Part 3 Summary–Genius Hour Project– Lassa Fever
Here is the list as we would call it on twitter of the 10 people I follow that have related topics with mine. I am studying with my partner Fatima, the Lassa Fever. Those 10 twitter accounts are all doctors, professors and not only governments that have studied this subject.
Twitter List Experts
@anthrozoonoses,@NCDCgov,@drasatrust,@WSPID,@ZoonoticDisease,@DrKhabbazCDC, @ISNTD_Press,@Fmohnigeria,@UWCOHR,@nighealthwatch
They relate to my Genius Hour project (Lassa Fever) because they all have some sort of resources about this topic. For example, the @zoonosticDisease twitter account have much information about emerging diseases throughout Africa. They write papers about all diseases and have contacts with professors around the world that have dealt with those kind of diseases such as the Lassa Fever.
Last week, I’ve asked them questions about my topic; questions such as:
- Why do you think it’s so hard to differentiate the Ebola virus with the Lassa Fever?
- Do you have any more information to give me about the Lassa Fever?
- How contagious is the Lassa Fever?
- Is the Lassa Fever more dreadful than the Ebola virus?
I asked those kind of questions because in diagnosis it is hard to differentiate between the Ebola Virus and the Lassa Fever. I wanted to know the differences in effect between those two viruses. I tried to ask them if they don’t know any professors as well that would know about this topic in case they may not know much about the Lassa Fever.
I made sure to ask those questions politely by greeting them first. It is always better to be polite by asking the question because the individual and you may not know each other, and met online. You do not want to be “creepy”.
This kind of information can help me throughout my Genius Hour project because it is going to give me information beyond my subject. For instance, by asking questions such as about the Ebola virus it can help me know what kind of disease I am dealing with; since it is really hard for doctors to differentiate between those diseases. It can also help me answer any questions my classmates might have. By asking those questions I had throughout my research.
Zoonotic Diseases Function—->
My Process
After asking the specific questions I had on the Lassa Fever, I did have 2 answers. I got specific links about my subject One of them did not know much about the Lassa Fever and linked me to another twitter account that would know more about the topic.
For bell work, we used to get time to summarize what we see on our twitter feed about the 10 experts we followed about our topics. As I kept mentioning them on my twitter account, they would re tweet my summaries about their accounts. Which I found that was a really positive act because it shows that I am actually socially communicating with them and not being “creepy”. A lot of them did follow me back , actually half of them did. As I kept tagging them or as you would say “promoting” their page.
By being respectful they did offer me lots of assistance, because even if they did not know the answer to most of the questions, they tried to at least give me resources such as websites and other peoples pages to visit, that could be useful.
Even if they did not know, I would also thank them for their time, because not everyone would have the time to answer. I continued the conversation, by thanking them, and asking further questions I would have, such as If they are in contact with professors.
This process is a process that should definitely be used in many other schools because it can help students get their hands on other things than books. They can socialize online with people that may have more resources in relevant subjects. This actually helps me as a student be open to ask questions online, to people who are experts. I might use this process for subjects that I might be interested in, our school projects. Having other people resources around the world, can actually have a huge benefit on your knowledge and the project you are working on, because it would be very open minded.
