Over the past five weeks in BCM325, I’ve been live-tweeting our weekly screenings of iconic science fiction films. The schedule has included:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Westworld
3. Blade Runner
4. Ghost in the Shell
5. The Matrix
The process of live-tweeting was originally overwhelming, especially when the film was one that I was unfamiliar with. I found in these circumstances, research aided my understanding and context of themes in the film. It was also helpful to post tweets that centred around the cinematography, behind-the-scenes facts or film trivia.
However, it was my goal to live-tweet with purpose, sharing sources (both academic and pop-culture) and relating film themes to BCM325 lecture content. Therefore, from week four, I started pre-watching the film to draft tweets. I believe this enhanced the quality of my tweets, evident in these tweets and threads about ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Ghost in The Shell’.
Click below to see full threads.
The themes I observed weekly were the Anthropocene and cyberpunk. To articulate this, I linked films to lecture content, provided further sources and shared my opinions in discussions with peers. I also shared previous tweets I’d published in BCM112. I believe this shows the depth of my understanding. However, I need to put this same depth into other lecture topics I haven’t gravitated towards as naturally, such as operations research and think thanks.
The importance of engaging with others in the form of likes, retweets and comments became evident, as it helped me further understand concepts, plus gain and share knowledge. As you can see, I’ve regularly participated in peer commentary, and have found that I receive the most engagement on my own tweets when my peers relate to memes, interesting facts, observations and analyses.
(Very proud of that Uncanny Valley analysis!)
Here are some of my most prolific memes/observations:
But don’t be fooled, it’s not just about the lols! Memes aid in demonstrating understanding and interest.
Upon noticing that memes performed well, I made threads from memes to add depth to the topic.
This was evident in my full Harry Potter meme-thread, which gained a great amount of engagement. Noticing the theme of “eyes” has also been valuable, as the topic has continued in weekly conversations.
Having seen ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and ‘The Matrix’ prior to the in-class-viewing, I found it easier to live-tweet and participate in class discussion, with sources ready to share. I will continue to pre-screen movies to maintain this momentum.
Moving forward, I aim to create stronger links between the sci-fi themes and academic sources or lecture content, whilst continuing to engage with peers. And of course, you can expect more Marvel comparisons…
For more insight into my live-tweeting experience, plus my advice to feel more confident and comfortable in the process, listen to this:
Visit @natalieh_bcm to see all my BCM325 tweets and engagement with peers.
NATALIE HANNAN 
Reblogged this on Future Cultures.