Technology Review India: A Search Service that Can Peer into the Future

A Yahoo Research tool mines news archives for meaning--illuminating past, present, and even future events.

Showing news stories on a timeline has been tried before. But Time Explorer, a prototype news search engine created in Yahoo's Barcelona research lab, generates timelines that stretch into the future as well as the past.

Time Explorer's results page is dominated by an interactive timeline illustrating how the volume of articles for a particular search term has changed over time. The most relevant articles appear on the timeline, showing when they were published. If the user moves the timeline into the future, articles appear positioned at any point in time the text might have referred to.

This provides a new way to discover articles, and also a way to check up on past predictions. The timeline for 2010 becomes a way to discover a 2004 Op-Ed suggesting that by now, North Korea would have constructed some 200 nuclear warheads, or a 2007 article accurately predicting difficult policy decisions for Democrats over the expiration of George Bush's tax cuts.

News organizations are increasingly turning to new ways of presenting their content, including through enhanced forms of search. A Pew research study in 2008 found that 83 percent of people looking for news online use a search engine to find it.

Time Explorer can spot both absolute references to future times, such as "November 2010," and work forward from an article's publication date to figure out relative timings like "an election next month." It also extracts names, locations, and organizations mentioned in articles. These are shown in a box to the right of the results; they can be used to add a person or other entity to the timeline, and to fine-tune results to home in on combinations of particular people or places.

"You can see for wars or any other event not only the people that are important, but when they became important," says Michael Matthews, a member of the Yahoo research team. "The evolution of news over time is not something you can do very easily with tools that are out there today."

Time Explorer was built using a collection of 1.8 million articles released by the New York Times stretching from 1987 to 2007 to stimulate research into new ways of exploring news coverage. Time Explorer was presented, along with other ideas for using the same dataset, at a session of the Human Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval (HCIR) workshop in New Brunswick, NJ, over the weekend. Time Explorer won the most votes from attendees for best use of the Times articles.

Other tools presented at HCIR attempted to assess the authority of people mentioned in an article, determine phrases related to a search term, and rapidly pull together a page summarizing the latest news on a particular topic, for example a celebrity or country.

"For most news search engines, recency is a significant factor for relevance," says Daniel Tunkelang, a tech lead at Google's New York office who chaired the challenge session. "Time Explorer brings an exploratory perspective to the time dimension, letting users see the evolution of a topic over time."

"The slick visualization allows users to discover unexpected relationships between entities at particular points in time--for example, between Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein," says Tunkelang. Refining a search for the term "Yugoslavia" with the two leaders reveals how, at first, Hussein appears as a point of comparison in coverage of the Serbian leader, but later the two leaders were directly involved, with stories reporting arms deals between them.

Although Time Explorer currently only works with old news, it could also be used to explore new coverage, and to put it in context, says Matthews. "It would be tough to update in real time, but it could certainly be done daily, and I think that would be useful for sure."

He says the service would be best deployed as a tool that works off of the topics in a breaking story. A person reading a news report about, say, Medicaid would find it useful to see the history of coverage on the topic, as well as the predictions made about its future, says Matthews. "It's like a related-articles feature, but focused in the future." He and colleagues are working on adding more up-to-date news sources, as well as content from blogs and other sites to Time Explorer's scope.

The Times has digitized and made searchable its content going back to 1851, yet today's search technologies and interfaces are not up to the task of making such large collections explorable, says Evan Sandhaus, a member of the New York Times Research and Development Labs who oversaw the release of the article archive in late 2008.

"We can say, 'show me all the articles about Barack Obama,' but we don't have a database that can tell us when he was born, or how many books he wrote," says Sandhaus, who adds that tools developed to process the meaning of news articles could have wider uses. "That resource will not only help the research community move the needle for our company but for any company with a large-scale data-management problem."
With most organizations harboring millions of text documents, from e-mails to reports, smarter tools to handle them would likely be popular, Matthews says. "In theory, the underlying algorithms should work on anything, perhaps with a little tweaking."

Read More

100 Serious Twitter Tips for Academics

Getting Started

• If you are new to Twitter or could use a few more basic pointers, check out these tips.
• Set up an account for your class. Academhack has excellent step-by-step instructions for getting your class set up with a Twitter account.
• Explore ways the class can communicate with Twitter. Doug Belshaw outlines three ways to use Twitter with students here.
• Learn about the benefits. This article profiles three professors' use of Twitter with their classes and watch this video about Twitter at college.
• Learn from others' experience. Some of those who have used Twitter in an academic setting have graciously shared their experiences and resources. Get started with Howard Rheingold's delicious bookmarks on Twitter usage.
• The Beginner's Guide to Twitter. Read this blog post for great advice on getting started with Twitter.
• Ten Top Twitter Tips. Find helpful Twitter tips, including understanding the different types of messages.
• How to Use Twitter: Tips for Bloggers. Get some basic tips here.
• Twitter 101: Clarifying the Rules for Newbies. This article takes a look at three Twitter mistakes those new to Twitter can make and how to avoid them.
• Lunch n Learn: Twitter for Beginners. Watch this video presented by Birmingham City University.
• VIDEO: A beginner's guide to Twitter. The article accompanying this video offers great suggestions for those just starting out with Twitter.

Twitter Etiquette
There's nothing worse than finding out you unwittingly committed a faux pas, so brush up on your Twitter etiquette here.

• Keep direct messages private. If someone sends a direct message, be respectful and continue this conversation privately.
• Don't post one-on-one chatter publicly. It's a waste of everyone else's time to read about your plans with a friend to meet up for coffee. Keep those conversations private and you won't risk burning out other followers.
• Ask questions. Remember that Twitter is at its best as a communication tool, so don't just write what's on your mind, also ask questions to open the dialog to others.
• Be nice while tweeting during a presentation. This blog post recommends only tweeting something you would be comfortable saying face-to-face.
• Be prepared to feel the sting. Not everyone thinks before commenting on Twitter, so be prepared to have others tweet comments about you that may not be so diplomatic.
• Make dedicated accounts for each class or project. Don't try to lump more than one group together. It can get confusing and too overwhelming.
• Don't send messages just to make a post. Make sure what you are tweeting is relevant to the discussion happening on the feed.
• 
  
  Learn the etiquette. This wiki page offers plenty of information on Twitter etiquette as well as ways to help manage your Twitter experience.
  
  

Strategies
These strategies will help you use Twitter smarter.

• Use hashtags. Hashtags, or the # symbol before keywords, can add order to what may seem Twitter chaos. This article describes three ways to use hashtags.
• Play BackChatter. BackChatter is a Twitter game that draws those attending a conference into becoming interactive participants.
• Find and use apps. Applications can enhance your Twitter experience, so learn how you can find the latest apps for Twitter here.
• Join Twitter Freaks. This Diigo community offers a great selection of resources for using Twitter.
• Twitter Tweets for Higher Education. Find some interesting suggestions for using Twitter in academia here.
• TwiTip. This blog features advice for using Twitter to your best advantage.
• 35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users. These tips ranges from being honest to recommendations for apps to better manage your Twitter use.
• 100 Totally Free Twitter Power Strategies. Find tips lots of strategies and tips here.
• Twitter tips – tools for your tweets. Not only can you find tools to enhance your Tweets, you also learn some basics about using Twitter here.
• Top 10 Twitter Hacks. Learn more than ten ways to make Twitter work for you with this article.

Ideas for Instructors
Instructors can benefits from these Twitter tips.

• Present a faculty forum. Once you have a semester or two of Twitter use in the classroom, host a presentation for fellow faculty members to help educate them on how to use Twitter in the classroom.
• Live blog a conference. Use Twitter to live blog a conference or lecture. Not only are you keeping notes for yourself, but you have created a record for others to access as well.
• Notes after class. Twitter can serve as a notepad to record thoughts and ideas after class.
• Lesson plans. Twitter your lesson plans so you, your students, and even other instructors can see what you are doing.
• Collaborate. Geography no longer has to divide good instructors. Learn from and share with other instructors at your own campus or at campuses around the world.
• Instant feedback. Especially in a large lecture class, Twitter provides instructors an opportunity for instant feedback on the class as it is occurring.
• Find support. Reaching out for advice or feedback on a specific task or project is easy with Twitter. Read Tom Scheinfeldt's description of an outreach community created around Omeka users.
• Increase class participation. Having students use Twitter invites more class participation, from acknowledging their attendance to finding a daily schedule.
• Problem solving. If you have run into a snag, post your problem on Twitter and watch the creative solutions roll in.
• Testing new technology. Easily find participants on Twitter to help you test new technologies like Jeff Utecht did.

Benefits for Students
These tips offer benefits for students, improving their learning environment.

• Asynchronous class conversation. Students can discuss topics relevant to what is happening in class as something happens away from traditional class time.
• Create community. Students who come together as a community are generally more open to communicating and learning from one another in class. Twitter promotes a sense of community through its sharing of personal information.
• Create a greater depth of interpersonal understanding. Getting to know small bits of someone over time provides a greater picture of who that person is, therefore developing a deeper sense of understanding that promotes more openness and sharing in the classroom.
• Make better connections with professors. Students and professors can communicate through Twitter to open up better working relationships.
• Post questions about assignments. If students are stumped, posting a question on Twitter opens up opportunities for other students to help clarify or for the instructor to step in.
• As questions without raising a hand. Standing behind Twitter is sometimes less intimidating than raising a hand and having an entire class staring at you when asking a question. Twitter can encourage asking questions or finding clarification.
• Provides "backchannel". The term "backchannel" refers to the conversation occurring secondary to the main lecture or presentation. Read about some of the benefits of the backchannel in this article.
• Brings together online communities. Creating a sense of community in online classes can sometimes be challenging. Twitter can help create this sense of community.

Tips for the Class
Implement this tips in class for a new way of finding and sharing information.

• Twitter search. The search tool on Twitter will immediately provide you with any tweets including your given keyword, so go explore with topics from class.
• Direct tweet. Professors and students can contact each other through direct tweets without having to share cell phone numbers.
• Collaborate on projects. When working together on projects, set up a group using an app like Tweetworks to facilitate communication between everyone.
• Make announcements. Professors can send out reminders about upcoming tests, project due dates, or any other class news.
• Brainstorm. Brainstorm on class topics any time and anywhere ideas occur by posting them on Twitter and seeing who else contributes.
• Take a poll. Take opinion polls or get feedback by using an app like PollDaddy.
• Share interesting websites. Both professors and students can post interesting websites that are relevant to their class.
• Use tools to find answers from tweeters you don't know. It's one thing to gather information from your followers, but it's a totally different opportunity to find answers from among a larger group of Twitter users. This article offers five suggestions to do just that.
• twiggit. Find interesting news articles or articles relevant to a current topic in class and share the results with this tool that combines Digg with Twitter.

Assignments Using Twitter
Try some of these assignments utilizing Twitter.

• Use it to teach a foreign language. Conversing with native speakers is an excellent way to reinforce foreign language lessons. See how this professor used Twitter to teach Italian.
• Learn from professional journalists. Study how these journalists use Twitter to enhance their careers or see what other teachers are doing.
• Do community service. Become inspired by this story of how Twitter helped bring water to 50 remote villages.
• Write a thesis. Consider writing a thesis (or a smaller research paper) on the effects of Twitter like this student did.
• Writing succinctly. Have students practice sharing complex thoughts in 140 words or less for a great writing lesson.
• Play Telephone. Play this old childhood game with a new twist by having students create a story chained together by their tweets or use twittories to accomplish this goal.
• Learn probability. While this math lesson was originally done for younger students, it is an excellent example of using Twitter to deliver hands-on learning.
• Study geography with Twitter and Google Earth. Follow this teacher's lead to incorporate these two technologies into a dynamic geography lesson.
• Connect with classrooms in a different geographic location. Collaborate with another classroom to expand the possibilities of learning.
• Twitter-specific projects. Help students learn how to use Twitter by offering assignments such as this one from this Georgia Southern University instructor.
• Have a Twitter treasure hunt. Follow the example given here to create a treasure hunt with students' prize being the completion of the assignment.

Follow These
Here are suggestions for people and things to track on Twitter.

• A professional. Keep up with what professionals in your area of interest are doing through their Twitter feed.
• A famous person. Many politicians and celebrities are on Twitter. Follow them to keep abreast of current events.
• Mentors. If professors or other key figures in your field of study are on Twitter, follow them to keep up with their research and activities.
• The news. Twitter has quickly become a recognized resource for up-to-the-minute news from well-respected news sources.
• Citizen journalism. World events, such as the recent protests in Iran, are beginning to unfold on Twitter. Students and instructors alike can follow citizen journalism right alongside the mainstream news reports.
• Track a word or phrase. Track a word or phrase to see how it is being used by others. This is a great way to learn the nuances of words and phrases.
• Check out the recent public updates. The recent public updates shows the most recent posts from all Twitter users. This is a great place to spot trends and see what others are talking about.

Twitter Tools
These tools can help your Twitter experience become easier and more dynamic.

• Twhirl. This powerful desktop client helps manage your Twitter experience through such helpful features as URL shortening, new message notifications, image posting, and much more.
• TwitterNotes. This tool lets you make private notes for yourself among your tweets.
• QuoteURL. A great tool for summarizing a Twitter project, this tool will put different Tweets together on one page.
• TwitPic. This tool lets you share photos on Twitter.
• bit.ly. Shorten URLs so that you use fewer characters when sharing web links on Twitter.
• Tweetree. Groups entire conversations together to help put tweets in context.
• TweetGrid. Create a customized search dashboard to enhance you Twitter searches with this tool.
• TweetScan. Have tweets emailed to you based on keywords you select with this tool.
• TweetDeck. This app allows you to create groups of Tweets to better manage all the information you receive.
• TwitterFone. When you are busy, use this tool to leave a voice message that will be turned into a tweet.
• Tweet Later. This tool lets you write tweets that you can schedule for posting in the future. Write reminders, then schedule them to post closer to when they need to be used.
• Great Twitter Tools for Use in Academia
• The following tools lend themselves to the learning environment of academia.
• Outwit Me. This site offers "intelligent Twitter games" and is a great way to have students get comfortable using Twitter.
• Atlas. Explore the world with tweets that are shown on a map.
• Twrivia. Get a new trivia question each day with this tool.
• weather. Science News Blog post frequent weather news and events occurring around the world.
• EarthquakeNews. From the USGS Earthquake Center, get tweets about any earthquake that registers over 2.5 anywhere in the world.
• Tweetizen. Find specific groups on Twitter or start your own group.
• GeoTwitterous: Personalized Twitter on a Map. This article describes how GeoTwitterous works as a great tool to map your Twitter network.
• Plinky. Each day this app provides a prompt in the form of a question or challenge, then you can reply by posting text, photos, maps, or whatever you can use to answer the prompt.
• Finding People in Academia to Follow
• Take these suggestions for finding professors, students, and more on Twitter.
• Colleges & Universities Directory. From Just Tweet It, this directory will connect you with both professors and students in academia.
• Professors :: Twellow. Professors on Twitter can add themselves to this directory.
• Twitter Professors: 18 People to Follow for a Real Time Education. Mashable offers a list of 18 professors you should follow and why.
• Twitter Grader. This tool will grade your Twitter presence, but it also provides a listing of the popular Twitter users in your area, providing an excellent opportunity to find people to follow.
• Follow Fridays. This popular activity of Friday recommendations of others to follow provides an opportunity to find interesting people to follow.
• WeFollow. Add yourself and find others in this user-powered Twitter directory where you can search by hashtags.
• TwitterLocal. Used in conjunction with Adobe AIR, find local Twitter users based on whichever geographic location you supply.
• Twubble. This tool searches your friend graph and selects others you may be interested in following. This is a great way to discover others associated with your school

Read More

Microsoft unveils new web search engine called “Bing”

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Thursday unveiled a new Web search engine, Bing, designed to intuitively understand what people are seeking on the Internet and challenge online king Google. The US software colossus described Bing as a "Decision Engine" and said it will be deployed worldwide at Bing.com by Wednesday. Bing's launch comes in the wake of Google and Yahoo! announcing refinements to their search services and the launch of a Wolfram Alpha query engine that delivers answers instead of lists of websites. "Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don't do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. "When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web." Bing relies predominately on algorithms and key words to provide results for online searches but has infused some semantic technology that deduces intended meanings of phrases, according to Microsoft. "The Bing service is a first step," said Whitney Burk, director of communications for Bing. "We still have plenty of work to do and we are excited to get it out into the wild next week." Bing will replace MSN Live Search, which has languished in a distant third place behind market-leading Google and second-place Yahoo! Bing is vastly better than Microsoft's Live but doesn't outshine Google when it comes to general Internet search, according to analyst Matt Rosoff of private firm Directions On Microsoft. "They want to give you more information without having to click through to a lot of other sites," said Rosoff, who has used Bing during the past month as part of a Microsoft test program. "I like it, but I don't think it will get me to switch from Google entirely. They are not naive to the scope of the challenge. They are going to keep throwing money at it for awhile." The search engine is aimed at online shoppers and will initially focus on helping people make buying decisions, plan trips, research health matters, or find local businesses. For example, people using Bing to shop online will automatically be provided product reviews and those planning trips will get information regarding travel bargains. Bing has a "Best Match" feature that identifies and gives high priority to answers that seem to best fit queries. "Quick Tabs" that appear automatically on search results pages recommend query refinements. As examples, searches on cities could trigger tabs for information regarding weather or tourist attractions while queries on films might prompt tabs for movie sound tracks or actor biographies. Semantic technology is used for online research quests on topics along the lines of "Was Albert Einstein married?" Documents or videos can be previewed without clicking through to links. "The most popular button in search today is the 'Back' button," Burk said. " "You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to find something on the Internet . Bing is really designed to help people narrow in on things faster and make smarter decisions." Bing gives Microsoft "a leg up" on competitors but is more likely to lure users from Yahoo! because "Google is too much of a habit for everyone," Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk said in a blog post. "Microsoft's Bing will change the face of search," VanBoskirk wrote. "Bing focuses on delivering answers, not Web pages." In what is a growing online search trend, Bing delves into websites to summarize what they have to offer in easily scanned preview boxes. "We are trying to surface functionality right to the top so people don't have to look for it quite so hard," Burk said. Microsoft cited study results indicating that an estimated 30 percent of online searches are abandoned out of frustration and that searchers often fail to get what they seek on a first try.

Read More