The Social Media Philosophy Project

Social Media in Academia Discussion at HASTAC

HASTAC – Humanities, Arts, Sciences, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory

I have been wanting to talk about HASTAC for some time, and this gives me an excuse. These guys are awesome and everyone who is interested in the larger implications of social media and online technologies should head over and give them a look.

From their site:

A consortium of humanists, artists, scientists, and engineers, of leading researchers and nonprofit research institutions, HASTAC (“Haystack”) is committed to new forms of collaboration across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology. Our primary members are universities, supercomputing centers, grid and teragrid associations, humanities institutes, museums, libraries, and other civic institutions. Since 2003, we have been developing tools for multimedia archiving and social interaction, gaming environments for teaching, innovative educational programs in information science and information studies, virtual museums, and other digital projects.

In today’s society, technological advances and digital media are inextricably linked to most aspects of our lives. However, the historic barriers existing between the traditionally-defined disciplines of the humanities and the sciences still remain, regardless of the growing interdependence these domains have upon each other. With this in mind, HASTAC’s mission is two-fold: to ensure that humanistic and humane considerations are never far removed from technological advances; and to push education and learning to the forefront of digital innovation. Similarly, HASTAC is dedicated to the idea that this complex and world-changing digital environment requires all the lessons of history, introspection, theory, and equity that the modern humanities (broadly defined) have to offer. Our aim is to promote expansive models for research, teaching, and thinking.

Many of the top innovators in the fields of science and technology share the necessity to draw centrally upon human and social developments and considerations as new digital possibilities are created. HASTAC has helped foster this exchange, working in complex and important partnerships with colleagues across varying domains and disciplines. HASTAC leaders have served as consultants to U.S. and international organizations and governments on grid computing and cyberinfrastructure.

The HASTAC network consists of more than eighty institutions principally located in the US and reaches over 30,000 people worldwide. In reality, it is more a network of networks, located at the intersection of technology, engineering, and computing on one hand, and the humanities, arts and social sciences on the other. This profound interconnectivity has allowed HASTAC to develop its successful network, which in turn promotes greater interactive connections.

These guys are serious academics and researchers, so while virality is definitely a fair topic for discussion, keep the LOLcats to a minimum. The discussion on Blogging & Tweeting Academia requires you to register to join in, but it’s just started getting attention. With some luck and help from the internet community (that’s right, I mean you!) it should be pretty interesting. Check them out.

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