In the spring of 2010, inspired by groups and communities who were social reading novels, member of the Twitter community decided to do a “One Book, One Twitter” reading online. “Let’s love one book together, our actual geographical location be damned.” Very loosely organized participants voted on their selection – Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”. Considering the content and nature of the work it was a controversial choice. Confined to the 140 character limit of the Twitter platform and structured into a schedule of chapters, denizens of the domain began with high hopes and a lot of enthusiasm. I will consider the preparations, execution, and conclusion of this crowdsourced attempt to facilitate a global social reading, the pitfalls that the endeavor encountered, and the benefits of such a massive attempt to read together.
I will need a smart setup (computer, access to the ‘net, projection) to show a backdrop presentation.
