Twitter, a popular microblogging service, has received much attention recently. An important characteristic of Twitter is its real-time nature. For example, when an earthquake occurs, people make many Twitter posts (tweets) related to the earthquake, which enables detection of earthquake occurrence promptly, simply by observing the tweets. As described in this paper, we investigate the real-time interaction of events such as earthquakes in Twitter and propose an algorithm to monitor tweets and to detect a target event. To detect a target event, we devise a classifier of tweets based on features such as the keywords in a tweet, the number of words, and their context. Subsequently, we produce a probabilistic spatiotemporal model for the target event that can find the center and the trajectory of the event location. We consider each Twitter user as a sensor and apply Kalman filtering and particle filtering, which are widely used for location estimation in ubiquitous/pervasive computing. The particle filter works better than other comparable methods for estimating the centers of earthquakes and the trajectories of typhoons. As an application, we construct an earthquake reporting system in Japan. Because of the numerous earthquakes and the large number of Twitter users throughout the country, we can detect an earthquake with high probability (96% of earthquakes of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity scale 3 or more are detected) merely by monitoring tweets. Our system detects earthquakes promptly and sends e-mails to registered users. Notification is delivered much faster than the announcements that are broadcast by the JMA.

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Earthquake shakes Twitter users: real-time event detection by social sensors

Microblogging is one of the latest Web 2.0 technologies. The key elements are online communication using 140 characters and the fact that it involves ''following'' anyone. There has been a great deal of excitement about this in recent months. This paper reports on a research study that was carried out on the use of a microblogging platform for process-oriented learning in Higher Education. Students of the University of Applied Sciences of Upper Austria used the tool throughout their course. All postings were carefully tracked, examined and analyzed in order to explore the possibilities offered by microblogging in education. It can be concluded that microblogging should be seen as a completely new form of communication that can support informal learning beyond classrooms.

Microblogs in Higher Education - A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learning?

Twitter has received much attention recently. An important characteristic of Twitter is its real-time nature. We investigate the real-time interaction of events such as earthquakes in Twitter and propose an algorithm to monitor tweets and to detect a target event. To detect a target event, we devise a classifier of tweets based on features such as the keywords in a tweet, the number of words, and their context. Subsequently, we produce a probabilistic spatiotemporal model for the target event that can find the center of the event location. We regard each Twitter user as a sensor and apply particle filtering, which are widely used for location estimation. The particle filter works better than other comparable methods for estimating the locations of target events. As an application, we develop an earthquake reporting system for use in Japan. Because of the numerous earthquakes and the large number of Twitter users throughout the country, we can detect an earthquake with high probability (93 percent of earthquakes of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity scale 3 or more are detected) merely by monitoring tweets. Our system detects earthquakes promptly and notification is delivered much faster than JMA broadcast announcements.

/pdf/tweet-analysis-for-real-time-event-detection-and-earthquake-2ydljtirj8.pdf

Tweet Analysis for Real-Time Event Detection and Earthquake Reporting System Development

This article takes a critical look at three pervasive urban legends in education about the nature of learners, learning, and teaching and looks at what educational and psychological research has to say about them. The three legends can be seen as variations on one central theme, namely, that it is the learner who knows best and that she or he should be the controlling force in her or his learning. The first legend is one of learners as digital natives who form a generation of students knowing by nature how to learn from new media, and for whom “old” media and methods used in teaching/learning no longer work. The second legend is the widespread belief that learners have specific learning styles and that education should be individualized to the extent that the pedagogy of teaching/learning is matched to the preferred style of the learner. The final legend is that learners ought to be seen as self-educators who should be given maximum control over what they are learning and their learning trajectory. It con...

/pdf/do-learners-really-know-best-urban-legends-in-education-4w5dr37ydc.pdf

Do Learners Really Know Best? Urban Legends in Education

This study critically analyzed the current body of published research on microblogging in education ( MIE) to build a deep and comprehensive understanding of this increasingly popular phenomenon. Twenty-one studies on MIE in 2008-2011 were selected based on the selection criteria and analyzed to answer the following questions: What types of research have been published on MIE? How was microblogging used for teaching and learning in these studies? What educational benefits did microblogging have on teaching and learning? What suggestions and implications did the current research have for future MIE research and practices? The analysis suggests that microblogging has a potential to encourage participation, engagement, reflective thinking as well as collaborative learning under different learning settings. The quality of research, however, varies greatly, suggesting a need for rigorous research on MIE. The analysis has implications for MIE practices as well as research and development efforts. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Microblogging has a potential to facilitate learning., Research on microblogging has been conducted under different educational settings., What this paper adds What are the characteristics of the current research on microblogging in education., How educators and researchers integrated microblogging to achieve different educational goals as identified in these studies., What are the identified educational effects of using microblogging for teaching and learning., What are the challenges and suggestions of using microblogging in teaching and learning., Implications for practice and/or policy Future research on microblogging in education should go beyond formal higher education settings by considering learning occurring in other settings., Future research needs to observe and analyze how learners participate and learn in microblogging-based environments over time., Innovative data collection and analysis methods are needed to understand the interaction and learning that occur in such environments., Future research is needed to identify effective approaches of microblogging integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Tweeting for learning: A critical analysis of research on microblogging in education published in 2008–2011

For the support of learners of tomorrow a mobile workforce is essential in our connected society. More and more social network sites are growing up. Google launches software for mobile devices; the market is growing. But the question, which rises is: is mobile learning just a future term, or does it become reality? Can these tools be useful in teaching and learning processes? And what does mobile learning means for networks and communities of practice? Some of these questions we try to answer. We set up a microblogging community channel about our work and research topic e-learning. In shortest time we reach 23 participants. We tested our microblogging community locally in our offices and mobile from our mobile devices. In this article we discuss advantages and disadvantages from microblogging from our point of view.

Microblogging - more than fun?

The use of microblogging applications (especially Twitter) is becoming increasingly commonplace in a variety of settings. Today, active conference participants can post messages on microblogging platforms to exchange information quickly and in real-time. Recent research work was based on quantitative analyses in terms of the number of tweets or active Twitter users within a specific time period. In this paper, we examine the content of the contributions and aim to analyze how useful posts are for the “listening” Internet auditorium. It can be shown that only a few microblogs are of interest for non-participants of the specific event and that meaningful usage of a microblogging application requires greater care than previously anticipated.

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Getting granular on Twitter: Tweets from a conference and their limited usefulness for non-participants

Der Begriff der Â„Net GenerationÂ“ pragt vielerorts, auch an den Universitaten, die Diskussion. An der Technischen Universitat Graz (TU Graz) wurde eine Untersuchung durchgefuhrt, wie die technische Ausrustung der Erstsemester aussieht. Kann man aufgrund ihres Geratebesitzes und der Kommunikationsgewohnheit bereits von einer Â„Net GenerationÂ“ sprechen? Erganzt werden die Ergebnisse mit einer Umfrage an der Universitat Zurich, die ahnliche Fragen den bisherigen Studierenden stellte. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass sich Erstsemester von bisherigen Studierenden kaum unterscheiden. Der Begriff der Â„Net GenerationÂ“ muss also mit Vorsicht verwendet werden. (DIPF/ Orig.)

Has the Net Generation Arrived at the University? – oder Studierende von Heute, Digital Natives?

Looking Toward the Future of Technology-Enhanced Education: Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital Native bridges the gap between technology and education by presenting innovative research on the future of education. An essential reference on e-learning, this scholarly publication examines current research in technology enhanced learning, provides new didactic models for education, and discusses the newest technologies and their impact on education.

Mandy Schiefner

Papers

Microblogging - more than fun?

Getting granular on Twitter: Tweets from a conference and their limited usefulness for non-participants

Has the Net Generation Arrived at the University? – oder Studierende von Heute, Digital Natives?

Looking Toward the Future of Technology-enhanced Education: Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital Native

Will E-learning Die?