Student attention, engagement and participation in a Twitter-friendly classroom

Guided by a participatory action research methodology, this paper outlines an approach to integrating the social media Twitter platform within a tertiary education course, based on a social, constructivist pedagogy. It explores the perceptions of students on the benefits of using this technology for enhancing attentiveness, engagement and participation in the classroom. Previous studies have shown that greater participation and communication can stimulate student learning and lead to better academic performance, increased motivation, and an appreciation of different points of views. The untested hypothesis is that social media tools like Twitter can foster this type of communication. Students posted their responses during classroom activities via Twitter and then were surveyed on their perceived benefits associated with using the social media platform. The preliminary findings of the qualitative study suggest that, while not without its challenges, social media tools like Twitter have the potential to be used effectively for education-based activities in the classroom to improve communication and engagement both amongst the students and with the instructor.

Twitter tsunami early warning network : a social network analysis of Twitter information flows

In the aftermath of earthquakes, tsunamis, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Tsunami, caused enormous damage around the world. With the extreme disaster events of the past, nations improved disaster preparedness and response through sensors and tsunami early warning systems. Even with system usage, however, governments still need to warn the targeted citizens – who may be anywhere within the vulnerable areas – of predicted tsunami and ordered mass evacuations within a very limited lead time. While social media research is on the rise outside the domain of social networking, very little is written about Twitter use for tsunami early warning. In this research, therefore, we examined the utility of Twitter as a tsunami early warning network, which engages citizens and disaster management agencies in diffusing disaster information. We conducted a social network analysis of Twitter information flows among the central disaster warning agency’s Twitter followers during the 2012 Indonesia Earthquake.

The tale of two cultures : differences in technology acceptance in Twitter usage

Despite its huge uptake all over the world, Twitter is still in its early stages of being used as an educational tool. Here, we present an experiment that was conducted across two undergraduate groups from different universities, an Australian and another American university. In this experiment we looked at Twitter usage in class and compared the results with a particular focus on analysing technology acceptance differences between the two groups. Both groups used Twitter as part of their tutorial work and participated in a survey at the end of the semester. Empirical investigation was done using Davis’ technology acceptance model (TAM). The study findings reveal highly significant differences in the technology acceptance behaviours of the two groups, thus highlight cultural differences in the acceptance of technology, in this case Twitter.

Twitter free Iran: an evaluation of Twitter's role in public diplomacy and information operations in Iran's 2009 election crisis

Social media platforms such as Twitter pose new challenges for decision-makers in an international crisis. We examine Twitter’s role during Iran’s 2009 election crisis using a comparative analysis of Twitter investors, US State Department diplomats, citizen activists and Iranian protestors and paramilitary forces. We code for key events during the election’s aftermath from 12 June to 5 August 2009, and evaluate Twitter. Foreign policy, international political economy and historical sociology frameworks provide a deeper context of how Twitter was used by different users for defensive information operations and public diplomacy. Those who believe Twitter and other social network technologies will enable ordinary people to seize power from repressive regimes should consider the fate of Iran’s protestors, some of whom paid for their enthusiastic adoption of Twitter with their lives.

Data for Twitter use by Australian universities

Universities are now observed using social media communications channels for a variety of purposes, including marketing, student recruitment, student support and alumni communication. This paper presents an investigation into the use of the Twitter social media platform by universities in Australia, using publicly available Twitter data over a two year period. A social media network visualisation method is developed to make visible the interactions between a university and its stakeholders in the Twitter environment. This analysis method provides insights into the differing ways Australian universities are active on Twitter, and how universities might more effectively use the platform to achieve their individual objectives for institutional social media communications.

Characterisation of the use of Twitter by Australian universities

Universities are now observed using social media communications channels for a variety of purposes, including marketing, student recruitment, student support and alumni communication. This paper presents an investigation into the use of the Twitter social media platform by universities in Australia, using publicly available Twitter data over a 2-year period. A social media network visualisation method is developed to make visible the interactions between a university and its stakeholders in the Twitter environment. This analysis method provides insights into the differing ways in which Australian universities are active on Twitter, and how universities might more effectively use the platform to achieve their individual objectives for institutional social media communications.

Recognising user identity in twitter social networks via text mining

Social networks have become a convenient and effective means of communication in recent years. Many people use social networks to communicate, lead, and manage activities, and express their opinions in supporting or opposing different causes. This has brought forward the issue of verifying the owners of social accounts, in order to eliminate the effect of any fake accounts on the people. This study aims to authenticate the genuine accounts versus fake account using writeprint, which is the writing style biometric. We first extract a set of features using text mining techniques. Then, training of a supervised machine learning algorithm to build the knowledge base is conducted. The recognition procedure starts by extracting the relevant features and then measuring the similarity of the feature vector with respect to all feature vectors in the knowledge base. Then, the most similar vector is identified as the verified account.

The Twitter float and free labour : the political economy of digital media

Nick Dyer-Witheford’s Cyber-Marx was published nearly 15 years ago, but there are continuing echoes of its dire promises today. The trends that Dyer-Witheford outlined—the growth of tech-giants in the communications field at the expense of democratic media practices and the radical shedding of jobs in the traditional mass media context—are confirmed by recent events. In November 2013, Twitter launched itself on the public share register, despite having no visible means of financial support, or even much of a business plan. The Twitter IPO tells us a lot about the economy of cyber-capitalism. Aligned to the trend of ‘technological unemployment’ is the rise of what some commentators call ‘digital serfdom’. This is not just growing unemployment, but also drastic under-employment of talented media professionals and an alarming rise in the number of media outlets that want to pay contributors in ‘exposure’, rather than in corporeal, fungible dollars and cents. This articlediscusses these trends and events in the context of the political economy of digital communication.

How Twitter is being used by Australian engineering academic units

For organisations, social media provide new avenues for communication and collaboration with their stakeholders, however, any value created for an organisation through social media comes not from any particular platforms, but from how they are used. The potential value of social media tools to assist in the successful communication inside and outside of engineering organisations has been identified in the literature. While social media may be widely used by individuals and many organisations, their use in higher education is still relatively new. Applications of social media in engineering education can also be found in the literature, including in work integrated learning. One of the most widely-used social media tools employed by organisations is Twitter. Research on the use of social media by higher education institutions is still limited and evaluation of the impact of social media activities is not straightforward. One approach to evaluation is network analysis.

Tweet reach : a research protocol for using Twitter to increase information exchange in people with communication disabilities

Objective: To (a) outline the background to research evaluating Twitter use by people with severe physical and communication disabilities participating actively in online communication forums for increasing information exchange and (b) illustrate a range of potential methods that might be applied in furthering research on the use of social media by people with developmental and acquired communication disabilities. Methods: The literature on communication disabilities, augmentative and alternative communication, and social media research informed the rationale for and design of three studies investigating the use of Twitter by people with communication disabilities. Results: To date, there is little information in the literature about how people with a range of communication disabilities might use Twitter to increase their access to information and help them to feel knowledgeable and in control of their own lives. In this paper, three studies are proposed to investigate the use of Twitter by people with communication disabilities.

Characterizing Twitter communication - a case study of international engineering academic units

Engineering academic units might engage with social media for a range of purposes including for general communication with students, staff, alumni, other important stakeholders and the wider community at large; for student recruitment and for marketing and promotion more generally. This paper presents an investigation into the use of Twitter by six engineering academic units internationally, using publicly available Twitter data over an 18-month period for analysis and visualization, to characterize the engagement by engineering academic units with one popular social media tool. Widely varying levels of activity were observed, from essentially undirected 'Megaphone' Tweeting, through to sustained and complex interactions with multiple external accounts. This work provides insights into how engineering academic units are using Twitter and how they might more effectively use the platform to achieve their individual objectives for institutional social media communications and marketing, and offers a methodology for future research. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Characterizing university library use of social media: a case study of twitter and facebook from Australia

The work presented here characterise the engagement of one university library with two social media platforms popular with academic libraries. The collected data are analysed to identify the forms of Twitter and Facebook activity that engage library stakeholders in social media conversations. Associations were observed between: i) directed tweets from the library and mentions of the library by others on Twitter; and ii) comments from the library and comments from others on Facebook. Three broad classes of Twitter user interacting with the library were revealed: i) accounts strongly linked to the library with multiple to/from tweets; ii) those weakly linked to the library with, typically, a single tweet; and iii) those indirectly linked to the library through tweets mentioning the library and sent by other users. Two divergent forms of Facebook interaction with the library were highlighted: i) a library post generating a large sequence of comments, typically in response to a competition/challenge and ii) a library post with no comments, typically a photo post or a post inviting readers to click a link to find out more about an event/service. The work presented here is an initial investigation that provides useful insights, and offers a methodology for future research.

Data-mining twitter and the autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study

The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasingly being recognized as a major public health issue which affects approximately 0.5-0.6% of the population. Promoting the general awareness of the disorder, increasing the engagement with the affected individuals and their carers, and understanding the success of penetration of the current clinical recommendations in the target communities, is crucial in driving research as well as policy. The aim of the present work is to investigate if Twitter, as a highly popular platform for information exchange, can be used as a data-mining source which could aid in the aforementioned challenges. Specifically, using a large data set of harvested tweets, we present a series of experiments which examine a range of linguistic and semantic aspects of messages posted by individuals interested in ASD. Our findings, the first of their nature in the published scientific literature, strongly motivate additional research on this topic and present a methodological basis for further work.