Dr. Robinson's technology takes geo-location of the people tweeting and also what they are tweeting about to find hot spots and trends in what people are talking about. This is just one of its' basic features. The technology like the one ring can be all knowing of where the other rings or in this case events are happening and how if everything goes according to plan. The tweet gathering and organizing technology will find an incident and eventually be able to gather a sequence of events on an incident based on what people have tweeted which I find a very interesting and good use of twitter. That is as long as all of the data can be verified and proven accurate which I feel could be a problem but still this could be a very handy tool none the less. I really hope things pan out for him and this potentially very useful piece of technology and you can tell he really cares about it and is doing what he wants to do.
The thing that concerns me is the geo-spatial technology itself. I don't know about the rest of you guys but I am all for cool new gadgets and things. I love them, geek out over them openly but at the same time they worry me. It scares me at how invasive they can be. With smart phones and facebook and foursquare and even computers at times they know where you are and you can't always shut it off. Apps can do this too. Like the one ring they call out to whomever wants the data for whatever reasons. At times I feel like Frodo being chased by the Ring Wraiths wanting only to hide but they never stop coming wanting more and more of my personal information. It's like we are all living in plain sight there is no privacy anymore. I suppose this is why I am hesitant to try new types of technology, specifically social media because even though I need to know about it I can't help but get this stabbing feeling in the pit of my stomach of how they will use my information against me. The more I learn the more I would like nothing more than to drop off the grid completely if only to feel some sense of privacy anymore.
I would like to thank you all for being great classmates and for making a three hour class fun. Also even though required I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts, though not the most professional and at times seemingly tongue in cheek I have had fun writing them and I hope you have had fun reading them. As our fellowship is drawing to an end hopefully we can keep in touch and good luck to all of you in your final projects. I really hope we can make some sort of difference no matter how small to feel like we are solving the conundrum we have come to know as crisis informatics. I feel like we have all learned a lot this semester and hopefully we can put it to good use.
In closing I would like to leave you with closing time
Dr. Robison’s developing technology he has got going on over in the GeoVISTA lab is outstanding. I would imagine, like he said, that verifying the location of where the tweet occurred or the geo-location of where the information tweeted is or was is difficult. Even more difficult if the person has his/her GPS devise turned off on their phone or computer. He also said verifying the location becomes difficult when the tweet in comparing two different locations, and even more difficult when the tweeter’s GPS location is in one area and they are comparing two different locations in their tweeted message.
ReplyDeleteIt also worries me that cell phones, computers, and other devises can pin point your exact location up to a couple of feet. It seems like one’s privacy might be violated at times. But I also try to think about all the problems this could solve. Law informant can use such technology to solve crimes, locate fugitives, even take it as far as Government official’s tracks terrorist. So in a way I believe technology devises giving off your GPS locating isn’t so bad and other times I think it is a good idea for the positive aspects.
Overall I enjoyed Dr. Robinson’s presentation I found him to be one of the more interesting speakers we have had all semester.
Tom, I am almost disappointed that this is the last mandatory blog because you always have some crazy stuff to say that somehow links with what we are talking about in class such as your Lord of the Rings reference in this blog post. By the way, the LOTR reference was awesome man. You brought up a very good point, this final project is definitely going to be a bitch and I am not looking forward to dealing with it. Instead, I am going to focus on Thanksgiving with the family and getting destroyed at the bar every night in Pittsburgh, but that’s just me.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I can’t say I thought the speaker was interesting because I missed his presentation while I was at the hospitals getting x-rays. From what I heard, the speaker was very interested and covered some solid topics. The topic I liked that I heard about was hot spot analysis. This can be used for a variety of reasons to analyze multiple situations in the real world. This was the favorite thing I have learned over the years I really enjoy finding hot spots whether looking at terrorist plots or just data for groups of people.
Tom, I thought you blog post was excellent as usual and you made me chuckle once again with your crazy references. This final project that is looming over all of our heads seems like it’s going to be terrible, but my advice is not to worry about it until after break. Why worry about something when there is turkey to eat and beer to drink. I am looking forward to having this week off and not getting any work done at all. I suggest you do the same and have a wonderful break. See you in two weeks buddy have a good break.
Sir Thomas your introduction to your blog post was quite humorous. I enjoyed your references to some songs and there should never be a last call for alcohol haha. Yes it really was not a class it was more of an information session for us with our projects and a guest lecture from Dr Anthony Robinson. I would rank this class as one of the most useless during the semester. I think his technology SensePlace2 is very interesting but he didn’t seem to have an idea of where he wanted to use it or who he wanted to use it.
ReplyDeleteI think the technology involving Twitter has a few more years to evolve because the problem of “retweets” because someone in Africa could “retweet” about a problem in the United States. I just find it to be problematic. I also think that someone in the US could retweet or whatever it is something about another part of the country and that just overloads the system.
Thank you for your interesting and sometimes hilarious posts. Good luck with your final project in this class and any other classes. And good luck on exams sir.
I must admit, I'm going to miss your pop culture tie-ins and absolutely bizarre references that always manage to actually make sense and brighten up the frequently redundant topic matters.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the subject matter at hand, I can understand your dismay at the increasingly difficult task of retaining any anonymity in today's technologically intertwined society. Just about everything about you can be accessed by just about anyone at any time. Social media sights give people plenty of easy information, even before you consider the photos you post with geotags built in, IP based tracking, and friend-related trend tracking. Even sacred things like our banking are becoming increasingly unsecured and technologically susceptible - I'm not talking about online banking, either. Many debit and credit cards now have chips and easy-to-access data treasure troves that can be intercepted and scanned without much technical knowledge. Furthermore, you aren't just paranoid - Mr. Robinson specifically mentioned that the local police were interested in using his project to simplify their post-riot arrest procedures with social media driven action. Throw away the tin foil beanies, the Man IS actually tracking you down via Twitter.
Hey Tom!
ReplyDeleteI really like your comparison of the one ring to the technology developed by Dr. Robinson at Penn State because it’s entirely true. You do also bring up a good point on whether or not to trust the tweets that are being analyzed. As previously discussed in our class throughout the semester, it has been a constant debate to trust or not to trust social media sites and their postings. If false postings are used, the analysis of Dr. Robinson’s program could and would be wrong due to the false postings. As with you, I agree that his technology could be a very useful in various ways in the future.
You also bring up a good point about new technology being increasingly invasive. While you may feel like Frodo Baggins, I feel like I’m in the middle of a cat and mouse game… eventually I’ll be eaten. At least Frodo gets to go to the last undying part of the world with all of the Elves in the end! Such technology as Dr. Robinson’s geo-location of Tweets rather scares me… I don’t like people knowing where I am most days, let alone some company who wants to gain information from me or try to sell me obnoxious things that are around my location. The hurtful possibilities make me cringe more than the positives. If somehow I end up in a crisis situation or something, and I have the chance to tweet I’ll tell people where I am, I don’t need someone keeping tabs on me like a robot stalker. Regardless, your blog was awesome and hilarious as usual, and I really enjoyed reading it!