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Jul 26 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-26

by skairam
  • At Fifth Floor. @sunshinamonra astounded by our 10-year-old dining companion: "Excuse me, sir, how is the octopus prepared?" #
  • @SchauerTime It was really quick, like somebody on the other side of the room jumped and landed, so likely easy to miss. #
  • Trouble with living so close to the highway is that I'm never really sure if I've felt an earthquake or not until I check Twitter #
  • Trying out the new Digg Alpha. It's a lot prettier but hard to evaluate until I see more friends on there who I actually want curating. #
  • Argh, why is it so much harder to find errors in your research survey BEFORE spamming the whole organization to ask them to take it? #
  • Study supports structural balance theory in virtual world interactions: http://bit.ly/crrHEC » Perhaps 'proves' is too strong a word? #
  • Inception last night was great – pretty much perfectly walked the line between complexity and comprehensibility. #

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Jul 19 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-19

by skairam
  • At Inception with @sunshineamonra. Attempt 2 and got a seat this time, but theater is packed even on a Sumday night. #
  • http://bit.ly/cQ7Idc ROILA: Spoken lang. (words from English, Dutch, & var. African langs.) for Human-Robot InterXn. » Was e-Speranto taken? #
  • DARPA planning human trials for prosthetic arm operated via neural interface: http://bit.ly/d3VpVT /via @wired #
  • RT @nytimes: BP Says Oil Flow from Well Has Stopped as Cap is Tested http://nyti.ms/9liVdn #oilspill /via @edchi #
  • Congrats to @grammarnerd on your Google PhD Fellowship! http://bit.ly/googphd #
  • Amazing idea! Recycled Island: a plan to convert the Great Pacific Garbage Patch http://bit.ly/9VKvv2 into http://www.recycledisland.com/ #
  • @redlog @yardi Thought Leskovec/Kleinberg disc. of status theory was v. compelling – cool to see it modeled this way for indiv. tie choices. #
  • P.S. Once a few people get roped in, 140-char Twitter discussions start getting really unwieldy… #
  • @sharoda Other solution: eschew humans altogether; spend thesis time on building robot partner /cc @msbernst @yardi @katrina_ @redlog et al. #
  • @katrina_ @msbernst @yardi @drewwww Be happy u'r not polyamorous; even physicists can't solve the 3-body prob. (Insp. http://xkcd.com/613/) #
  • @katrina_ Re: Two-body problem, just spent plenty of time talking about it this past April & no females involved. #
  • Okay, Eclipse is poss. on my list of the worst movies I have ever seen in theaters – wish I had more than 140 chars to express my WRATH #
  • RT @Loofadisc: info graphic on the trust-worthiness of beards. awesome. http://pixelspread.com/images/beards_trust_2.jpg #
  • I just joined Feastery – seems like an interesting foodie-twist on the Woot/Gilt/Groupon/Zozi/EVERYONE model: http://bit.ly/dkmvL2 (to join) #
  • Twitter now returning users in search result – curious how these are being computed: http://tcrn.ch/cL1d0W /via @parislemon #
  • @chrismessina Ah, my bad – I signed up so long ago – it looks like only a certain set of buildings are wired for Webpass. #
  • @chrismessina We use WebPass and it seems to work pretty well. Fast & none of the outages I used to have w/ Comcast: http://bit.ly/aSebpO #
  • @sharoda Congrats on CI Fellowship! ASC is a great group and you'll have a great time at @PARCinc! /cc @edchi #
  • .@chockenberry CHOCKLOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS #MOVIESWITHCHOCKLOCK #
  • So if the new containment cap appears to be in place, when do we hear whether the oil has stopped or not? http://bit.ly/9BquDX #bp #
  • RT @parislemon: With the BP leak containment, is someone going to have to enter "4 8 15 16 23 42" every 108 minutes? http://bit.ly/ajKyqL #

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Jul 12 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-12

by skairam
  • EpicWin: iPhone app that combines a to-do list w/ a streamlined RPG. http://youtu.be/AmKwF_Si734 /via @jzy @codinghorror » GWAP win. #
  • @spurpura I was watching CNN over the weekend & I swear it was just Josh Levs & Fredricka Whitfield laughing at stupid YouTube videos. #
  • If you are interested in SXD but couldn't watch #PARCForum today, much of what @gentry talked about & more is here: http://bit.ly/96PTsp #
  • Judge declares US gay-marriage ban unconstitutional http://bit.ly/b3Z7of /via @dannysullivan » Wondering how this will play out… #
  • If you do social software right, it's going to change the community, which will change the software, and so on… #PARCForum #
  • Reasons that Knowledge Sharing solutions fail is rarely technological & more often the result of the human side of the equation #PARCForum #
  • @gentry from @IDEO speaking today at #PARCForum "Beyond Ethnography: Observation & intervention in Social Software Design". #
  • Stay classy, Oakland (please?) #
  • Natl. Inst. of Allergy and Infectious Diseases researchers find antibody that "kills 91% of HIV strains": http://bit.ly/ch9lkf /via @WSJ #
  • Fast Company searching for 2010's Most Influential Person Online. How influential are you? Find out at their site: http://fcinf.com/v/ae7j #
  • @woot calls out AP for re-printing their web content after AP charges other blogs $$ to do the same: http://tcrn.ch/cl9GBH /via @parislemon #
  • Forgot to fact-check this AM! Back to the Future 2 took place in 2015, not 2010! http://bit.ly/a1TQ88 – How did this faux-meme get started? #
  • In "Back to the Future," Doc sets Delorean clock to day 25 yrs in the future. Today is that day! /via @edchi, @stevebuttry, @mathewi, et al. #

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Jul 5 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-05

by skairam
  • @KuraFire I have never seen a movie get such ridiculously angry, sarcastic, vituperative reviews – I am absolutely going to see it! #
  • This review has me curious if he's right to posit Airbender as ingenious parody (much like Showgirls?): http://bit.ly/9t0YbE /via @KuraFire #
  • @WebEcology launches 140Kit (http://140kit.com/) – open research platform 4 scraping Twitter data » Sounds promising! /via @informor #
  • Apple iTunes in the cloud with wireless stream/sync? Have been dreaming of this for a while! http://bit.ly/bRs0dy /via @smc90, @techmeme #
  • One problem with being up early is that I'm ready for lunch at like 10:30 AM – need to stockpile some snacks at my desk. #
  • @ljmecca For some reason I thought you would enjoy/hate this http://bit.ly/duJZ48 (Guinea pig fans perhaps shouldn't click…) #
  • Wow – Finland makes broadband Internet access a "legal right": http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/01/finland.broadband/ #
  • RT @verbicidal: Thesis submitted. plane boarded. Let the fun begin. » Congratulations! #
  • @PARCinc Absolutely! Among ASC's full-timers, I count 6 diff. countries (and a lot of soccer fans). in reply to PARCinc #
  • @avanai Was quick to relay tweet from @WSJ before getting time to read full article – good clarification. #
  • Benefits of working in a largely international group: early, possibly long lunch at nearby pub to watch #worldcup #
  • Supreme Court strikes down landmark anti-fraud law, Sarbanes-Oxley. Much more to come at http://wsj.com /via @communicating, @WSJ » whoa #

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Jun 28 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-28

by skairam
  • RT @Manas: It's like Heisenberg cat-sitting for Schrödinger! http://bit.ly/aHbQiu Headline: "Man reads own obit, dies of shock" #
  • I think someone left a birthday surprise for @sunshineamonra! http://yfrog.com/74hbpifj #
  • I think someone left a birthday surprise for @sunshineamonra! #
  • Not complaining, but got a bunch of new follows today – to anyone new to my stream, just curious – where did you find me? #
  • Do any SF'ers happen to know info about BBQ/Drinks/Event policy for Crissy Field & Beach (Go go gadget Social Search!)? #
  • @msbernst Re: PhD Minor in Media Lab – Wow, that's awesome! Are we going to get to see pics/videos/etc. (tweets?) from your project? #
  • @msbernst Actually on topic of mixing groups (& identities), someone recently reminded me of this Seinfeld gem: http://youtu.be/SxuYdzs4SS8 #
  • Is anyone seriously still trying to argue the idea that we have just one identity? (in the conventionally used sense of the word) #
  • Bad decision to upgrade to iOS4 this morning – late for work, update more than an hour and still going, and no progress bar right now… #
  • RT @johnmaeda: Actual Hazard vs Public Outrage graphic is interesting. http://bit.ly/bphh4A #
  • Just embarrassed myself trying to explain "smizing" to @benhanrahan and @r0wb0t – here you go: http://bit.ly/a5ZluW #
  • @msbernst UMAP and EC-TEL were the ones I'd found so far, but couldn't really find anything else online. #
  • Anyone have tips on best places to submit work on user modeling for e-learning (with a bit of a social info systems angle)? #

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Jun 21 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-21

by skairam
  • Uhhhhh amazing? "Oh Sookie" by Snoop Dogg #trueblood #TB http://truebloodnet.com/true-blood-season-3-snoop-dogg-video/ #
  • This paper has been on a crash-diet: started out as 10 and arduously whittled down to 8 – now they want it in 6! #
  • @yardi Generally, in the sense of what's appropriate to share, tone of voice, etc. like the kind that execs. are probably starting to get. #
  • @andresmh Re: http://bit.ly/bppYTb This strikes me as evidence for a need for social-media education for govt. officials /cc @yardi in reply to andresmh #
  • For some reason it just struck me as sort of fascinating that Amazon offers me a way to refer to real-life products using a URL. #
  • Read nice new word: "shovelware" (traditional paper documents mounted directly on the web) – from http://amzn.to/cuvUsl #
  • That is a great question! RT @smunson: @skairam curious what percent of social time is now Internet Time? #
  • According to Nielsen, 22% of all Internet Time is now "social" (messaging, commenting, blogging, 'liking', etc.) http://nyti.ms/aNrHGQ #
  • @bkeegan Congrats on SocialCom acceptance! Out of curiosity, when did you get the email? Haven't received one yet, & it's making me nervous! #
  • @KevChirp A) Does that mean you are tweeting while driving? B) Does that mean you'd prefer to skype and drive? :p in reply to KevChirp #
  • @xamat I didn't do my own fact-checking on that N. Korea tweet, but it came from @bjfogg, so I do hope it's credible! #
  • RT @bjfogg: Freaky. The "fans" of North Korea at #worldcup are really actors hired from China (acc to announcers) #
  • Re: Last Tweet – not sure if they have actually performed the experiment or whether they are just theorizing how it could be done. #
  • Interesting: German researchers find diffs. b/w gravitational/inertial mass (contradicting Einstein's equiv. princ.) http://bit.ly/aEGqOW #
  • Can now tag tweets w/venues (& see all tweets from a venue, incl. 4Sq & GoWalla): http://tcrn.ch/dvskhw / Twitter blog: http://bit.ly/bi1v5F #
  • RT @mstrohm, @merrierm: TripAdvisor to show which of your FB friends have expertise about particular locations: http://bit.ly/aDZTRg #
  • @vlad43210 @communicating @redlog Thx for soft-boiled egg advice! Was trying to put in a salad, & issue mostly how to get out of the shell #

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Jun 14 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-14

by skairam
  • Halfway through making this soft-boiled egg, it occurs to me that I don't know how to make a soft-boiled egg. #
  • If some enterprising entrepreneur's looking for an idea, please start making "Our Lady of Gaga-Lupe" dashboard figurines & then GIVE ME ONE. #
  • @LadyLaurian Funny to open that site as I ruminate on "surface characteristics affecting judgments of website credibility". in reply to LadyLaurian #
  • Is @Mickey__Rourke actually Mickey Rourke? Because his Twitter feed is actually pretty hilarious. #
  • RT @DRUNKHULK: NEW APPLE PRODUCT! A-TEAM! KARATE KID IN CINEMA! ALL DRUNK HULK NEED IS WHAM AND WHERE BEEF! AND IT 1984 ALL OVER AGAIN! #
  • Will be interested in seeing what Twitter does with Dabble DB (http://dabbledb.com/) /via @chrismessina, @christine, @techmeme #
  • Anyone interested in beta-testing @PARCinc Windows Outlook plug-in http://meshstro.com/ ? Cool tool! Send me a note. #
  • Ok, the gray hairs I can deal with, but is it too much to ask that they come in symmetrically? #
  • I'm in! RT @merrierm: Social media paper discussion group: want to follow along remotely? Aardvark paper http://bit.ly/9hTk9f /via @brynn #
  • "BP: You're not mad enough to not drive your car": sadly true & the funniest part of http://bit.ly/9FhVUh /via @JessinSF #
  • Blargh, I was pretty sure I'd resisit the call of a new iPhone, but $199 is just low enough to make me weak. #
  • What's happening at the #WWDC Keynote? Did he kill the smoke monster yet? Maybe after the Nissan commercial break? #

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Jun 9 10

Analyzing Responses to Likert Items

by skairam

I’m embedding a presentation I gave at a recent “Data Lunch” about how to analyze responses to Likert items. As I am not a stats expert in any respect, I learned a number of things while putting this together – one of the most important is that Likert isn’t actually pronounced “Like-ert”, it’s pronounced “Lick-ert”, which is still tough for me to remember to say. Anyways, hope you enjoy, I’ll include some summary below as well.

Here are some brief notes on the presentation (to avoid the inevitable TL;DR comments):

  • Data used was from a study I ran on Mechanical Turk looking at whether the tool WikiDashboard helps people to make different judgments about the credibility of Wikipedia articles.
  • Participants placed in 1 of 3 conditions: (WO = Wiki Only, WH = Wiki + the History Page, WD = Wiki + WikiDashboard)
  • Articles varied with respect to presumed quality and presumed controversy.
  • Using non-parametric tests was fairly straightforward, but none were all that powerful (able to help find interaction effects – one main hope of the study would be to find an interaction between group and quality).

Anyways, this presentation is not supposed to be an expert statistics guide – rather, it represents the results of my research in trying to solve this problem (again, I’m very much not a statistics expert). There are surely many other ways to address the problem, and I would appreciate hearing from others who have tried attacking Likert items for their studies. I am continuing to analyze the data and may post some results in the near future.

Jun 7 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-07

by skairam
  • No better way to wrap up a weekend than with 900 miles of driving. #
  • Early Saturday morning wake up for secret weekend mission! #
  • This drummer is definitely in the wrong gig: http://bit.ly/cWK9o0 (at one point I forgot the rest of the band was playing) #
  • If you're into music, mobile games, social games, or prediction markets, check out Hitmaker from @ntoys: http://tcrn.ch/dmCzNr #
  • My good friends at @ntoys just rolled out their mobile-social-music game Hitmaker! http://bit.ly/cfMf6F #
  • @velvetglacier "Feral" to me connotes idea that data runs rampant. Once out of the box, hard to get it back in – kind of like data entropy in reply to velvetglacier #
  • "If we think of the Internet as feral, is it a camel? is it a bunny? is it a cane toad?" #PARCForum #
  • G. Bell "What appears to be a solution, might not be." #PARCForum (last 3 tweets reference stories of camels, rabbits, & toads in Australia) #
  • G. Bell "Once it's feral, it's ALWAYS feral." #PARCForum #
  • G. Bell: "Things will sometimes go feral when you're not looking." #PARCForum #
  • G. Bell: "Feral": Not just wild, but rather connoting an "escape from domestication". Interesting lens to look with which technology. #
  • Re: Last tweet – #PARCForum not available live this week – but you can still watch when they put the taped version up in a couple of days. #
  • Heading over to #PARCForum with Genevieve Bell: http://bit.ly/9rPkU2 – You can watch live here: http://www.justin.tv/parcinc/ #
  • Glance at my cellphone & think "how did we ever meet anyone anywhere before these?" Wonder if anyone ever did the same with a pocketwatch? #
  • Awesome Blog: http://youarenotsosmart.wordpress.com/ – self-delusions, misconceptions, & other patterns of irrationality /via @hamiltonulmer #
  • Apple iPad scores high in Dolphin-Computer Interaction tests: http://speakdolphin.com/home.cfm #
  • RT @peter: It's about freaking time we get smarter parking in SF. This looks promising: http://sfpark.org/ #
  • UCLA researchers work on software to auto-generate text annotations for surveillance cameras (cool & a little creepy): http://bit.ly/bEil52 #
  • Wow, nice to see rational, scientific reasoning in the courts! fMRI lie-detection deemed inadmissible by TN court: http://bit.ly/95eY48 #
  • @verbicidal Re: "HCI for Evil", that sounds amazing – I'm totally in. in reply to verbicidal #
  • Anyone remember Microsoft Bob? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob (Also responsible for the creation of,*gasp*, Comic Sans) #

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May 31 10

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-31

by skairam
  • Side note: I'd like to thank Twitter for allowing me to get actual news from someone impersonating a drunk version of the Incredible Hulk. #
  • RT @DRUNKHULK: WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT WORLD! GARY COLEMAN PASS AWAY! » Whoa, out of nowhere! http://nyti.ms/bwmvui #
  • @redlog I think that "the" always adds a flair of ignorant distance, think of how it sounds when applied to a group of people. #
  • RT @ashwinram, @fastcompany: BREAKING: Top Kill Stopped Flow of Oil Into Gulf, BP Says http://bit.ly/8WZaI3 » Awesome if telling the truth! #
  • Re: Last Tweet » "Rich people shouldn't pay taxes since they don't use socialist handouts like welfare and government cheese." #
  • Republicans reach out to citizens for advice on policy w/ social voting website: http://www.americaspeakingout.com/ » Results = Hilarious #
  • RT @FakeAPStylebook: The 4 seasons are Spring, Summer, Winter & Fall. For CA, change to Mudslide, Hillfire, Flood & Earthquake. /via @Manas #
  • Preparing for Data Lunch talk tomorrow by practicing saying "Lick-ert" instead of "Like-ert" (Wikipedia likes both) #
  • RT @koshashah: Excited for @ntoys to present soon at TechCrunch Disrupt! #tcdisrupt – tcdisrupt live on http://livestream.com/disrupt #
  • @ljmecca That prophecy was not fulfilled #

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