#AcademicsWithCats and the lighter side of academia

25 Feb 2015

It started off with a bet that he could get at least 10,000 people to follow a Twitter account dedicated to the amusing side of academia. Glen Wright who studies sustainability and international oceans governance now has the blog Academia Obscura and a Twitter following of 13.1K in barely the space of a year.

Some of his hashtags have been embraced by the academic community — #AcademicsWithCats, #BadAdviceForYoungAcademics and #FailaPhDinThreeWords. Others less so, #AcademicsWithtats and #AcademicsWithhats are a case in point.

At the limbic we’re left wondering why #ConferenceWishlist didn’t take off. Our reply at @the_limbic  to this particular # would be press room, coffee, academics who can present, coffee, research that’s actually new, and more coffee.

“Half the people took it quite seriously, and were a bit bitter, and they said things like, ‘relevant presentations,’” wright said of the # flop in an interview with The Chronicles of Higher Education. “And then there were other people who said, ‘I want a hot tub,’ or ‘I want a popcorn maker,” he said.

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