Vaccine
result activity
NA 42 Tweets
4,277 followers
62,726 Views
Top Pro-Vaccine
Result activity
NA 92 Retweets
6,146 followers
33,949 Views

28. Pro-Vaccine vs. Anti-Vaccine
Influencers on Twitter
Pro-Vaccine influencers Anti-Vaccine influencers
Gates Foundation
967,000 followers
Jenny McCarthy
945,000 followers
Ask a Doctor
868,000 followers
Info Wars-Alex Jones
216,000 followers
UN World Health Organization
812,000 followers
Rob Schneider (comedian)
120,316 followers

29. What do Hoaxes and Conspiracies tell
us about Twitter as an info source?
While perpetuators of bogus information are
active on Twitter, the majority of users’ concern
for their reputation is a powerful preventer of the
spread of false rumors.
Anonymity is not as prevalent as on YouTube
where conspiracies and hoaxes thrive.
For more information about the Anti-Vaccine issue on Twitter
see: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/if-you-want-
to-participate-in-the-vaccine-debate-head-to-twitter/

30. Comparisson/Contrast
Hoaxes
 Succeed by exploiting
speed of Web and
trust relationships
 Hoaxes are
vanquished by correct
information and
prevented by careful
research/critical
thinking
Conspiracies
 Spread due to
egalitarian and
participatory nature
of Web
 Conspiracies persist in
information bubbles
where all contrary
evidence is dismissed
or not noticed.

31. How Info Lit instruction can
address conspiracies and hoaxes
 Teach triangulation (using 3 disparate sources)
 Stress critical thinking and impulse control (hoaxes only)
 Do exercises illustrating confirmation bias (evidence
fitting deeply held beliefs)
 Compare and contrast videos on YouTube that are
conspiracy-oriented vs. those that are not
 Model information seeking strategies that are designed to
avoid the information bubble. Twitter is the best
platform for doing so!

32. When talking to students about Twitter…
Do
 Emphasize positive
potential of Twitter
 Tell about your
experiences
 Provide suggestions
for who to follow
(organizations,
journalists, authors,
etc)
Don’t
• Emphasize ‘dangers’
of Twitter
• Confess to being a
Twitter novice
• Tell them what not
to do (unless a
serious disciplinary
issue)

33. Topics for direct teaching
 Credible vs. non-credible sources on Twitter
 Triangulation and verifying sources
 Plagiarism vs. Retweeting
 Source types on Twitter: Original, Synthesis, Derivative vs.
their traditional corollaries (primary secondary, tertiary)

34. Research Topics suited for Twitter
 Disasters and terrorist attacks-provide excellent
opportunity to talk about source types including
conspiracy sources
 Other Current Events-Analyze facts, perspectives, analysis
and opinions
 Careers and Colleges-Chance to hear from real people in
certain careers and fields of study

35. Let’s Play ‘Should I Cite This?’
Rules:
1. Imagine you are doing a college and career project
2. Look at each of the following Tweet slides on “Best
College Majors” for 5 seconds
3. Do one of the following :
A. Send Chat message with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘depends’
B. If on Twitter use #ShouldICiteThis and mention @EasyBib
and @txlibraryguy.
Give a short explanation for why or why not Tweet should be
cited

36. Should I Cite This? –Tweet #1

37. Should I Cite This? –Tweet #2

38. Should I Cite This? –Tweet #3

39. Should I Cite This? –Tweet #4

40. Should I Cite This? –Tweet #5

41. Thanks for playing and listening!
 Questions? Comments?
 Concluding Remarks
 Follow up conversations? Mention @txlibraryguy on
Twitter
 Further reading or additional information? Will share
EasyBib Bibliography with comments to anyone
interested. Send email to nskrasnoff@gmail.com

42. A guide for librarians for teaching information literacy in a
social media universe
Presented by Neil Krasnoff
@txlibraryguy
An Easy Bib Summer Professional Development Presentation
July 10, 2013