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 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!

SLA Twitter hashtags

I have seen a lot of discussion on various blogs about establishing hashtags on Twitter for the various groups in SLA. I don't know if this list exists yet, so I am going to start one. What hashtags are out there? Add a comment with known hashtags and I will compile the list.

• #sla2008 (Annual conference in Seattle - no longer used)
• #sla2009 (Annual conference in Washington)
• #slaleads (Leadership Summit)
• #dsoc (Social Science Division)
• #slait (Information Technology Division)
• #slakm (Knowledge Management Division)
• #slator (Toronto Chapter)
• #dsol (Solo Division)

sla2008 twitter cloud

With thanks to the folks at Wordle (what a great tool!), I present you with a cloud based on the tweets from #sla2008.  The only term I removed from this graphic was sla2008. Click the thumbnail to view the larger image.

Also, here are the Top 15 Tweeps for #sla2008

1. conniecrosby
2. artquiltmaker
3. ChrisVestal
4. yankeeincanada
5. khuffman
6. nengard
7. desertlibrarian
8. leahs
9. jdysart
10. robotfrog
11. raabonte
12. CindysConfNotes
13. carolyne
14. jambina
15. lukelibrarian

Nice going y'all! There's probably more analysis that could be done with the 1,194 tweets that were re-tweeted, so stay tuned!

sla2008 re-tweeter

I have developed a re-tweeter for sla2008 based on the Twitter API and John Eckman's code.  Thanks John!

Starting on Wednesday June 11, 2008, the sla2008 Twitter account will become a re-tweeter.  What's a re-tweeter you ask?  It's simple.  When a follower of sla2008 posts a tweet with the hashtag #sla2008 in their tweet - probably best at the end of the tweet - that tweet will be posted to the sla2008 account.  The username of the person who sent the original tweet will appear at the start of the message followed by a ":".

If your mobile phone or handheld is setup to receive tweets from sla2008 (See Twitter Phone FAQ), you will receive the tweets everyone posts to your phone or handheld.  Also, you can check the sla2008 page directly to read what people have been tweeting about.  They will also appear on your "recent" tab as messages from sla2008.

There will be a 6 minute delay before tweets are re-tweeted.

Re-tweeting is helpful for:

• separating out your sla2008 related tweets from your other tweets
• sending broadcast messages (6 minute delay) to all sla2008 followers
• seeing what sla2008 followers are tweeting about without necessarily having to go to the sla2008 page (you have to have device updates from sla2008 turned on if you want the tweets sent to you)
• creating an archive of tweets on the sla2008 page

This will be an opt-in service.  Only your tweets with the hashtag (#sla2008) will be re-tweeted.

Using a number of tools out there, you can also follow the #sla2008 hashtag:

• Twitter (RSS)
• Summize (RSS)
• Tweetscan
• Hashtags.org

Further Reading

• Introduction to Twitter (SLA Innovation Lab)
• Twitter away at SLA (Daniel Lee aka Yankeeincanada)
• Twitter in Plain English (Common Craft)

A Twitter Tutorial

To retweet or not to retweet, that is the question

I have developed a retweeter for sla2008 based on the Twitter API and John Eckman's code.  Thanks John!

I have run it a few times with a small group and and it works perfectly.  My question now is...do we use it at SLA2008 or not?

The proposal is to turn the sla2008 account into a retweeter.  When a follower of sla2008 posts a tweet with the hashtag (#sla2008) in their tweet (probably best at the end), their tweet will be retweeted to all followers of sla2008 with their username at the start.

It would look something like this.

This image is based on the test account I created.

Retweeting is helpful for:

• sending immediate (5 minute delay) broadcast messages to sla2008 followers
• seeing what sla2008 followers are tweeting about without having to go to the sla2008 page
• creating an archive of tweets on the sla2008 page

It's an opt-in service as well.  Only your tweets with the hashtag (#sla2008) will be re-tweeted.

Any thoughts out there on this?

Twitter Away at SLA

The word is slowly spreading, so in case you haven't yet heard...

As part of SLA's Innovation Lab, and for the first time at conference, we will be using Twitter to make the conference experience more collaborative via use of a backchannel.  The hope is that conference will become a "we" event.

See Twitter at SLA2008 if you need information on getting started.

So, you're setup with your Twitter account and following SLA2008, now what?

Between now and conference take some time to use Twitter.

• Send a few tweets everyday from your phone, handheld or the Twitter website
• Try to get a conversation going with a few people you are following by using @replies, which are tweets directed at a specific user in response to one of their updates.
• Try using #hashtags to tag your tweets.  (For example, use #sla2008 for tweets about Seattle)
• Try sending links to websites and blog postings
• Look at LiveTwitting.com if you want to organize and consolidate twitter updates from sessions.

There are different reasons to use Twitter during the conference.  Here are a few examples I came up with.  Add more to the comments.

• note-taking during sessions, meetings and presentations to stay focused and engaged
• share gems of what you have learned with other conference participants or colleagues back home
• a "parking lot" for ideas as they occur to you
• connect with colleagues at conference
• direct people to your blog for fuller postings

Keep the following in mind:

• Twitter is real-time and public
• The "whole" world will read the messages or "tweets" that you post
• Twitter is free to use, but sending text messages and browsing the web from your cell phone or handheld likely isn't, so check with your wireless provider about any charges you will incur by using the service
  

For conference participants:

• You are limited to 140 characters or less
• Using Twitter during a presentation might distract you (or the presenter) so use it with caution...perhaps add your thoughts following the session
• Keep in mind the standards for privacy and regulatory issues when using Twitter - don't post sensitive information

For followers of SLA2008 who aren't at conference:

• By following the sla2008 feed, you will have the opportunity to participate in SLA2008
• Feel free to ask questions...they might even be posed to presenters on your behalf
• Exchange relevant links to sites and blogs about topics being discussed

For Further Reading

• Live Twittering A Conference? Try Live Twitting!
• Twitter, the ultimate conference ‘backchannel’
• One Thing I Don't Like About Twitter
• Twitter FAQ
• The Official Twitter Commands