How Twitter Helps Me #HEAR
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Personal perspective on the power of Twitter to make public dialogue more inclusive for the hearing impaired. Slides from Catharine McNally's Ignite session at the NTEN 2012 Conference.
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How Twitter Helps Me #HEAR
- 1. HOW TWITTER HELPS ME #HEAR CATHARINE McNALLY (@cmcnally)
- 2. HEARING THROUGH A COCHLEAR IMPLANT @cmcnally | @phase2tech
- 3. TWITTER for SOCIAL GOOD @cmcnally | @phase2tech
- 5. THIS [FOOTSTEPS] WHAT A TYPICAL LECTURE HALL [OVERLAPPING CHATTER] MAY SOUND LIKE TO [SOMEONE SNEEZES], I KIND OF MISS THINGS [PAPER SHUFFLING] AND THERE. I PAY [CELL PHONE RINGS] TO CONTEXT AND USE A LOT OF VISUAL CLUES TO HELP ME [BABY CRIES] WAY. I RELY ON THAT. ALSO BACKGROUND NOISES, [LAUGHTER] OF BODY LANGUAGE, LIMITED [DOOR SHUTS] OF SUBJECT MATTER CAN ADD COMPLEXITY. I EASILY GET DISTRACTED BY OTHER NOISES AND VISUALS.
- 7. me
- 8. blah blah blah blah blah blah
- 9. THE QUESTIONS CAME VIA TWITTER
- 10. WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT OBAMA JUST SAID?
- 11. THIS EVENT HAD #HASHTAGS: #askobama #economy #askobama @shnaps: Is free-market an option? RT #townhall @whitehouse: Obama on homeowners underwater: Have made some progress, but+ needed, looking at options #askObama @dmscott: #AskObama Tech & knowledge industries are thriving, yet #jobs jobs discussion always centers on manufacturing. Why not be realistic about jobs? @pmglynn: Mr. President, In several states we have seen people lose their collective bargaining rights. Do you have a plan to rectify this? #askObama
- 12. THE ISSUE: 119,000 #AskObama TWEETS 26,000 PARTICIPANTS 70 MINUTES 40 QUESTIONS 20 ANSWERS Source: http:// obama.twitsprout.com/
- 13. The White House @whitehouse 1m “I do think that the universities still have a role in keeping the costs down.” -@BarackObama #townhall #education
- 14. SILENCE THE NOISE & FOLLOW KEY TWEETERS
- 15. SMART CLOSED CAPTIONING #askaobama #economy #townhall
- 16. ORGANIZED & SPECIFIC LIVE TWEETS PROVIDED ME ACCESS TO DIALOGUE. I BECAME A PARTICIPANT.
- 17. ALL OF MY DEAF FRIENDS #JOINED @cmcnally | @phase2tech
- 18. INNOVATION OPEN SOURCE @cmcnally | @phase2tech
- 19. SOCIAL GOOD Open Source for: HUMAN GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL GOOD @cmcnally | @phase2tech
- 20. DISRUPT & IMPROVE @cmcnally | @phase2tech
Editor's Notes
- I discovered last summer that Twitter helps me hear! It was an empowering feeling, and I realized that this experience is very much related to the principles of Open Source technology. \n\n\n\n
- As some background, I’m deaf -- lost my hearing to meningitis and 25 years ago, was the youngest kid in the country to receive a cochlear implant...It helps me hear and be a part of everything, and that’s why I love technology.\n
- When Jack Dorsey first developed Twitter, I bet he wasn’t standing in front of Venture Captialists saying, “this thing! It’s gonna help a deaf girl in Washington DC hear the President!”\n\n\n\n
- Technology is REALLY important to me. It has the potential to bridge the accessibility gap in communication. That said, I’m constantly on the lookout for opportunities to innovate upon technology for social good. But here’s what it’s like for me: \n\n
- There’s a lot of NOISE. I can’t hear everything perfectly. People are walking in and out, talking behind me, sneezing, cell phones, it’s SO MUCH! \n
- Here’s the story. Last summer I was invited to the White House for the first-ever Twitter Town Hall with President Obama and Jack Dorsey. I basically had 48 hours notice, so I didn’t have time to put in my accessibility accommodation requests.\n\n
- This event was carried out entirely through Twitter. ANYONE in the country could tweet the President a question. No one in the room verbally could. So the barriers for communicating with the president were eliminated, as it was free and anyone can get on Twitter and ask questions, in a little “d” democracy kind of way.\n\n\n
- Once Obama and Jack Dorsey started talking, they were talking so fast, making jokes, I couldn’t follow along. People were laughing. Except me. \n\nI felt left out. \n\n\n
- Thankfully the questions came through Twitter and were projected on the TV screen in front of me. I could at least read them, but I still wasn’t 100% understanding what Obama was saying as his response.\n\n
- I wanted to turn to the person next to me to ask them to repeat what Obama was saying. I wanted to to be able to share my opinions with my Twitter followers.\n\n...And THAT’S when my I had my “ah-ha!” moment.\n\n
- This was a TWITTER. TOWN. HALL with HASHTAGS -- which are keywords for a topic or event. \n\nLOTS of people were going to be live-tweeting Obama quotes, so I immediately searched those tags on my twitter app. \n\n
- This was a great start, except I got OVERWHELMED by the VOLUME of TWEETS. I didn’t want to spend my time staring at my iPhone. \n\nI needed to filter through the noise and get to the POINT.\n\n
- Now, this line was undoubtedly retweeted hundreds of times -- or restated in a similar fashion. So you can imagine when I pulled up a search for “townhall, I would get a good bulk saying the same thing.\n\n
- I quickly noticed how a few tweeters were sending QUALITY Tweets that were more direct-quotes. So I followed them exclusively and the noise became a lot quieter. \n\n
- The quotes became a transcript of what was most important, which to me, was like "smart closed captioning"\n\n
- The access to Twitter as a free service, powered by the community, allowed for me to keep up in the conversation.\n\nBecoming a participant was a really powerful feeling right there in the East Room, when I otherwise would have been left out.\n\n
- I told all my deaf friends about my revelation. They all joined Twitter. \n\nSo in a way, I boosted Twitter’s user base by sharing a new use for this service. My Twitter naysayers saw a new value for Twitter potentially as a captioning tool. \n
- So, viral tools like Twitter are very much like the tools that are open source. \n\nYou never know how someone will use technology, especially when it comes to improving products and services. \n\n\n
- As someone focused on accessibility in open source software for my company, I am excited how people will leverage the tools they're building in Drupal (and other open source platforms) for social, environmental, and human good. \n
- In a lot of ways, open source software, like the Drupal platform we build with at Phase2, has the same kind of "disrupt and improve" ethos, and it's why it's so exciting to be working with it.\n\n\n