Yankee In Canada

#sla2009 Social Network Graph

Using Processing and sample code from www.eskimoblood.de I have created a basic social network graph of replies sent during #sla2009.

The thicker the line the more times you sent an @reply to that person. The more lines you have, the more @replies to different people you sent. If you don't appear on the graph, but know that you sent out @replies, it's because the person you sent your @reply to never sent out an @reply and so that person won't appear on the graph and unfortunately, you can't either! Interestingly, a few people only sent replies to themselves, so they do appear on the graph as a line that goes back to themselves.

The sample code from eskimoblood required that my data be in the following format:

• One array of all the usernames in alphabetical order
• A second multi-dimensional array that links the users with each other (in this case based on @replies) using an ID number.  Like this:

@amalthea67
{70, 74}

In other words @amalthea67 sent @replies to the 69th and 73rd person in the list of usernames on the wheel.  The first person in the list is at number 0.

Here is an outline of what I did:

• Queried the #sla2009 re-tweeter database for all tweets with @replies as of June 19, 2009
• Using php, created an html table of this query that lists the ID of the tweet, the username of the person who sent the reply and the username(s) of the person(s) it was sent to.  Here is a screen shot of part of the HTML table that resulted.

• Imported the html table into an Inmagic database, which allows for multiple entries in the "Replies" field (separated by a space)
• Created a secondary Inmagic database for every username, plus a unique ID for each.
• Exported the data to a report that lists the username and the ID number of the person the reply was sent to.  Here is a screen shot:

• Using Excel again, this table was copied, pasted and transposed so the usernames ran along the the first row and the numeric ID of the target of the @reply ran along in the second row.  A little bit of find/replace to get the data in the exact format (as above) and voila!  My data is in the format that I need it in.
• I made a few changes to eskimoblood's code and ran the sketch in Processing, which resulted in the social network graph above.

sla2009 tweet cloud

As with #sla2008, and again with thanks to the folks at Wordle (still a great tool!), I present you with a cloud based on the tweets from #sla2009.  Click the thumbnail to view the larger image.

Compare this year's cloud with 2008 and you may notice a few things:

• "SLA", "session", "conference"and "great" are again the more popular words used
• The divisions, especially IT, PAM, KM, and LMD were actively tweeting this year
• The concept of a re-tweet (using RT) didn't exist in 2008

SLA2009 Schedule

Here is my preliminary schedule for SLA2009 in Washington, DC.  I will also be at plenty of Open Houses and sessions.

The best way to contact me while I am in DC would be a direct message on Twitter - yankeeincanada.

Fri Jun 12, 2009

• 9am SLA Board of Directors Executive Session
• 1pm SLA Board of Directors Open Session

Sat Jun 13, 2009

• 9am SLA Board of Directors Open Session

Sun Jun 14, 2009

• 7:30am SLA Leadership Development Institute
• 1pm Idea Showcase: SLA Chapters, Divisions, and Caucuses in Action
• 1:30pm SLA First-Timers and Fellows Connect
• 3pm Meet the President Elect Candidates
• 4pm Meet the Treasurer Candidates
• 5:15pm SLA Opening General Session and Awards Presentation
• 7:30pm International Spy Museum Tour /SLA Centennial Reception

Mon Jun 15, 2009

• 1:30pm Managing Knowledge-Based Initiatives: Knowledge Management Division Business Meeting /SLA Unconference Session No. 2 - TWEET UP!
• 3:30pm Advertising & Marketing Division Roundtable / The New Face of the Special Librarian: Embedded Librarians
• 5:30pm Canadian Reception
• 6pm International Reception / SLA Alumni & Student Connect
• 9pm Legal Division Open House

Tue Jun 16, 2009

• 7am Annual Diversity Leadership Development Breakfast
• 9:30am Finance Committee
• 11:30am Information Technology Division Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony
• 1:30pm Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Issues Caucus Business Meeting
• 5pm SLA Chapter Cabinet Meeting /SLA Division Cabinet Meeting
• 6:30pm SLA Joint Cabinet Meeting
• 7:30pm SLA Salutes! Awards and Leadership Reception [Ticket 830]

Wed Jun 17, 2009

• 8:30am Mashups: Future of Changing Content
• 12 pm Homeward Bound!

SLA2009 Dashboard

SLA 2009 is almost here!  Since May 2, 2009 the #sla2009 re-tweeter has been busily sending around tweets as people prepare for conference.  Undoubtedly, the volume of tweets will increase as we get closer to conference and will balloon from June 14-17, 2009.

With a bit of help, I have designed a dashboard for the re-tweeter as a "one-stop shop" if you're interested in getting a bird's eye view of the re-tweeter's data stream.

The dashboard consists of two pages: home and analytics.

Home

The home page has two elements:

1. A continuously updated feed of the latest Tweets in the re-tweeter data stream.  As new tweets are sent, a link will appear with the number of new tweets, so you can refresh the page and view them.
2. A Live Cloud of words that are most popular in the re-tweeter's data stream at that moment.  The more popular the word, the larger the font.  Each word in the cloud is linked to a Twitter search for that word in the stream - very handy if you want to see why people are tweeting about that particular word.  Stop words have been stripped from the cloud to keep it as clean as possible.

Analytics

The analytics page has seven charts showing:

1. Daily tweet activity since May 2, 2009 when the re-tweeter was launched
2. Who is tweeting the most (Top Tweeps)
3. Who is receiving the most @replies
4. Who is sending the most @replies
5. What other hashtags are popular
6. What types of tweets are being sent
7. What links being sent around are most popular

There is also a handy set of links across the top of all pages to:

• @SLA2009 on Twitter
• The SLA2009 Homepage
• The SLA2009 Personal Planner
• The Virtual INFO-EXPO
• The SLA2009 Blog
• The SLA2009 Hospitality Wiki
• The SLA Innovation Laboratory

The dashboard is based on live data from the re-tweeter's database, so check back often to see how the data stream is changing over time.  I hope you find it useful, interesting and thought provoking - most importantly, I hope you find it inspiring!

Twitter at SLA2009

Once again, a re-tweeter for has been developed for this year's SLA conference based on the Twitter API and John Eckman's code.  Many thanks to John and our own Karen Huffman for improving on last year's code!

Starting on Saturday May 2, 2009, the sla2009 Twitter account will become a re-tweeter.  What's a re-tweeter you ask?  It's simple.  When a follower of sla2009 posts a tweet with the hashtag #sla2009 in their tweet (probably best at the end of the tweet) that tweet will be posted to the sla2009 account.  The username of the person who sent the original tweet will appear at the start of the message followed by a ":".

At conference, there will be a 3 minute delay before tweets are re-tweeted.  Leading up to conference the delay will begin at 30 minutes and decrease as we get closer.  If you are following sla2009, you will see all of the tweets that are being re-tweeted.

Re-tweeting is helpful for:

• separating out your sla2009 related tweets from your other tweets
• sending broadcast messages (3 minute delay at conference) to all sla2009 followers
• seeing what sla2009 followers are tweeting about without necessarily having to go to the sla2009 page
• creating an archive of tweets on the sla2009 page for future or live analysis

This is an opt-in service.  Only your tweets with the hashtag (#sla2009) will be re-tweeted and you must be following sla2009 for it to work.  Tweets from protected accounts won't be re-tweeted.

Using a number of tools out there, you can also follow the #sla2009 hashtag:

• Twitter (RSS)
• search.twitter.com
• TweetDeck
• Many others

The re-tweeter is brought to you by the SLA Innovation Laboratory!