Hashtags in the Academy and Beyond

#

Roopika Risam

Salem State University

Twitter: @roopikarisam

Understanding Hashtags

# Mechanism for tagging and tracking

tweets

# Archive of ideas, events,

conferences, conversations

# Teaching tool

Understanding Hashtags

# Medium for disseminating ideas

# Way of building communities

# Lends mode of permanency to

ephemerality of Twitter

Why Use Hashtags?

# Work in service of scholarship

# Challenge stereotype of solitary

academic toiling in obscurity

# Untether pedagogy from mooring

within the academy

#dhpoco

What is #dhpoco?

# Movement dedicated to global

explorations of race, class, gender,

sexuality, and disability within cultures of

technology

# Brings postcolonial critique to the digital

humanities and reframes postcolonial

studies in relation to the digital humanities

What is #dhpoco?

# Began as hashtag

# Hashtag used to test waters on concept of

“postcolonial digital humanities” in scholarly

networks

# Revealed range of attitudes and responses

to the postcolonial digital humanities

#NotYourAsianSidekick

What is #NotYourAsianSidekick?

# Hashtag created by Asian American

activist Suey Park

# Began a public conversation on Asian

American feminism

# Quickly trended on Twitter with thousands

of participants around the world engaging

Hashtag Backlash

# Hashtag weariness

# Critiques of the limits of “hashtag

activism”

# Social media as poor substitute for

organizing and activism

Tips for Using Hashtags # Create your hashtag with care

# Encourage others to use the hashtag

# Engage with users to build

community

# Accept you cannot control your

hashtag

# Strategize for leveraging your

hashtag