Twitris - a data collecting time capsule

If you use Twitter on a daily basis, which is still at a nascent stage when it comes to Polish users, you probably sometimes wonder what happens to the most popular tweets. Do they vanish after a period of time or are they recorded somewhere?Twitris provides an answer to the question.

It is safe to say that Twitris is a tweet-based Semantic Social Web Application that was created by the Kno.e.sis Center in Dayton, Ohio, to help in processing a hugeamount of information that pop up about a particular event. The application uses Semantic web technologies that analyze and provide trustworthy data from various sources around the Internet (blogs, microblogs, news, Wikipedia articles, to name a few). It collects and archives topics, hashtags, images and videos and therefore acts like a time capsule (data is not deleted, so searches are available for future research).

Twitris' main purpose is based on the quickest and simplest understanding of the important events that take place in the world and their influence on socialperceptions. In other words, it analyzes people's reactions to a specific piece of news or a happening. Becasue it is „event centric”, Twitris supply only utmost details on what users are discussing, when and where. The application keeps us informed on the latest news along with a semantic investigation of the whole story.

So far, the most spectacular success is the Occupy Wall Street movement analysis. The application has processed and stored around 4 million tweets from users that participated in the Occupy events. Overall, Twitris has collected all kinds of data from about 40 worldwide events, including the Iran Election in 2009 and the tragic earthquake on Haiti in 2010.

According to the app developers, there is a plan to upgrade the system with more search options and to „individuazlie” it for an ordinary user. For now, the creators choose what to follow and the latest even that is being analyzied on a large scale in the US Presidential Election, 2012.

For more relevant info, I recommend visiting the following websites:

Twitris - Official Twitris Website

Twitris Demo video on YouTube

By Rafał Zieliński

 

VOCABULARY

at a nascent stage - beginning to exist

vanish - to disappear suddenly

amount - a quantity of sth

pop up - appear suddenly or unexpectedly

trustworthy - that you can rely on to be good, honest

influence - the effect that somebody or something has on the way a person thinks or behaves

perception(s) - the way you notice things

spectacular - very impressive

worldwide - affecting all parts of the world

upgrade - to make a computer system more powerful and efficient

individualize - make something different to suit the needs of a particular person

on a large scale - involving many people or things

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