Blogging from Windows 7

Test post: How will Blogging with Windows Live Writer work?

Having recently upgraded computer components to enable faster graphics processing for Second Life, Div also recommended I upgrade to Windows 7.

Aside from the rather pretty default desktop view, two nifty features caught my immediate attention:

1. Sticky notes.  I’ve been using these constantly for a variety of to-do lists.  I wish I had tried to blog sooner about this because today (as I research to minimise my ignorance) I find that grooveDexter has described how to do the things I’ve wanted to and thought I couldn’t (like strikethrough) and more (creating a shortcut via which one can access a list of ones sticky notes). 
2. Snipping tool. Previously I was in love with Sprint32 and was afraid it might not work in Windows 7… but Windows 7 has its own! Super duper :D  

Of course I didn’t think to investigate the features of Windows 7 before now, so I didn’t have any idea about some of the nifty features shown in Getting Started videos (like shaking a window to dislodge other open windows; dragging windows to side of screen to view side by side with other windows). 

And it seems there is a lot more I haven’t discovered. Like Windows Easy Transfer that might have done a neater job of importing files from my old hard drive. Ah well.  Today at least I learned about Windows Live Writer, which was super-easy to install, and so far is very simple to use – but the ultimate test will be whether it talks to Blogger smoothly.  I’m not hopeful: in the past I’ve found Microsoft uses a bundle of such unpleasant html that editing was nasty work.

Waking, walking and wondering

Woken at 1:21 by Margie's SMS festive greeting; then around 4am worrying until a friend's text around 6am meant I could sleep again. And such a lovely sleep I could then enjoy for three hours until time to help the boys prepare for a seasonal visit with their father's family.

After lunch, GUF and I walked up to Black Hill. I didn't take the camera, but this is an older photo of a path we didn't take today :D It was a lovely walk in the sun, with enough breeze to keep us mostly cool enough. I enjoyed the wind in the trees, feeling the age of the eroding rocks and the passing of time shown in the shrubs crossing paths that were clear last time I was there.

Then this evening I pondered some of the puzzles GUF has been solving in The Eleventh Hour. Codes and puzzles are entertaining though I don't have nearly the gift or penchant for them that GUF has. We discovered that my sight (even requiring glasses) beats his magnifying glasses for finding the hidden mice.

So far with the help of a huge variety of proteins and salted pumpkin seeds, I've managed to get through the day without eating any traditional festive treats. Although once or twice as GUF prepared his sandwiches with Chocka Vlokken, or when I glanced at the tin holding Dutch rusks, or saw the Chocolate Hagel in the cupboard, it was a teensy bit tempting.

Tonight, a subscriber gift from Enniv Zarf in Second Life sent me to his Youtube Channel, and I introduced GUF to the joy of Paul Kwo's piano improvisations. I cannot choose a favourite, but of those I enjoyed tonight, this was the most mellow:

Educators & terminology

Has your research ever got hung up on pointless clarifications of terminology ... so much that you wonder whether the labels serve any function other than justifying a rehash (or mashup, or "recontextualisation" :D ) of old ideas by giving them new labels?

Today I'm browsing in Second Life letting my recent readings and contemplations on "Information Literacy" (aargh: that terminology is another example giving me grief) moosh themselves around in the back of my head. Having rezzed at the Movie Theatre where I quit at 6am this morning: I was tossing up my somewhat infinite options feeling for a purpose/preference. That is: do I go somewhere to sort my inventory, review my "to do" list, pick an unfinished study topic to pursue, head back to one of the places I've slooged to explore in more detail, explore one of the interesting-sounding places or groups I've noted...etc.

Thankfully, and coincidentally, the Information Literacy Group cut off that random mental browsing with a notice for an upcoming session. Entering the event "From Library 2.0 to Library 3D – Participatory Libraries of Today" into my Magic Compass made me realise I haven't yet visited Infolit iSchool (which belongs to the University of Sheffield). Decision made.

After a broom tour which ended head first in the wall of a hut :D I flew around exploring. I happened upon a structure created during a discussion on the nature of Inquiry Based Learning at the LTEA2008 conference...



The sign offered a webpage (about the LTEA2008 session) that I viewed, and investigated the chat logs of discussion at the session.

Unfortunately I didn't come away with any better understanding of what was supposed to be significant about "Inquiry Based Learning" from any other instructional approach that aims to get students to develop their own questions, explore, discover, synthesise and develop their own answers, or new questions. Considering my own family unschools I was amused to see this comment:

What is Inquiry Based Learning? via kwout

Some glancing mention of assessment was made, but I didn't notice any discussion of whether the programs in which they use any of these "student-centered" approaches experience conflict with expectations in terms of assessment, or consequences or changes in the nature of assessment.

So, I googled elsewhere...

In the process of defining Problem based learning Savery (2006) distinguished it from inquiry-based learning and other experiential approaches to teaching. As he tells it:

In an inquiry-based approach the
tutor is both a facilitator of learning (encouraging/expecting higher-order thinking) and a provider of information. In a PBL approach the tutor supports the process and expects learners to make their thinking clear, but the tutor does not provide information related to the problem—that is the responsibility of the learners (p.16)

Which is not quite the sense I received from the session discussers at LTEA although it may be true. It seems like a rather odd distinction.

I *was* interested to discover a paper arguing "Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching [pdf]" by Kirschner, Sweller & Clark (2006).

but as the whole thing has begun to feel like a pointless diversion of my time (except to have developed an inkling that if I ever become involved in instruction I believe I will want to avoid using approach-labels; and I guess that could dry up funding opportunities) - I've decided to leave it there.

Second Life: early development of an avatar

My First Female shape and outfit.
When I created an avatar (AV) a couple of years ago I got it stuck somewhere in Orientation Island and couldn't move her. Then I became diverted by other things in life... as one does.

Recently I returned to find my AV free of whatever had her stuck and I quickly graduated to Help Island and meeting some of the friendly and generous personalities within this virtual world.

It is difficult to study in Second Life... I had moved from a tutorial on inventory management to one on basic building when I met a delightful pink fox who gave me some dance animations, a tail and some light sabers before whisking me off to Freebie Heaven. I'm grateful I fit in the inventory management tutorials because all those Freebies need managing.

Next time I was attempting to learn something about scripting when I was met by a voluptuous brunette who was determined to make me over so I could make $L (Linden money) dancing or hostessing. It was a somewhat amusing and confusing experience. I felt determined myself: I really wanted to perceive this lady's gifts as generosity rather than grooming. Although quite upfront I mentioned that I had not been thinking about making money, and I doubted those occupations would suit shy old me, she suggested changes for my appearance, even gifting me with shapes, skins and short skirt, telling me she could hook me up with work. Very generous. Of course meanwhile, using Search, I scoped out the groups and picks listed in her profile - one advertised its dancing (my generous friend mentioned pole-dancing), hosting, 'escorting' jobs available and mentioned the bonus it pays AVs for recruiting.

How the dancer dressed me.

Perhaps a more adventurous soul would have pursued this lead to its conclusion - all in the name of knowledge and $L. I was slightly curious, but Second Life is a big world, and there are other places I would rather see and other things I would rather do first. And for much of it I do not yet need $L.

Somewhere along the line, probably via someone else's profile, Tranquil Events invited me to a show... I happened to catch MrMulti Writer, enjoyed the show, joined the group and met Starla Farella who specialises in making realistic avatars and photography. She took up the challenge for me and this is how I now appear (when dressed for ballroom dancing):

After dancing.

How to cite photographs/images from Flickr in APA

Figure 1. I am a Golden God. (2006), by Piero Sierra, 2007, Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/piero/130565603. Made available under Creative Commons Licence.
MyBloglog told me that someone visited this blog from a Google Search: referencing photographs in apa style

For some reason google pointed to my 'citing vimeo' post. That post doesn't answer the question but I hope this one will, sort of. The search also reminded me of a question I've had in mind for a while: If I used an image/photograph from Flickr in an academic paper, how would I cite and reference it?
Google provided links to university and college citation guidance resources, which raises a point people need to remember... that while APA might be the style guidelines required, institutions and publications frequently amend the guidelines according to their own preferences and thus the institution/publication requirements need to be checked First. Some of the online guidelines looked good to me, although they are not consistent with what I've read in the Publications Manuals of the American Psychological Association 5th or 6th editions (APA, 2001, pgs 198, 175); (APA, 2010, pgs 151, 166, 38). However the examples in both editions don't really address online sources.

1. If the photograph (or a portion of it) is included in the paper then it is a Figure and will be consecutively numbered with other figures and the source (photographer and, if different, copyright holder) will be credited with permission after your Figure's caption (APA, 2010, p.166).
• as for example the above image, which is a pleasant reminder of my strolling meditation in Bendigo while Mr. 16 was bowling in the recent Country Cup.
2. Could it be possible that your paper might refer to (cite) an image, perhaps making some point evidenced by the image without actually including the image in the paper?
   ... then I would guess that it might be treated like a text data/information source.
• I can't think of an example (please readers send me one) of a truly valid academic reference to a photograph that would not itself be included in the paper... so let's pretend I am rephrasing or referring to a point made by a rather lovely image of a rainbow over SMB (moonflowerdragon, 2008) <-- citation.="" in-text="" li="">
• in this case the bibliographic or reference list entry could be:
  moonflowerdragon. (2008). Rainbow over SMB, [online image]. Retrieved October 5, 2009, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonflowerdragon/3130940612/

An interesting feature of Flickr (and possibly other online photo storage services) is that when images are uploaded from a digital camera, data about the photo is also uploaded - including the date it was taken. So: if the precise date of the image was relevant it could be included in the caption.

The Flickr screen name of the photographer of the above photo appears to be a real name, were that not the case I would check the user's profile page and its url to check for a real name, but when no real name is available we use the given screen name. Or if you have Zotero with Firefox, and you capture the citation by clicking the photo icon in the address bar, then Zotero will grab the artist's name for you. Zotero does not include [online image] in its APA style for images.

Examples of citations of photographs (eg: online database, books, journals, websites) in APA style are given by Calpoly. However you may note that Calpoly appear to prefer that the full citation of source would be given in the bibliography rather than the Caption Note of the image.

Update: 12 Jan 2015 While I have closed comments to cut-off the spam, I still want to help puzzle through the query that led you here, so if this post is not enough, you're welcome to ask me through the index to my APA style citing series.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Citing Vimeo in APA Style

Darn, I can't come up with a context in which I would cite the fantastic video below. There are more authoritative sources for the chemical facts it contains, and I know nothing about animation to refer to the techniques or effects Christopher Hendryx (2009) uses.

Well that should do I guess to get to the point, which was to give an example of citing Vimeo in APA Style, which would appear in my reference list as:

Hendryx, C. (2009). Oxygen [video]. Retrieved May 7, 2009 from http://vimeo.com/4433312

Unless of course one wanted to cite an aspect of the video that was contributed by someone else... for that video, perhaps some aspect of the narration (very appealing, I'd listen to Andrew Bailes (2009) again :D )... In that case:

Bailes, A. (Narrator). (2009). Oxygen [video]. Retrieved May 7, 2009 from http://vimeo.com/4433312

(or see a different example, citing an interviewee, below the video)

What makes it fantastic to me is the FUN presentation of basic information about Oxygen (and its interaction with Iron, Barium and Helium), perfect for an educational setting. I'd love to see a whole series of similar videos presenting the qualities of other elements (as would other viewers, like Steven White, {sad that I could not link directly to any of the comments at Vimeo}).

Oxygen from Christopher Hendryx on Vimeo.

I wonder will anyone read this far?

Okay, say we have a video that contains a few interviews, and we are citing only one of the interviewees? Perhaps David Rosenthal's (2009) points about his Doctors 2.0 endeavour within the video The Next Generation of Doctors. I would do this:

Rosenthal, D. (Interviewee) (2009). The Next Generation of Doctors. [Video] Retrieved August 21, 2009, from http://vimeo.com/5379566

Please tell me which video you're planning to cite in your paper?

Playing with YouTube - no really: a game... in YouTube

I went looking for examples of citations of YouTube videos in academic papers, but I became distracted by the fourth result to my google search.

Don't start me wondering why, with the search string ... example of YouTube video referenced in academic paper... google gave me Dan Calladine's blog post (2009, Feb 6) about "the best set of YouTube Annotations videos [he's] ever seen".

Sure have some fun with the game (BENandERIC, 2008, November 7) yourself AFTER you tell me where you've seen a paper citing a YouTube video (please because playing the game will take you away from here).




I'm actually looking for new YouTube videos to practice referencing, particularly ones that have
(a) no discernible statement of responsibility (author/creator/producer), so the reference will begin with the video title; or at the other end of the scale
(b) a place and "publisher/distributor" to include in the reference.

The video cited here allowed for additional examples of citing a screen-name, a practice endorsed by APA (2007, p23).

References:

American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide to Electronic References. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

BENandERIC. (2008, November 7). Play: "BarackPaperScissors". [video]. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mcdS6ioo8

Calladine, D. (2009, February 6). Barack Paper Scissors - YouTube Annotations. Digital Examples. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from http://digital-examples.blogspot.com/2009/02/barack-paper-scissors-youtube.html

Excel's IF function & TIMEVALUE

Tonight I was trying to create an IF function to calculate a value based on whether the time in one column was under 10am or not. When Excel help - didn't, naturally I googled. Someone had a similar query at one of those experts answer sites in 2007 but the single answer given to that query didn't help me either.

Luckily one of Microsoft's support pages had a somewhat related discussion from which I could pull a guess about the information I might need to use. I scanned as far as an example IF function using a value called DATEVALUE and proceeded to experiment.

My =IF(E92<TIMEVALUE("10:00:00"),D92,D92+1)

As you might be able to guess this is calculating a date within another time zone. Given that the countries in my sheet play with Daylight Savings, I've considered playing with additional IFs to define TIMEVALUES from Daylight Savings start/end dates - but those dates change from year to year! More fun in store :D

How to cite a blog post comment in APA style?

Citing a comment to a blog post

Update: 5 Dec 2014
While I have closed comments to cut-off the spam, I still want to help puzzle through the query that led you here, so if this post is not enough, you're welcome to ask me through my new blog. 

Update: 5 May 2010
With corrections to the 6th edition APA have not only cleared up their example of citing a blog post, but added an example for citing a comment to a blog post (APA, c2010, p. 6). The examples are only slightly better with three factors still missing without explanation, and on which I ask your opinion:

1. Blog title. With the post, and comment from it, that have been chosen for examples, the blog (which remember is a periodical) title does appear in the URL - however it must be remembered that not all blogs are structured to show their titles in the URLs, and that sometimes blogs are moved. Giving the title for a blog as one does for other periodicals makes it easier for other researchers to find the post (or comment) if the blog is moved after you have cited it.
2. Retrieved date. Blog posts and sometimes blog comments are editable and removable, a retrieval date is advised when our source may be changed.
3. Precise URL, the comment APA cite was one of a multitude, and I think that commenter did comment more than once on that date, the specific URL to the specific comment would be useful.

Update: 10 April 2009
Leaving my original thoughts intact below, I've just been reflecting on how APA erred in their example reference of a weblog post. As it turns out, that example reference is more likely to be of a comment to a blog post. And if one looks at it that way it is almost good, except that it still does not follow APA's own principles and guidelines.
Take a look (APA, 2007, p. 24) and remember it is a faulty example:

bfy. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind. Message posted to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Possibly when this example was accessed by APA neither the comment nor the post had a URL of its own (directing reader as closely as possible to the source). Even if that is the case a retrieval date would be appropriate because although comments often cannot be edited they can be deleted.
APA (2007, p.1) advises us to include the same elements, in the same order as you would for a reference to a fixed-media source and add electronic retrieval information.
Comments to blog posts are a little like letters to the editor in print periodicals, but they are directed to and appear with specific blog posts, somewhat like a message board.
APA's style for messages to a message board or mailing list include both the message subject/thread and the name of the message board or mailing list (APA, 2007, p. 24).
"Smith, S. (2006, January 5). Re: Disputed estimates of IQ [Msg 670]. Message posted to ForensicNetwork electronic mailing list, archived at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ForensicNetwork/message/670"
I've finally found an example reference of a letter to the editor in APA style (University of Maryland, 2006).

Citing Sources Using APA, UM Libraries via kwout

I also think that it is most helpful to call things what they are... blog post comments are known as comments, not messages.
So I believe my guess of two years ago is still relatively good although I think now it had too much information. Now I would include:

Comment Author, A. (year, month day). Comment subject if given. Comment posted to Title of blog post. Title of blog. Retrieved day month, year, from comment-specific-URL

Thus for APA's citation as it appears today:

bfy. (2007, January 22). [Comment to blogpost: The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind]. Pharyngula. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/01/the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php#comment-322396

Lots of Ifs:
If the comment did not have its own URL then I would keep in mind that sometimes (as for APA's cited blog post) people will comment multiple times particularly when a conversation has been stimulated, so if the commenter made more than one comment in one day a time for the cited comment might be needed for identification.
If the post commented upon did not have its own URL then the date of the original blog post might be required in order to find the post and thus the comment.
If the blog was a multi-author blog whose posts do not have their own URL (does such a blog exist?) then the post author would also be useful for identification.
---------------------------------------
Original post: 4 April 2007 at 21:30
My immediate thought was that a blog comment is a little like a letter to the editor, for which we would make a square bracket form notation after the article title (APA, 2001, pp. 226-227). However do comments have their own titles? or are they untitled? I think I've seen both, though mostly the latter. Does it bear any similarity to citing an exchange of letters - how is that done?
If there are any online suggestions for this task in APA style, I haven't yet googled it. Jerz (2003) uses such square bracket notation [Weblog comment.] for MLA citations. His solution if the comment does not have its own title is to use its first few words, and in addition cites the blog post title, blog post author; blog title and blog sponsor organisation.
I can't find anything specifically similar in APA, but perhaps it might combine electronic referencing with the style for article in an edited work though the "In" wouldn't really fit. Maybe:

Comment Author which maybe be pseudonym, A. (date of comment). Comment subject if any. [Comment to blog post] I. M. BlogpostAuthor, (date of blog post) Title of blog post. Title of Blog. Retrieved day month, year, from URL

Walker (2003) suggests that it is like citing a posting to an email discussion list although neither of her examples represent APA format for messages posted to electronic mailing lists which is:

Author, A. (year, month day). Message subject. Message posted to Title of electronic mailing list, archived at URL

however if that is converted to context of blog comment it might be:

Author, A. (year, month day). Comment subject if given. Comment posted to Title of blog {? or title of blog post?), archived at URL {or would that be retrieved from?}

That might look a little neater (and briefer) but does it provide enough information? Perhaps if it was expanded with dates and had both blog post title and blog title?

Author, A. (year, month day). Comment subject if given. Comment posted to Title of blog post by blog post author. (blogpost date). In Title of blog. Retrieved day month, year, from URL

I prefer the use of square brackets if the comment has its own title, but if not then: Comment posted to...etc.
Does it need to be mentioned that the URL would be the permalink for the comment if it has one?
How do you, in APA style, cite blog comments?

References:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide to Electronic References. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
American Psychological Association. (c2010). Corrections to the First Printing of the Publication Manual
of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition (July 2009) [online document]. Retrieved 5 May, 2010 from http://supp.apa.org/style/PM6E-1st-Printing-Reprint-Corrections.pdf
Jerz, D. G. (2003, December 11). Citing a weblog comment in MLA style. Jerz's Literacy Weblog. Retrieved 3 April, 2007, from http://jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/permalink.jsp?id=2001
University of Maryland Libraries. (2006, August). Citing Sources Using the APA Style Manual. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_apa.html#editorial
Walker, J. (2003, December 13). Citing weblogs. [Comment to blog post] by D. G. Jerz, (2003, December 11) How to cite weblogs and weblog comments in MLA style. Kairosnews. Retrieved 3 April, 2007, from http://kairosnews.org/how-to-cite-weblogs-and-weblog-comments-in-mla-style#comment-2551

Faulty example by APA for citing weblog posts

Update 25 May 2010

With corrections to the first printing of the 6th edition, APA have not only cleared up their example of citing a blog post, but added an example for citing a comment to a blog post (APA, c2010, in pdf sorry, p. 6). The examples are only slightly better: three factors are still missing without explanation:

1. Blog title. Although the post, and comment from it, that have been chosen for examples, the blog (which remember is a periodical) title does appear in the URL - however it must be remembered that not all blogs are hosted such that their titles show in the URL, and that sometimes blogs are moved. In such cases the title of the blog in which the post appeared might make it easier for other researchers to find the post (or comment) if the blog is moved after you have cited it. While in many cases author and article title might be sufficient, authors do write in different blogs, and over time might conceivably use the same article title in two or more different places.
   *By default I would encourage people to provide the Blog Title unless it would only duplicate information contained elsewhere in the reference (such as for this blog, where my name as author is the same as the blog's title).
   
2. Retrieved date. Blog posts and sometimes blog comments are editable and removable, a retrieval date is advised when our source may be changed.
3. Precise URL, the comment APA cite was one of a multitude, and I think that commenter did comment more than once on that date, the specific URL to the specific comment would be useful.

Originally posted:

Just over two years ago I explored how I would cite and reference a weblog post in APA style.

I discovered some time since that APA published in 2007 a revised and updated version of section 4.16 (Electronic References) of their Publication Manual, however I didn't want to pay for a copy to see whether it said anything about citing blogs. So it was only recently when the library in which I work processed a print copy of the new guide that I was able to see whether my guesses are compatible with official APA style requirements.

Following the principles and guidelines spelled out in the guide, I stand by my guesses.

Unfortunately, APA provided an example labelled Weblog Post. Has anyone else seen it? What did you think?

In my opinion APA's example 49. Weblog post is a Fail ... for a start their citation is for a comment to a post, not to the post itself... but more on that later.

I first suspected a problem when I saw that APA had decided that a weblog is more like a message board, discussion group or forum than an online periodical or even a well-organised regularly updated website. I think that decision is a mistake, maybe resulting from a writer/editor who did not understand the nature of blogging, or hadn't viewed very many?

APA's example reference for a weblog post citation (p.24) does not follow APA's principles for directing readers as closely as possible to the source you used and using a retrieval date when content may be changed or updated (p.2). See for yourself:

Their example (I haven't worked out how to give the first line a negative indent):

bfy. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind. Message posted to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Reading the URL you'll immediately recognise a lack of post-specific URL... perhaps Scienceblogs did not have post-specific URLs when APA found this alleged weblog post, when was that? Oh that's right, for some reason APA have decided not to mention when they retrieved this alleged post from the weblog.

Well there is a date, so lets go to the blog and just chase down the post. Hm, the first thing I noticed was that PZ Myers is the author of the blog Pharyngula. That's odd, well maybe bfy was a guest blogger that day? Scrolling through previous after previous within January 2007 we eventually reach January 22 and find that indeed at 5:59pm that day PZ Myers himself posted The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind. What is going on?

Perhaps you guessed before I found the next problem with a text search for bfy: APA have referred to a comment to a blog post. Now maybe when APA accessed the blog its comments did not have their own URL, but how could they mistake a blog post for one of its comments? Is that like mistaking the author of a poem or short story with the editor who compiles an anthology, or a letter to a magazine with the original article on which they comment?

So, APA?
Please redo your work on citing weblogs:

1. Distinguish between posts and comments upon those posts.
2. First example should be for a regular post with its own URL.
   
3. Is any other example necessary? ie are there blogs that do not give posts their own URL?
   

On a better note:
I think the example is probably almost suitable as a reference for citing a comment to a weblog.

Almost. :) But I'll write about that in an update to my earlier post on citing a blog post comment.

How to cite a span of Twitter tweets in APA style

To catch you up: John Dupuis almost pulled me away from my fishing with his question about how one would cite from Twitter...in my last post I puzzled through (for myself at least) how I might cite an individual tweet.

But the tricky part of John's question remained:

• what about when the cited message (cheats) actually spans several tweets? such as the 4 part Twitter message that John cobbled together for his readers but which we can hopefully see with a kwout:
  

Clay Shirky (cshirky) on Twitter via kwout

Even combined I still see these as a part of a blog-type online periodical?

So, the quote John "cobbled" was from the ?online periodical? titled Clay Shirky (cshirky) on Twitter.

Because the tweets are consecutive and all published on the same day at practically the same time could they be considered to be pages of that day's issue of that periodical? If so, remember that a 'page' specification would be cited in-text rather than in the reference.

Although Twitter posts are named with digits, they are not consecutive and they are large so using those digits as page numbers would be cumbersome and confusing to readers (eg /status/1362459269 ; 1362458547 ; 1362458174 ; 1362457866).

Could we use the date/time of publication as be a page reference? (with this I worry that the time/date we see at Twitter might depend on our timezone?)

(Shirky, 2009, Mar 20, 12:29pm-12-30pm)

Shirky, C. [a.k.a cshirky] (2009, March 20). [4 tweets beginning: (1/4) The "Web vs. Print" ...] Clay Shirky (cshirky) on Twitter. Retrieved March 24, 2009 from http://twitter.com/cshirky

Is that time/date accurate for your viewing of Clay's Twittering? If not, could one include a timezone?

Although I'd understand that citation enough to find the source, I'd guess that it would not enter well into tools like Zotero, Endnote or Refworks.

Please, please, please... tell me how you would cite John's quote of Clay's tweets?


...aside...

In the process of this puzzling I tried out Gunther Eysenbach's suggestion commented on my citing-a-blog-post description about WebCite. I tested it: http://www.webcitation.org/5fWCODaYB but had the curious experience of having the collection of tweets disappear after 7 seconds, leaving only the background image.

How to cite Twitter posts in APA style

While fishing outside Stromgarde Keep this evening I was also Bloglining... as one does ;-D

But the funny thing is I was almost tempted to stop fishing by John Dupuis' question:

Confessions of a Science Librarian: Clay Shirky on Web vs. Print via kwout

Perhaps it is even funnier that I didn't stop fishing? Still the realm went down for maintenance so I'm up late now because I simply must puzzle towards an answer, even if just for myself, or else BURST :P

Well an answer about citing Twitter posts, not about doing it with Zotero or Endnote - are they better at such things than Refworks?

At first I thought Tweets are just short blog posts, and I've described how I would cite blogposts in APA style. To save you jumping back, this was somewhat my conclusion:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2000, Jan 27). Title of post. Title of Blog. Retrieved month day, year, from source post specific URL.

... however I wonder:

• what is a tweet's title?
• what is the 'blog' title?
• I already know I can get the URL of a specific tweet but
• what about when the cited post (cheats) actually spans several tweets? such as the 4 part Twitter message that John cobbled together for his readers but which I can show with a kwout maybe:

Clay Shirky (cshirky) on Twitter via kwout

So what I know first, considering only an individual tweet:

Stable URL: each Tweet is followed (usually?/always? in italics) by when and from where it was posted... and the when is a hyperlink to the stable URL. In the following kwouted example, hover over the time/date (now this is odd, does it say 6:00 AM Mar 20th for you?) to see the tweet's URL is http://twitter.com/dupuisj/status/1356028444

Twitter / John Dupuis: Ref Q: I'm a 1st yr and lo ... via kwout

sometimes the when is relative...(I wonder whether this will appear different when today is over?... I think it will, when I cut it the when read about 18 hours ago)...

Twitter / MrTom: Twitter will get you fired ... via kwout

What do you think of Kwout's answer to the title question? Beads suggests the same: That the title of a HTML web page can be taken from the <TITLE> element of that page (which displays in the browser's Title Bar).

However, do you note that the <TITLE> Twitter creates (and Kwout uses) for an individual post begins "Twitter / authorname:" and continues with, logically, the first few words of the post ? If we use that as the individual post title and consider the collection of an author's tweets to be the blog/periodical that Twitter <TITLE>s, for example: John Dupuis (dupuisj) on Twitter ? Then citing Twitter posts as if from a blog would result in a cumbersome reference like:

Dupuis, J. (Mar. 19, 2009). Twitter / John Dupuis: Ref Q: I'm a 1st yr and lo ... John Dupuis (dupuisj) on Twitter. Retrieved Mar. 24, 2009 from http://twitter.com/dupuisj/status/1356028444

So

Perhaps <TITLE> serves multiple functions and different ones for different websites? [Can someone send some examples?]. In this case Twitter's <TITLE> for an individual post appears to combine a post title sensibly taken from the first few words of the post with a reasonable periodical title? Thus:

Mr Tom. (Mar. 24, 2009). Twitter will get you fired ... Twitter / MrTom Retrieved March 24, 2009 from http://twitter.com/MrTom/status/1377448350

OR

if one is really stuck on using <TITLE> as it is given one might treat the individual tweet as an individual web document? and thus simply:

Dupuis, J. (Mar. 19, 2009). Twitter / John Dupuis: Ref Q: I'm a 1st yr and lo ... Retrieved Mar. 24, 2009 from http://twitter.com/dupuisj/status/1356028444

What do you think?

Still I doubt either of those questions in any way stumped John. His question I am guessing is "how do you cite a Twitter message that spans multiple tweets?" and I think my puzzling on this should become a new post ...



but what was she saying?