Storify for Research

Karen Hornberger

Library Media Specialist

Palisades High School

A little while ago I shared how Twitter could be used during the research process.

At first, some did not “buy in”

They did not want to create an account:

I don’t want to be on Twitter!!!

They also thought Twitter was full of only this stuff:

I could never be on #nakedandafraid !!!

…But it’s not only that!

IMHO time:Luckily, (for society) it IS some fun but is ALSO full of serious information!

…information that CAN and SHOULD be harnessed by people focusing on specific research that they are conducting.

Sometimes it is THIS!

Consider the usefulness of “checking in” on the most up-to-date news on your topic/interest on a regular basis, especially during the research process!

So, I taught students (and teachers) how to use Twitter for Research.

Some liked and used it, but others did not like how “public” it was and did not want to set up a Twitter account, yet would have liked to access trending information to support their research.

This year I found Storify!

Storify does not require users to create an account. They can just browse social media without an account (it even categorizes them into latest stories and most popular stories.

Account or no Account?

Storify allows users who create accounts to identify trending information from multiple social networks that they like, pull information to a clipboard, and save it privately or publish it publicly!!!!

Storify searches:• Twitter• Facebook• Google Plus & Google• YouTube• Flickr• Instagram• Plus More!

So, users identify the items which look helpful, drag them and save them, and later look over them more thoroughly!!!

The clipboard can serve solely as storage for future or consistent reference of the information pulled

OR

a sort of “story” can be created with text that can be added between each of the elements and students can notate with their own ideas or build transitions from one piece of information to another (elements on clipboard may be shuffled/moved as needed)

Example: pulled elements with notations

That’s about it in a nutshell!

Basically utilizing Storify for research is superior to utilizing Twitter in that you can stay private, you can save information to refer to for yourself in the “cloud”, and it searches multiple platforms.

Have fun and do NOT forget, using social media to keep abreast of trending information on your topic is not silly and frivolous – it is SMART and YOU are smart – so add Storify to your repertiore of resources that you are consulting to support your research topic!

Image Citations (in order of appearance)Steindy. "No Twitter." Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 May 2014.      <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No_twitter.png>. 

Walton, Nancy. "Assisted suicide in Belgium: 45-year old deaf twin brothers who      were told they would soon become blind chose to die http://dailym.ai/      PTvg2c." 1 May 2014. Tweet. <https://twitter.com/      search?q=euthanasia%20blind%20twins&src=typd>. 

Mysitemyway. "Amber icons 029 checkmark.png." Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 22 Feb.      2009. Web. 2 May 2014. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/      File:Amber_icons_029_checkmark.png>. 

Magrini, Marco. "sunflowers." Flickr. N.p., 1 July 2007. Web. 2 May 2014.      <https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcomagrini/698692268/>. 

Coldplay. "Six envelopes hidden in libraries found, three to go. See the      #GhostStories lyrics discovered so far at http://cldp.ly/lyricshunt A      #lyricshunt." 30 Apr. 2014. Tweet. <https://twitter.com/      search?q=coldplay%20six%20envelopes&src=typd>. 

Marchingo, Sharon. "Noisy libraries are great libraries!#slavconf." 30 Apr.      2014. Tweet. <https://twitter.com/shariem>. 

Hans. "Nuts Peanuts Walnuts Hazelnut Shell Eat Snack." Pixabay. N.p., 16 Dec.      2013. Web. 2 May 2014. <http://pixabay.com/en/      nuts-peanuts-walnuts-hazelnut-228043/>. 

Danihee. "Dog with glasses." Deviantart. N.p., 11 June 2012. Web. 2 May 2014.      <http://danihee.deviantart.com/art/Dog-with-glasses-307795151>. 

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