I like Twitter, surprising but true

I really like twitter.  I never thought I would hear myself saying those words, but it is undeniable.  For years I thought twitter a place where people told anyone who was listening the minutiae of their day, and that was of no interest to me at all.  However, I am converted.  Not because I want to listen to those people who feel the need to share every cup of coffee they drink, but because I have found it a gold mine of links to web sites and blogs with fascinating information on them.

I wanted a twitter account for Transcription Services Ltd to increase our online presence, hopeful that it would raise the profile of the company in online search listings.  Having set up the account I then needed to find people to ‘follow’, and lo and behold my eyes were opened to what an amazing resource it can be.  I now follow many, many people, those interested in genealogy and history, or museums and archives around the world,  and through their tweets am led on a voyage of discovery each and every time I log on.  Our twitter name is old_documents .

Today I stumbled upon the following:

The Centro di Studi Papirologici of Lecce University is organizing the Sixth Papyrus Restoration Course, that will take place from 4^th to 8^th July, 2011.  The Course will consist of both theoretical lectures (in the Italian language) and practical exercises on papyri.  The Course is open to anyone interested in conservation, treatment and restoration of papyri in ancient and modern times.
http://papyrology.blogspot.com/2011/02/sixth-papyrus-restoration-course-lecce.html

At no time would I have come across this topic through my own undirected surfing of the net, and yet what a wonderful idea, a course in restoration of Papyrus, and how relevant to  Transcription Services work of transcribing old documents – would that we had the skills to transcribe ancient papyri !

So, I am now an unapologetic advocate of twitter.  There is so much out there on the web that, without the tweets of others with similar interests, would remain for me undiscovered.

A word of warning though, it can be all too absorbing, new tweets coming in so fast and ‘little gems’ catching your eye so often it can severely limit your time to do anything else.  Sometimes you have to be strong and sign out.