Absence and absence-ability

Due to epic flu, I wasn't in the online journalism lecture last week so am pretty unable to write much today.

But one brief point. Being absent doesn't have to mean I don't know what's going on, because even while I'm in bed blowing my brains out through my nose (through use of a tissue, you understand, not a shotgun), I can refresh my Twitter to see what people are saying about the lecture from their mobile phones. Sorry, 'devices'. Sure, it didn't happen last week, but it could do - and it does mean that sickness is no longer a barrier to getting information from a lecture/meeting/conference. OK, so you could argue it wasn't much of a barrier before either, because you can e-mail from a phone as well, but that won't reach people as quickly as Twitter.

Lie in bed and get notes from people healthy enough to make the lecture. Hell, I might never get up.

Also, being able to access Twitter on your mobile now means it's socially acceptable to be tapping away on your phone during a meeting, even though you're actually playing Snake II.

Anyway, because a blog needs to have some sort of video/audio/link/anything to be of interest, here's a video I found proving further that Twitter is on the rise. Look! It must be useful! It's on CSI!