Kicking Off the Assignment
At the start of the assignment, we had to discover a topic that we were interested in. Since I’m a huge basketball geek I decided to research my favorite team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. To get information about the Timberwolves on Twitter I knew I’d have to find reporters and the minor coaches for the team, so I did. I followed in the total of 10 people who were relevant to the Timberwolves. I followed a senior writer named Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) who tweeted a lot about the Timberwolves, along with Jim Peterson (@JimPeteHoops) who was a TV analyst for the Timberwolves. To add on I followed a strength coach for the team named Troy Sutton (@StrengthCoachT) and more writers like Tim Falkis (@timfalkis), Jace Frederick (@JaceFrederick) and Jerry Zgoda (@JerryZgoda). I also followed a few blogs that covered the Timberwolves, Punch-Drunk Wolves (@PDWolves), John Meyer (@thedailywolf) and Howlin’ T-Wolf (@howlintwolf), along with an in-arena host, Mc Jonny B (@MCJonB.
Information Wise
The information I wanted from these experts about my topic was easy and simple. I liked it that way because it was information that I thought was hard to find in blog posts or podcasts because they aren’t a coach or a writer who has to be there is write about it. After, I went for information that I wanted to know myself. The Timberwolves are a good team and all, however, I still think they need a lot of improvement in a few places, so that led me to ask if the expert agrees with me.
Asking the questions was another story. I knew I wasn’t talking to a bot or doing a quick search on Google anymore, therefore, I had to be polite. I started off with a draft for every tweet, for every account. It felt like I was writing an essay but it was due to it being someone who isn’t famous but is so close to the Timberwolves that it’s somewhat shocking. Once I revised the draft, I sent out the final tweet and bam, the magic had happened.
This information didn’t really help my Genius Hour project because I only had one person answer my question, leaving me heartbroken but also somewhat excited that I actually got a response. However, his information related towards the coach, Coach Thibs, when I wanted to focus more on the players of the Timberwolves, not the coach.
Results
Relating to what I just said I only got one answer out of ten. However, it did shock me because they were a senior writer and out of everyone I followed and tried asking questions from, I thought he’d be the last to answer. What did saddened me is that I never got a follow back but also it seemed like he had more important things to do as it felt as if he just vanished. He did like my tweets and my ‘thank you’ tweet but he never offered any more assistance. What I should’ve done is continue the conversation with the questions I asked the other experts however, I didn’t think about that until writing this blog post, darn. Oh well, maybe next time.
Future in School
As tricky, long and somewhat difficult this assignment was it could come into good use for school. While most kids do a quick search on Google for their information, not knowing if it’s correct or even a primary source of the subject, the project avoids that completely. Finding experts near or close to the subject, that isn’t famous could really have a hands-on experience but also know exactly what you’re talking about or trying to say. However, the downfall is that like me, only one response could come back and if you’re typing the research paper last minute, it’s over with.