Observing Systems
New Media Perspectives
Spring 2010
Assignment in section answer mode.
Submit the results of this assignment in a double-spaced, typed word-processed document in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format to the ePortfolio system. Use this sample paper as a model to format your submission. Make sure you Save and Submit in Digication.
Description
Go to http://twitter.com (Twitter)and in the search field type in the term new media. Spend about fifteen minutes looking through the short posts that come in as a result and watch as other “tweets” arrive.
1. Describe the search results and what’s happening on the screen. Observe what people are saying and posting. Test some of the “shortened URLs” to see what people are linking to. Anything in the posted tweets that is new to you?
2. After exploring the “new media” term, type in a term that describes an interest you have, such as snowboarding or jobs. Examine those results in the same way that you examined tweets for the new media search.
3. Thirdly, try to identify and describe what “twitter is doing” with these searches. What is it finding and how is it finding it? Can you infer (guess about the unknown based on the known) what “twitter is doing” by reading the content or context of the tweets?
4. Fourthly, go to Google or any other search engine, such as Bing, and type in the search term “twitter mashup” and examine the results. Identify and describe two other applications of Twitter that you find interesting, significant, or representative. What is the purpose of the mashup (what is a mashup by the way)? Who’s the audience? Identify the intended use of the mashup. Finally, identify any other application that might have been merged with Twitter in the service of this application.
Conforms to
3. A. 1 Observes and accurately describes the use and properties of a traditional and/or digital system.
3.C.1 Describes the qualities and structural elements of a traditional and digital media form