Technology

submitted by Tim Siftar

Georgia Tech

ATLANTA – Oct. 11, 2011 – Today the citizens of Liberia will participate in just their second presidential election since the country emerged from a brutal civil war in 2003, and in such an environment the specter of violence or other unrest is never far away. But what if social media, a Georgia Tech professor is asking, could identify and even help prevent dangerous situations from occurring?

When nearly 40 million Nigerians took to the polls last April to elect a new president, many of them went online to share comments about their chosen candidates on blogs, Twitter or other social media platforms. They also used these new media tools to report what they saw. “Listening” to much of it was Georgia Tech Associate Professor Michael Best, which just might have saved a few lives.

During the election, Best provided technical support for a Nigerian group that wanted to use social media as a means for tracking the election process and identifying any problems that cropped up. Best and his team of researchers designed a social media aggregator tool that could pull content from about 20 different sources (including Twitter) and analyze the data in real time using keywords.

Leverage IT for Effective Government Healthcare Programs

Thursday, October 6

7:30 - 8:30am
Registration, Networking Breakfast & Book Signing

8:30 - 11:00am
Program

The Willard Hotel
1401 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20004

In 2010, legislation changed how American citizens, service providers, insurers, and Federal, state and local governments approach national healthcare. Join Federal Computer Week for this free Federal Executive Briefing on October 6 to discuss the direct implications of these nationwide changes for citizens, businesses and public sector organizations.

There is no doubt that strategic application of information technology has a pivotal role in decreasing operating costs, improving quality of service, and retaining reliable patient, doctor, and insurance information. Following David Walker’s Keynote address hear subject matter experts discuss relevant technologies that directly support more effective Government Health IT programs.

You Will Learn:

BBC - September 9, 2011

Sentiment mining showed a sharp change in tone around Egypt ahead of President Mubarak's ousting

Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US research.

A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt.

While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict.

The system also picked up early clues about Osama Bin Laden's location.

Kalev Leetaru, from the University of Illinois' Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts and Social Science, presented his findings in the journal First Monday.

Mood and location