Between a Rock and a Cell Phone: Social Media Use during Mass Protests in Iran, Tunisia and Egypt

In this paper we examine the use of social media, and especially Twitter, in Iran, Tunisia and Egypt during the mass political demonstrations and protests in June 2009, December 2010 - January 2011, and February 2011, respectively. We compare this usage with methods and findings from other studies on the use of Twitter in emergency situations, such as natural and man-made disasters. We draw on our own experiences and participant-observations as an eyewitness in Iran (first author), and on Twitter data from Iran, Tunisia and Egypt. In these three cases, Twitter filled a unique technology and communication gap at least partially. We summarize suggested directions for future research with a view of placing this work in the larger context of social media use in conditions of crisis and social convergence

Sharing news, making sense, saying thanks: patterns of talk on Twitter during the Queensland floods

Abstract: This paper examines the discursive aspects of Twitter communication during the floods in the summer of 2010–2011 in Queensland, Australia. Using a representative sample of communication associated with the #qldfloods hashtag on Twitter, we coded and analysed the patterns of communication. We focus on key phenomena in the use of social media in crisis communication: communal sense-making practices, the negotiation of participant roles, and digital convergence around shared events. Social media is used both as a crisis communication and emergency management tool, as well as a space for participants to engage in emotional exchanges and communication of distress.Authored by Frances Shaw, Jean Burgess, Kate Crawford and Axel Bruns

Polarization and Extent of Maser Emission from Late-Type Stars: Support for a Plasma Turbulence Model of Maser Production

The integrated spectrum of OH emission from late-type stars is often circularly polarized, by as much as 50% in some cases. While the spectra are partially polarized, the individual maser components revealed by VLBI are much more so. Using VLBI observations of late-type stars from the literature, we show that the difference in circular polarization between main lines correlates with a difference in angular extent for a given object. This is a natural result if turbulent magnetic fields are causing the masers to be polarized via the Cook mechanism, and might serve as a good diagnostic for determining which objects should be investigated in the search for magnetic fields around evolved stars.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figs ApJL, accepte

Students and instant messaging: a survey of current use and demands for higher education

Instant messaging (IM) is the term used to describe the technology through which ‘users can set up a list of partners who will be able to receive notes that pop up on their screens the moment one of them writes and hits the send button’. While early use could be described as mainly for fun, IM today is a serious communication medium. Remarkably, it seems that educational institutions have been doing very little with it, while several studies indicate that it could indeed be a valuable tool in education. As a first step towards a better understanding of the educational use of IM, we want to gain insights in how students currently use IM and what opportunities they themselves see for the medium. To that end we conducted a survey among students of the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. A large majority of the participating students indicated using IM for their studies. Also, when asked about their demands for a possible educational implementation, the majority were positive

On expansion parallax distances for planetary nebulae

The distances to individual wind-driven bubbles such as Planetary Nebulae (PNe) can be determined using expansion parallaxes: the angular expansion velocity in the sky is compared to the radial velocity of gas measured spectroscopically. Since the one is a pattern velocity, and the other a matter velocity, these are not necessarily the same. Using the jump conditions for both shocks and ionization fronts, I show that for typical PNe the pattern velocity is 20 to 30% larger than the material velocity, and the derived distances are therefore typically 20 to 30% too low. I present some corrected distances and suggest approaches to be used when deriving distances using expansion parallaxesComment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

What can we get “help” to observe when it comes to mobile use and mobile user experience?

Mobile devices and mobile services have been around long enough for the research community to start thinking about the next step in studying them: larger user groups and longer periods of time. Strictly quantitative methods are not very useful when it comes to studying user experience so we need to find scalable ways to support our qualitative methods to be able to take this next step. This paper reflects on automatic gathering of context data as one such way

The Use of Social Media by UK Local Resilience Forums

The potential uses of social media in the field of emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) are varied and interesting. The UK government have produced guidance documents for its use in the UK EPRR field but evidence of use is poorly documented and appears sporadic. This paper presents the results of a survey of Local Resilience Forums (LRF) in the UK on their use and engagement with social media. The findings suggest that the level of application of social media strategies as emergency planning or response tools varied significantly between the LRFs. While over 90percent of respondents claimed that their LRF used social media as part of their strategy, most of this use was reactive or passive, rather than proactive and systematic. The various strategies employed seem to be linked most strongly to local expertise and the existence of social media ‘champions’ rather than to the directives and guidance emerging from government

Criminal Law—Proof of False Representations Inadmissible Unless Alleged in Indictment

People v. Palen, 7 N.Y.2d 107, 195 N.Y.S.2d 829 (1959)

Crisis communication capacity for disaster resilience: community participation of information providing and verifying in Indonesian volcanic eruption

This study investigates information networks during the 2010 Merapi volcanic eruption, as a well-proven representative case to capture the capacity of local communities to provide, share, and verify information. Abstract Strengthening community capacities is important to significantly increase community resilience after a shock. In the phase of disaster resilience, relief activities generally are focused on aid distribution, physical and economic recovery to stabilize the affected community. Yet, building the community capacity for crisis communication has not been prioritized; meanwhile it can accelerate the social capital in disaster resilience. By selecting Jalin Merapi (Merapi Circle Information Networks) in the 2010 Merapi eruption as a case study; this study captures how local communities can empower themselves through participation in providing, sharing, and verifying the information within their social network. Data has been collected by in-depth interviews with the local communities‟ members and focus-groups with appointed officials in Merapi volcano. Jalin Merapi has developed a collaborative system with community radio stations and local communities as reliable information sources and direct verifiers. A media convergence of 14 communication technologies enables a broad spread of information about refugees‟ real needs within and beyond the local communities. As the result, the refugees could receive adequate aid based on their current situation and culture. Hence, they can quickly recover themselves and furthermore foster the resilience process within the affected communities in general. Finally, this study is trying to acknowledge the challenges for strengthening the community capacity for crisis communication with bottom-up approaches, based on their knowledge and vulnerabilities in disaster resilience