@trinsec Thanks! And yes, haha, it's very smart - but at the same time, I really need something that will show up in search results. Tragically social media is basically required for academics in the 2020s, so I have to engage at least a little. I've seen some totally batshit studies about how significantly birdsite posts impact the readership/usage of academic papers. Plus, employers get suspicious if nothing shows up on a web search.

ASL is super fun! Most of my peers are taking it to get their interpreting cert, but I just want to communicate with it. Do you know any sign languages (or other languages)?

@requiem Interesting, I didn't realize that academics have gone with the social media trend. I'd have expected more along the lines of uh... maybe some personal blogs, or posting in scientific sites or so. I didn't find a lot of quality on Twitter, so not sure why people expect you to post there for the academics. It's more useful for live updates from companies. Or to contact their customer support.

And yeah, I know American Sign Language (ASL) and Dutch Sign Language (NGT). I even can understand International Sign. So, yeah, I guess I do know some sign languages. ;)

@trinsec I think it's a matter, like most things on the internet, of knowing where to look. I have a twitter also, though I don't have my name on it / use it much these days, and once you find the academic circles it becomes pretty plain to see, and it's actually pretty neat in my opinion.

For instance, Black Birders Week set off a chain reaction of "Black in STEM" weeks for every imaginable discipline. Saw a lot of really good posts made in chemistry, astronomy/astrophysics, physics, bio, marine bio, etc. Lots of resource-sharing, the likes of which ought to make open science proponents proud, and a *lot* of job postings. Anytime someone's institution is hiring, they tend to do a little shoutout mentioning the opening on twitter, and will sometimes offer to do recommendations for anyone who asks.

My problem is that I don't really trust twitter, I value data privacy and I don't like being served personalized ads, nor being constantly informed of the most stressful things happening in the world. So I plan to maintain both, at some point, but I'm not at a stage in my studies yet where I'm really "ready" to put my name & credentials on twitter.

Re: Sign languages, that's super neat! I will probably look into International Sign when I'm done with level 4 of my ASL course (hopefully this summer). When did you start learning? I've only been studying for a little over a year.

@requiem I wouldn't trust Twitter with my real name either. Come to think of it, I don't trust any internet services with my real name. The only online services knowing my real name are services tied to a real life service. The power company's website certainly knows my name, for example. 😋

I guess there might be a bit more to Twitter than I thought. But... you said they post job openings and such, and that's actually part of what I mean with live updates of companies/instances. ;) It's useful for that, hopefully with a link to some trusty site with more information though.

And when I did learn sign language.. mm. I would say I started learning NGT at age 11 or so. I mean, that's the time I started transitioning to a deaf school.
ASL I learned around age 17. That was the time I enrolled into a certain American deaf university.
I guess it.. uh.. came naturally to me. 😋

@trinsec The difference between what you said ("It's more useful for live updates from companies. Or to contact their customer support.") and what I said ("Anytime someone's institution is hiring, they tend to do a little shoutout mentioning the opening on twitter, and will sometimes offer to do recommendations for anyone who asks.") lies in the source of the information. Companies (as in, corporate accounts) posting job offerings are desperate for new blood. They will typically be advertising base, entry-level positions, sometimes, or more likely a higher-level position with high-level requirements that they *must* cast a wide net to fill. They won't advertise every position.

Meanwhile, an individual academic at an institution is better aware of both the job offerings at their institution *and* the culture of that place. The positions that aren't reported through corporate twitters, but rather circulated internally, can easily be publicized by an individual academic. If it's a job with a good culture, their mention of it is a marker of a good culture for their mutual follows: If you enjoy that person's demeanor and manner, you will probably fit into the culture of that institution. Personal recommendations for those positions are often also extremely critical, especially from current employees.

Re: sign: my bad, I hadn't actually looked at your profile. Busy day this morning. Do you have a sign language you prefer, out of curiosity?

@requiem It depends on what language I'm thinking in/communicating with. If I think in English, I'd prefer to sign in ASL. If I think in Dutch, NGT would be a better fit.

@trinsec That's pretty cool. Do you switch your thinking language frequently?

I've been monolingual for most of my life, but I also don't believe I think in coherent sentences, so I'm not as familiar with this experience.

@requiem I switch between English and Dutch fluently, yeah. Have you never learned a foreign language before? I can't really imagine living monolingually.

@trinsec I have, but I wouldn't say I really achieved fluency? I've grown up around Spanish speakers, so I'm familiar enough with the language to understand it, but I can only say basic words/phrases. I also learned French for the first five years of my schooling, so while I was almost "caught up" to my age group at that point, after that, I switched schools and couldn't continue, tragically. I've also tried, independently, to learn German, Esperanto, Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic.

I don't know if I'll ever try French again, mostly because the rigidity of Parisian French stresses me out? The idea of having an organization that tells you whether your words are "proper" or not is just the opposite of appealing. But I'd like to give Scots Gaelic another go, Esperanto is pretty easy, and eventually I'd like to learn Hebrew.

@requiem Interesting goals. Scots Gaelic and Hebrew don't strike me as the usual languages people would pick up just cause. Most common I saw is German, French and Spanish. Japanese, Chinese, and Russian would probably not be that far out either. Scots Gaelic seems oddly specific. Any particular reason you're going for those? Mind you, just curious here. Not criticizing. :) Are you planning to go read a lot of material in those languages?

Generally speaking you're required to learn 2 foreign languages at our highschools. English is pretty damn common, so you'll see almost every Dutchie capable of communicating in English. The rest.. varies. French and German are the most common second foreign languages I suppose. I believe German is on the rise currently.