Wednesday, September 15, 2010

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."

Monday, September 13, 2010

Points on How to Improve Your Life


Personality:
1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment

3. Don't overdo; keep your limits

4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does

5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip

6. Dream more while you are awake

7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present

11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you

12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.

Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

13. Smile and laugh more

14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.



Community:


15. Call your family often

16. Each day give something good to others

17. Forgive everyone for everything

18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6

19. Try to make at least three people smile each day

20. What other people think of you is none of your business

21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.



Life:



22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.

23. GOD heals everything

24. Do the right things

25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change

26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up

27. The best is yet to come

28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful

29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it

30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.



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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Drilling deep into Google


Google is one of the most visited sites on the internet. Most of us use it for all our online searches. But it's actually far more than a search engine. Click on the "more" tab and more than 20 other Google applications can be found. There are variations on the main search engine, such as






Google Scholar, which allows a search of academic documents only, or


Google Blog Search, which searches only for blog topics that interest you.


Google Books, as the name suggests, searches books and magazines for particular topics, writers and so on. Users can also add items to their virtual library to build up a list of books to read.




Google Desktop is a download rather than an online application. It creates a searchable index of all files stored on your computer. Results are categorised into emails, files and web history pages. Users can also choose results that show only a certain file type. So, if searching for a photo, users may choose to see only .jpeg results. As more and more people keep stuff digitally, from photos to music, being able to search for something quickly and easily is key.


  Google Alerts keeps an eye on topics of interest. For example, a person may want to follow anything relating to the Cricket World Cup and Common Wealth Games. Type in these terms to the "alerts" box, choose whether content is wanted from news sources, blogs or everywhere, and choose how often Google can email the results. Then, whenever Google finds new web content that matches those search terms, it will come straight to the user's inbox.


There are also applications that enable people to share and show information online, and they go way beyond the ubiquitous Gmail. Got things to say that you want the world to see? Google's Blogger is a good start. It is quick, easy and free to set up a blog, with ready- made templates and online tutorials. There is no need to be a tech genius.


Those who prefer talk should check out Google Talk, an instant messaging application through which people can chat and make voice calls with other Google Talk users.



Looking for likeminded people? Google Groups lets people create or join online discussion groups from just about every corner of the world.



Even language is no barrier. Simply select Google Translate, enter the web address of the page to translate and, in seconds, it's done. However, be warned. Like many online translations, it is not 100 per cent reliable and can throw out some strange phrases. I wouldn't use it to translate vital legal documents.



Google has its critics, not least those worried about it taking over the world. With great free tools such as these, it's easy to see how it might happen.





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Friday, August 27, 2010

Improvements to Realtime Search




The blogosphere is a dynamic environment that changes almost as quickly as the world that we live in. And as access to information becomes more widespread and more immediate, the blogosphere is steadily closing that gap. That’s why the Blogger Team is excited to spread the word about Google’s new improvements to Realtime Search, which provide richer and fresher results than ever before.



From the new Realtime Search homepage, you can search live updates, recently-published blog posts, and news from around the web in brand new ways. Now you can restrict your search to include just updates from a specific geographic region or just nearby you. You can also check out complete conversations from Twitter. You can also now set up custom alerts for Realtime updates to be sent directly to your inbox once a day or week, or as soon as the happen for instant blog post fodder.



For more information about Realtime’s new features, please visit www.google.com/landing/realtime.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Add blog to web site





You see blogs everywhere nowadays. Why have blogs become more popular than conventional web sites? Because they are is much easier to maintain and update. Blog software lets you add, edit and deleted web pages and content through a nice graphical user interface and you don't need to mess with any web programming (including the simple HTML). Now there are several ways to add a blog to a web site and the method you choose would depend on your technical expertise, available resources and the platform on which the web site is hosted. On this page, we shall look at the simplest way to get this done first and then move to more complex options.

Get a blog from a free service and link to it from your existing web site

The easiest and quickest way is to get a free blog and provide a link to it from your existing web site. There are tons of services that will let you make a blog for free - Google's Blogger is probably the most popular of them all. These free blogs can also be customized to reflect your actual web site's layout and colors. Remember the free blog will be hosted on another server though you may be able to get it on your too - this depends on the service you choose.

Add a professional blog to your web site

Obviously, free blogs have limited options. For a professional approach, shell out a few dollars each month and get a fully customized blog. Your blog can actually look exactly like your web site. You again provide a simple link from your existing site to the blog.

Install blog software on your web site through the control panel

Many web hosting companies let you install blog software such as the famous WordPress with a click of a mouse. This is typically done via the Fantastico script library - check with your hosting company. Such blogs can be made to install in a subdirectory on the web server space - don't put them in the document root else the blog will replace your main web site. You can then link to it from your web sites pages.
WordPress is very flexible blog software. You can use a premade design (there are available aplenty on the web), buy one that fits your requirements or even have a template made that looks exactly like your present site.

Install blog on your web site manually

This is a more complex approach and involves download, uploading and then installing blog software on your web server. The options depend on the choice of software and the configuration of the web server.

Which method do I advice?

For business and professional web sites, I suggest going in with the Fantastico option. The only requirement is having PHP and MySQL running on your web server. I recommend Hostgator and Lunarpages web hosting companies who provide excellent hosting plans with the Fantastico scripts library in the control panel.
If you were looking to create a blog web site from scratch, please refer that link for more information.



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Friday, August 20, 2010

National Health Information Collaboration - Health Repository

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
National Health Information Collaboration - Health Repository




View more presentations from Anil Mishra.

How to Install PHP on Windows 7








Installing PHP on Windows 7 is quite a simple affair. However, as the more experienced developers would know, you need to have a web server running first. I suggest using the world's most popular web server - get instructions on how to install Apache on Windows 7 operating system. And if you are a budding PHP programmer, you would very soon like to use it with MySQL database. So once you have finished with PHP installation, read the steps to install MySQL on Windows 7.

Assuming you have successfully been able to install Apache on Windows 7 and have seen the "It works" page, download the PHP file from www.php.net. Though I am on a 64 bit Windows 7 system, I downloaded php-5.2.11-Win32.zip because PHP doesn't come in 64 bit flavour.

Create a folder to install PHP

This tutorial will tell you how to install PHP from the zip archive and not from the installer file - [Slide 1]. Somehow, I've found this is a little simpler. So the first thing is to create a folder where you would like to unzip the PHP files. I like to keep things segregated and yet accessible. Giving PHP its own directory under the C: drive is what I generally do. So go ahead and create a folder called PHP in the C drive on your hard disk. Now unzip the contents of the downloaded PHP zip file into this folder - [Slide 2].
In this C:/PHP folder, you'll see a file called php.ini-recommended. Right-click on this file and choose Copy - [Slide 3]. Now paste the file in the same directory - [Slide 4].
Very important: Rename this file to
php.ini. Windows will tell you that changing the extension will make it unusable - Ignore the message and continue - [Slide 5].


Configuration Apache 2.2 web server for PHP installation

Though you have been able to put PHP on your computer, it's still not "installed" in the true sense of the word. We have to help the Apache web server communicate with PHP. This is done by editing the Apache configuration file, httpd.conf. Go to All Programs -> Apache HTTP Server 2.2 -> Configure Apache Server -> Edit the Apache httpd.conf Configuration File. This opens httpd.conf file in Notepad - [Slide 6].
Gear up to make some changes to this file- check the screenshots from the slideshow as you go along.


  • Locate the "LoadModule section" (Tip: use the Find feature or the Ctrl-F key combination). Add the following line - [Slide 7]LoadModule php5_module "c:/PHP/php5apache2_2.dll"

    Note: If you have chosen to install PHP is a different folder and not C:/PHP, you have to change the path in the above line.

  • Find the "AddType" section and put in the line below - [Slide 8].AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

    Note: You can also use other file extensions for PHP like .php3 or .php4 - simply add them at the end of the above line separated by a blank space.

  • Move to the end of the httpd.conf file and add the line below - [Slide 9]PHPIniDir "C:/PHP"

    Note: This tells the Apache web server the location of the PHP configuration file -
    php.ini.

  • If you've read my instructions on installing Apache on Windows7 know that all web site files are to be kept in the htdocs folder located under the Apache install directory. This means when you load http://localhost, Apache checks the htdocs folder - the "It works" file that's displayed the first time you test Apache installation is actually the index.html file in this folder.
    In accordance to my habit of having things organized, I like to keep web site files in their own folder away from Apache program and configuration files... something like
    C:/websites. The good news is that Apache allows you to make such a change pretty easily and to do this, you need to specify this new directory path as the document root.
    First create a folder for your web site files -
    C:/websites is what I use and is a nice choice. Find the DocumentRoot "C:/Apache/htdocs" in the Apache configuration file and change it to DocumentRoot "C:/websites" - [Slide 10].


  • Lastly, change <Directory "C:/Apache/htdocs"> to <Directory "C:/websites"> - [Slide 11].


Testing the PHP installation

Save the httpd.conf file - "File" -> "Save" [Slide 12] and restart your computer. You actually don't need to restart the machine; stopping and starting the Apache service would have probably worked but I needed a cup of tea.
It's now time to test whether PHP was properly installed on Windows 7. Open a Notepad window and type in the line below exactly as it appears - you can copy-paste if you want.
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Save this file as phpinfo.php in the document root folder which should be C:/websites if you have followed by instructions above.

IMPORTANT: By default, Notepad will save the file as
.txt. So you need to select "All Files" from the "Save as type" drop down and enter the full file name in the "File name" field. Confused? Check the screenshot - [Slide 13].

Open a browser window and load http://localhost/phpinfo.php. A long page with details of the installed PHP version should display - please refer the screenshot in the slideshow - [Slide 14]. If you don't get this and see the PHP code instead, you've probably not saved the file with a .php extension.

This completes the instructions on how to install PHP on Windows 7. I also advice going through the PHP configuration file (php.ini) and making modifications as required.

How to install MySQL on Windows 7



This blog post is on how to install MySQL on Windows 7 is in continuation to the Apache and PHP installations on the same operating system. Before we begin, I like you to determine the system type - whether your computer is 32 bit or 64 bit. This is important as I had a horrendous time trying to troubleshoot PHP-MySQL connection problem - I have detailed this in a blog post - MySQL on a 64 bit Windows 7. You can know the system type from the "Control Panel" -> "System and Security" -> "System".

Download MySQL installer file
Be sure to choose the MySQL installer file that corresponds to your system type. For me, it was the mysql-essential-5.1.40-winx64.msi file from the MySQL.com web site. I chose the essentials file because it is sufficient for my needs. However, there is nothing stopping you from picking the bulky Windows MSI Installer if you want.

Instructions to install MySQL on Windows 7
The screenshots have been presented in a slideshow below - refer these if you have doubts. The process of installing MySQL is not very difficult, so don't be intimidated by the large number of slides; I just wanted to be thorough.



  • Start MySQL installation by double-clicking the .msi file - click "Run" when prompted - [Slide 1].

  • Click "Next" button in the introductory window - [Slide 2].

  • In the following screen, select Custom installation which will allow you to specify the folder to which MySQL will be installed. You can go ahead with a Typical MySQL setup but this will put MySQL deep down in the "Program Files" folder - [Slide 3].

  • Click the "Change" button and enter C:\MySQL in the Folder name field. Hit "OK" when done - [Slides 4 and 5].

  • The installer will change the MySQL installation folder to the one specified by you - [Slide 6].

  • You are now ready to install MySQL on Windows 7 operating system. Click "Install" - [Slide 7].

  • It would take some time for the progress bar to move ahead... be patient - [Slide 8].

  • You may also get messages along the way - simply click on "Next" to proceed - [Slide 9].

  • When the process finishes, you'll get to see the final screen. Congratulations - MySQL has been installed on your computer. You are now prompted to Configure the MySQL server and register the product. In the interest of time, I had unchecked the second box and clicked "Finish". You can do the same if you want - [Slide 10].

  • MySQL instance configuration is important - you cannot use the software until you do so. Click "Next" to proceed - [Slide 11].

  • Select "Detailed Configuration" option - [Slide 12].

  • Choose "Developer Machine" - [Slide 13].

  • I suggest going ahead with "Multifunctional Database" unless you know what you are doing - [Slide 14].

  • In the following screen, don't mess with the default values and click "Next" - [Slide 15].

  • The same goes for the subsequent screen - click "Next" - [Slide 16].

  • For the networking options configuration, put a check mark in front of "Enable Strict Mode" if it's not there - [Slide 17].

  • Yes, it's recommended to install MySQL as a Windows service and have the system include the MySQL bin directory in the Windows PATH variable - [Slide 18].

  • The password for the MySQL server instance has to be typed in twice. Remember to keep a note of it - Don't lose this MySQL password - [Slide 19].

  • The configuration wizard has received all the information it needs and is ready to create a MySQL server instance. Click "Execute" button - [Slide 20].

  • The instance should be configured without problems. If you do get a message from an anti-virus program or the Windows 7 operating system - choose the option to move ahead - [Slides 21 and 22].

Checking the MySQL installation

The easiest way to check MySQL installation and confirm that it's working properly is to use the MySQL Command Line Client. Fire it up from "All Programs" -> "MySQL" -> "MySQL Server 5.1" - [Slide 23].
Now enter the MySQL password - the characters you type will be replaced by the asterisk sign (the password is not shown for security reasons - obviously) - [Slide 24].
The MySQL client displays the mysql> prompt on successful login - [Slide 25]. Type show databases; (the semi-colon at the end is not a typo) and hit the enter key. This simple SQL command instructs MySQL to display the names of the installed databases, which should be three. Hurray - rejoice because you have been able to correctly install MySQL on Windows 7! [ Slide 26]

Configuring PHP to work with the MySQL installation

The PHP configuration file is php.ini located right in the install directory which should be C:/PHP if you have followed my instructions on how to install PHP on Windows 7 computer. We now have to modify this file so that all the three - Apache, PHP and MySQL - work together.

  • By default, PHP doesn't display error messages. This may be a good idea on a web server (security reasons) but for a developer machine (such as your local computer), you would like to see errors. The PHP error messages can point to the line which is causing your scripts to fail.
    [Slide 27] - Find the line
    error_reporting = E_ALL and change it to error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE
    [Slide 28] - Also change
    display_errors = Off to display_errors = On.

  • PHP also needs to be told the directory in which the extensions reside. Unearth the extension_dir = "./" line and change it to extension_dir = C:\PHP\ext. (I've assumed you've installed PHP in C:/PHP. If not, you have to specify the correct path.) - [Slide 29]

  • We need PHP to work with MySQL and, hence, have to load the required extensions. Locate the 'Extensions' section and uncomment (remove the semicolon in front of) the following lines - [Slide 30].extension=php_mysql.dll
    extension=php_mysqli.dll


  • [Slide 31] - Locate the register_globals = Off line and change it to register_globals = On. Experienced developers would tell you not to go ahead with this modification. I do this because a lot of my scripts won't work otherwise - I leave the decision to you.
Save the php.ini file and restart your computer - this will give you time to stretch your legs. By the way, as I had mentioned in the beginning, you have to a web server for PHP to work - read install Apache on Windows 7 for instructions.
Finally, if you have already been using MySQL on another computer you can quickly transfer the databases and tables using mysqldump and the mysql programs.

How to Install Apache on Windows 7


This blog provides detailed step by step instructions on how to install Apache on Windows 7 operating system. Chances are that you would follow the Apache installation with PHP and MySQL database.
Though not required for installing Apache, I suggest you check the system type - whether the Windows 7 your computer is running is 32 bit or 64 bit. This information is available from "Control Panel" -> "System and Security" -> "System" -> "System type". We'll need it when we come to installing MySQL.

Download the Apache Windows installer file
Point your browser to the Apache download page. Click on Win32 Binary without crypto (no mod_ssl) (MSI Installer) file; for instance, I downloaded apache_2.2.14-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi. Double-click on this file to start Apache installation. If you are shown a security warning, ignore it and click "Run" to continue - [Slide 1 in the slideshow below].



  • Click on "Next" in the introductory screen - [Slide 2].

  • Select the "I accept the terms in the license agreement" radio button and hit "Next" - [Slide 3].

  • Enter localhost for both "Network Domain" and "Server Name". In the "Administrator's Email Address" field I generally type in webmaster@localhost. Move to the next screen - [Slide 4].

  • Proceed with Typical installation type, unless you want to be adventurous! - [Slide 5]

  • As you can see from the screenshot, by default, Apache is installed in a folder deep under the "Program Files folder. I don't like this and would recommend that you change the installation directory too. I like to keep things slightly organized and prefer Apache to reside in its own folder on the C: drive. I entered C:\Apache as the destination folder and I suggest you do the same - [Slides 6 and 7].

  • To start installing Apache 2.2 on Windows 7, click on the "Install" button and sit back - [Slides 8 and 9].

  • By the way, if the installation process is interrupted by the anti-virus program on your computer, just provide permissions for it to continue - [Slide 10].

  • In a few minutes, the Apache web server would be installed on your Windows 7 computer - [Slide 11].

  • To test the installation, open a web browser window, enter http://localhost/ in the address bar and hit the "Enter" key - [Slide 12].

  • If you get a page with the words "It works!", celebrate, because you now have the Apache web server running on your Windows 7 computer. Didn't get this message? You may need to start Apache. Go to "All Programs" -> "Apache HTTP Server 2.2" -> "Control Apache Server" and select either "Start" or "Restart". The Apache server can also be started and stopped from "Services" under the Control Panel - [Slide 13 and 14].
For the newly initiated, the HTML file that is displayed when you load http://localhost/ is index.html located inside the htdocs folder in the Apache install directory. Now that Apache has been installed on your Windows 7 computer and is successfully running.

Digital Futures Project: Who Trusts Digital Information?


The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism created the World Internet Project, which includes the Digital Future Project and similar studies across the globe.
The recently released 2010 Digital Futures Project looks at a variety of trends, including the public's lack of "trust" in information online. Maybe that is the angle librarians need to take -- how they can teach students how to evaluate information so they can determine which sources of info they can trust. Here are highlights from "Media Use and Trust" section of the report:
  • Views about Sources of Information and Entertainment:In the current Digital Future Project, a large majority of respondents age 17 and older said that the Internet was an important or very important source of information for them -- higher than the figure reported for television, newspapers, or radio. Comparing the views of users about the importance of entertainment sources, television ranks highest, with 79% of users saying it is an important or very important entertainment source for them, compared to the Internet, radio, and newspapers. (Page 67)
  • Reliability of Information Online: Views of Internet Users: For the third year in a row, a declining percentage of Internet users said that most or all of the information online is reliable. (Page 71)
  • Online Information: Reliability and Accuracy of Frequently-Visited Web Sites: Internet users have much more faith in the Web sites they visit regularly than they do in information online overall, but that faith continues to decline. (Page 73)
  • Web Sites: Which Are Reliable and Accurate, and Which Are Not?:The percentage of Internet users who said that most or all of the information posted by individuals, governments, and established media is reliable and accurate rose slightly in the current Digital Future Study. (Page 75)
  • Social Networking Sites: Reliability and Accuracy: A new question for the Digital Future Project found that only 15% of users said that most or all of the information on social networking sites is reliable and accurate. (Page 81)
  • Search Engines: Reliability and Accuracy: A majority of Internet users said that most or all of the information provided by search engines such as Google is reliable and accurate. However, 12% of users said that only a small portion or none of the information provided by search engines is reliable and accurate, up slightly from 10% in 2008.(Page 82)
  • Trust in the Internet: Forty-two percent of respondents said they have some trust or a lot of trust in the Internet. Fourteen percent of respondents said they have no trust in the Internet. (Page 84)
  • TV Viewing and Time-Shifting: Time-shifting of video viewing is increasing, but only marginally. (Page 86)
  • Trends in Online Media Use:Internet users continue to report considerable time each week using a variety of online media, but in the current study, use of the two most popular online media declined. (Page 88)
  • Twitter, E-books, Internet Video, and Audio Podcasts: In several new questions for this year's Digital Future Study, Internet users were asked about their use of media that have been growing in popularity, including Twitter, e-books, and audio podcasts. Among other responses, the study found that 1/2 of those who go online have used free micro-blogs such as Twitter or Facebook. (Page 89)
  • Would You Miss The Print Edition of Your Newspaper? While Internet users report that they devote significant amounts of time to reading online newspapers, 62% of users who read newspapers offline said they would miss the print edition of their newspaper if it ceased to exist -- an increase for the second year in a row. However, 22% of users who read newspapers said they would not miss the print edition of their newspaper, down from 24% in 2008. Page 91)
  • Does Online Content Lead to Canceled Print Subscriptions? Even though large percentages of users who read newspapers would miss the print edition of the publication if it was no longer available (see the previous question), a notable percentage of Internet users – 18% -- said they stopped a subscription for a newspaper or magazine because they now get the same or related content online, a decline from 22% in 2008. (Page 91)
  • Cell Phones and Text Messages: Text messaging by cell phone users has more than doubled in only two years; overall, cell phone users who send text messages average 38 messages per day, compared to 16 in 2007. More specifically, text messaging is almost exclusively a medium for young cell phone users; the number of messages sent per day is by far the highest among those under 18 -- 81 per day in the current study, up from 33 per day in 2007. (Page 99)
  • Posting Information Online: Blogs, Photos, and Maintaining Personal Web Pages: Content creation and distribution by Internet users on a blog, through a display of photos, or on a personal Web page, continues to increase substantially, while the percentage of respondents maintaining a personal Web site has remained generally stable for three years. (Page 100)

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