Tweeting: Less Annoying, More Evolved

People use social media as a tool for self-reflection and sharing, but sometimes people are overly reflective or dramatic because they're seeking attention or validation. We all have that friend who posts a new picture of her cat every day or writes status updates like "Wow such a bad day, I just want to crawl under a rock". Twitter's design is different from other types of social media because while it allows the user to share, it is also demands they be concise. The 140 character limit inherently eliminates some of the nuisances I find in social media, like over-sharing about your kid's first poop or uninformed ramblings about politics.

Fig.1 Political ramblings on Facebook

Don't get me wrong, sharing opinions, updates on your kid, and pictures of your cat do contribute to online identity construction, and helps you stay in touch with friends, but broadcasting to your worldwide fan base where you had dinner last night ultimately doesn't tell anyone much more than how much money you're willing to spend on a steak.

Twitter allows you to actively tweet, or simply consume, without having to reciprocate (and without the negative connotation of being a Facebook stalker, or, my new favorite term--an "Insta-voyeur"). The news feed allows you to quickly see what's going on without accidentally seeing the bloody chicken picture your random friend's friend reposted on behalf of PETA. You have the option of expanding the #lookathisbloodychickenlovePETA tweet, but, luckily, you're not inundated with the visual when browsing. [Note: this feature has changed a bit since date of publishing.]

Fig. 2 Live chick commentary

Also, Twitter's framework reifies the evolution of linguistics in our tech-forward culture, that is, the trend toward briefer communications. We don’t speak in long-winded sonnets or use verbose language anymore. Quite the converse is true these days, with acronyms often replacing whole phrases (ROTFL). Everything, from our attention spans to the time it takes to fly transatlantic, is becoming shorter and faster. By design, Twitter supports the evolution of language towards a concise, categorical, linguistic culture while filtering out those things that are annoying about social media.

3 Lessons Learned about MOOC Development

Over the past year, I have worked on the development team for three different MOOCS (massive open online courses) at Google (Mapping with Google, Introduction to Web Accessibility, and Advanced Power Searching). (The opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not reflect the opinions of Google, Inc.) Each MOOC was different and I learned quite a bit about online course development and instructional design. I’d like to share my top three lessons learned about MOOC development.

1. Students love recognition. Even if its just a simple pdf that says, "Congratulations!", people really like to have a tangible record of their work they can print out and hang on their refrigerator. We had a number of students sharing pictures of their certificates on our course’s Google+ community and it was great to see how excited students were about completing the course. We ensured that our instructional design focused on student recognition because there is a high correlation between positive reinforcement and academic achievement (Haydon and Musti-Rao, Diedrich). For example, in addition to earning a certificate at the end of the course, we designed our MOOC communities to be interactive so that course teaching assistants could support and cheer students on.

2. MOOCs can contribute a great deal of data about human learning behaviors that sheds light on how people think and behave. There are so many questions about how people learn that can be investigated by MOOCs and applied to online learning and instructional design. For example, how much time do students spend watching videos? Is there an ideal video length irregardless of topic? I hope that the large MOOC providers, like Udacity and Coursera, ask and answer these types of questions, given their abundance of course offerings. Edx has published one article, so far, discussing some initial data analysis from their “Circuits and Electronics” MOOC. Additionally, an instructional designer from my department at Google published an article on the Google Research blog discussing some of our findings from the first few courses we developed. Sharing knowledge gleaned about patterns of student learning will enhance the future of online education.

Fig.1 I wonder how this whole "brain" thing works

3. Keep a record of what worked and what didn't. Of course, there are things you can't learn until you experience them, but since MOOC development is a somewhat objective process, there are some elements that will stay the same. Keeping a record will help the next person understand some of the hoops that they're probably going to have to jump through and probably save some time. Document while you go, as much as you can: retrospective reflections, tips and tricks, important time frames, workflows, etc. Even if the course was a complete success there can always be improvements in the content or the processes if you’re going to host it again. And don’t forget about the students. I guarantee you they have something to say. Record your student’s feedback. Make sure you reference these notes before starting a new project.

The TRUTH About Mercury Poisoning: A Survivor's Girlfriend Reveals All

An article was published earlier this week in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) (a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the National Institutes of Health & various other government agencies) stating “that limiting seafood intake during pregnancy may have a limited impact on prenatal blood mercury levels”. Several media outlets took this information and ran with it, publishing articles titled, “Concerns over mercury levels in fish maybe unfounded” and “Consumption of fish may have little effect on mercury levels in pregnant women”.

These news groups are missing a crucial detail in their reports citing EHP's research: the data referenced in the study was collected twenty years. EHP analyzed data gathered by the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a study that evaluated blood samples and diets of pregnant women in the United Kingdom between 1991-1992, to see how certain lifestyle factors affected offspring. Twenty years ago, mercury levels found in fish, were far lower than what is found in our environment today. Present day, agricultural run-off and other pollutants have tainted our waterways and affected our food chain. There is much evidence to suggest that mercury levels are high in fish and even non-pregnant people should avoid eating too much fish. Though eating fish does provide nutrients that other types of food don’t provide, eating too much of the wrong type of fish could also turn you into a zombie (or make you act like one).

Fig.1 Sushi-a dinner delight or a secret killer?

I make these statements refuting the claim that concerns over mercury levels in fish are “unfounded” because I have personal experience with this topic. Earlier this year, my boyfriend, someone I eat with frequently, got mercury poisoning. He stopped eating meat, to be “healthier”, and supplemented his diet with fish (purchased at places like Whole Foods or the local fish market). All of a sudden he started feeling unwell, with symptoms like massive headaches, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and (zombie-like) mood swings. After several rounds of doctor visits and every sort of test possible, a simple blood test revealed high levels of mercury. A "normal" mercury level is less than 10 and his were in the mid-20s. If mercury poisoning had such a major affect on the health of a hyper-fit yoga instructor, I can’t imagine how it could affect pregnant women.

So the burning questions... How much fish can I eat before I start acting like a zombie? And do certain fish have higher levels of mercury than others? The quantity and frequency of fish that is safe to consume depends upon species, location, and fish size. Ahi tuna, one of the main species of fish found on restaurant menus and grocer’s ice beds, has one of the highest levels of mercury. (http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/sources.asp)

Fig.2 List of fish with high levels of mercury from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

A number of seafood watch agencies, aquariums, and natural resource agencies measure mercury levels in fish and publish reports detailing which fish are ok to eat and in what quantities. Two good resources are:

1. Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website—you can even print out pocket guides or get an app for your phone. (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendations.aspx)
2. Office of environmental health hazard assessment—you can search levels of mercury in fish by location, so if you fish or like to buy locally-sourced fish, this is a great resource. (http://www.oehha.ca.gov/fish.html)

Mercury poisoning is a very real health threat. Be diligent when choosing fish to cook or eat. And if you tend to eat a lot of sushi or if fish is your main source of protein, get your mercury levels tested.