FULLER, Glen

SANDHAM, Sonya

English

‘Rotation curation’ (#ROCUR) refers to the social media practice involvingparticipants from stakeholder publics ‘taking over’ a relevant establishedaccount for a set period of time. Since @sweden appeared on Twitter inDecember 2011, at least 70 #ROCUR accounts have been developed. Theseaccounts aim to provide an insider’s view of countries (such as @ireland,@WeAreQatar and @WeAreAustralia), cities (such as @PeopleofLeeds and@beingTokyo), cultures (such as @IndigenousX and @IndigenousXca) andprofessions (such as @realscientists and @wespeechies). Guest curationinvolves tweeting about what is important to the curator as well as engagingothers in conversation and being responsive, often for a period of a week.Importantly, guest curators are free to talk as themselves rather than on behalfof others. There have been occasions when the personal views of guestcurators of the @sweden account have caused controversy and resulted inmedia coverage. Yet the offensive tweets did not repel followers; instead,guest curators involved in the controversies attracted more followers to theaccount and, in turn, the account holder’s anti-censorship approach wascelebrated. The tension that animates most of these controversies is that guestcurators speak as themselves but also speak for a country, city, culture orprofession. This is explored further to understand the practice of expressing‘authentic voice’. We examine the reflexive commentary produced by guestcurators of various accounts and media reporting on controversies as a way ofcritically engaging with the tension between authenticity and professionalism,not only in the textual communications but also in the modes of engagementin terms of trolls and ‘conversations’. By doing so, we aim to betterunderstand the perceived value of ‘authentic voice’ in a more complex way asan interplay between persona and participatory conversations

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Beyond the ‘usual suspects’:#ROCUR social media accounts and voice, controversy and trolling

https://researchsystem.canberra.edu.au/ws/files/24373877/ANZCA17_Sandham.pdf

Beyond the ‘usual suspects’:#ROCUR social media accounts and voice, controversy and trolling

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