Something is brewing on Twitter, right now.
A few tweeters started reporting that the Guardian has been issued with a court injunction to stop it from reporting, so they say:
Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.
Within minutes, Twitter was ablaze with fury about this story – how dare the media be prevented from reporting on Parliament?
A few minutes more, and people were pointing out that the published Commons order papers are available on the Parliament website
Not long afterwards, some were twittering the location and details of a question that mentions the solicitors involved in the injunction against the Guardian.
And not long after that, twitters encouraging links to blog posts, twitter posts and more blog posts appeared, all pointing fingers at what is presumed to be the question in, umm, question. Even the Spectator got in on the act.
As Jack of Kent speculates, the Guardian might have been aware that it would provoke such a reaction – and that by saying nothing, it gave everything away.
However, what chimed with me was Wendy Hall’s last slide from her talk tonight to the R&D Society.
“Networks help us find our voice”, it read. Wendy was referring to our social, business, and international networks – and in her case, to her women’s networks. In the case of the Guardian and the parliamentary question, however, it would seem to be the politically aware and socially active who have used Twitter, blogs and the web in general to find their voice, and shout loudly and uniformly.
We should do science like that.
Someone does an experiment. It gets twittered. People get excited. Some do a follow up. Some blog tentative
nonsensespeculations on the topic. Some shoot down the messenger. Some give the messenger a virtual hug. A whole new level of data/theory analysis is performed in a matter of 24 hours.The
borgscientific collective is more than the sum of experiments performed.Holism 2.0
In some senses, I think that already happens – at least in a private way.
What do you make of the twitter meteorwatch – using Twitter to observe, discuss and plot meteors? I don’t think there was much new research/sci in this, but there was something in the early stages of what you were hinting at.
@Scott
Thanks for the link. I found the ‘mission statement’ refreshing:
Follow us on Twitter to get involved, ask questions, take part in the event and enjoy the night sky with us
That’s a great attitude: creating enthusiasm for science by means of involvement.