Mark DuBois Weblog

Assuming you have decided to take initial steps into the Twitter ecosystem, I thought it might be appropriate to cover additional tools and websites which can help manage the information “overload.” Yes, 140 characters doesn’t seem like much, but there can be a fair amount of information when you start following more than a few people. I mentioned the initial tools in my previous post – TweetDeck (now owned by Twitter) and Tweetcaster Pro. No, I didn’t pay $4.99 for my version (it was one of those daily specials you see at the Amazon AppStore). There are a number of free Android clients, I am just letting you know the ones I tend to use. I am not making recommendations about any of these products. I am providing a list of resources which I have found useful as I work with the Twitter ecosystem. Your mileage will vary. Some of these links exist because… you guessed it… I learned about them from Twitter (and the people I follow).

• If you want to include a Twitter “badge” on your website – http://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets
• If you want to include a Twitter tweet button – http://twitter.com/about/resources/tweetbutton
• If you encounter SPAM, you should notify the folks at Twitter. With over 230 million users and roughly 50% tweeting at least once a month, they can use help policing rogue accounts – http://twitter.com/#!/spam

Ok, now let’s move away from the Twitter site itself and focus on some additional sites/ tools which you may find useful. To help, I have provided a logical arrangement (logical to me at least)  and alphabetized those within. Yes, I already mentioned some like SocialBro, but I want this to be a rather comprehensive list. At the time I am writing this, all these links are live. That being said, lengthening services can come and go (perhaps you have heard of Deck.ly).

Basic information about Twitter and how it can be used:

• Twitter “bible” – CIO Magazine article on many of the fundamentals. This article was published February, 2011 so the information may be a bit out of date.
• Twitter Fan “help” pages – not associated with Twitter, but a fair amount of useful informaiton for those just getting started.
• Video – Using Twitter to reach audiences (for those who prefer to watch instead of read)

Tools to analyze your account/ tweets:

• MentionMap – allows you to see Twitter conversations as a network.
• SocialBro – provides a fair amount of analysis including who has recently started following you, who has unfollowed you recently, where your followers reside, trends, and much more. I included some screen shots from this tool in my previous post. You need to manually refresh this client.
• SocialPing – Twitter monitoring
• Tweet Grader - see how influential you are on Twitter.
• TweetStats - statistics about your Twitter account (or others). I particularly like the “while you are waiting” messages. Once generated, you can also create a Wordle of your tweets.
• TwitaHolic – user rankings and Twitter statistics.
• TwitIQ - more analytics, automated expansion of shortened URLs and a lot more.
• TwitSprout – one page Twitter dashboard

Tools to improve upon Twitter (particularly the interface):

• BufferApp – allows you to spread your tweets out over the day
• coTweet – allows multiple users to tweet from one account. This can be very helpful for those who have a business related Twitter account and multiple people who want to use it. MediaFunnel is another service which is somewhat similar.
• FormULists – create Twitter lists and more
• HashTracking – this is presently in beta. It should allow you to track any Twitter hash tag.
• Manage Flitter – allows you to link Google+ to your Twitter account
• MarketMe Suite – social media dashboard
• NetVibes – Twitter (and other social media) aggregator service.
• Nurph – create your own Twitter chatroom
• SnapBird – allows you to search Twitter streams
• Twaiter – for those who want to send a tweet at a specific time (and you can determine the best time to send your tweets using tools like SocialBro).
• TweetChat – Twitter chatrooms (like Nurph)
• TweetDeck – built using Adobe AIR, this tool allows you to view your Twitter feeds in real time. You can set it to provide alerts each time something new is posted by someone you are following. I don’t recommend doing this for the same reason I don’t recommend setting alerts to tell you every time you get a new eMail message.
• TweetSpinner - follower analytics and various tools (such as the ability to rotate your Twitter profiles and designs). You cna also schedule tweets (like Twaiter).
• twhirl – built using Adobe AIR, an alternative to TweetDeck
• TwitLonger – for tweets exceeding 140 characters in length (see also twtFAQ)
• TwitPic - to share photos on Twitter (this can be automated within tools like TweetDeck)
• TwitterFall - to view trends and tweets by region or location.
• twtFAQ – for tweets exceeding 140 characters in length
• wtHashTag – API to examine specific hashtags. Useful to examine trends.

Browser add-ons:

• RockYourFirefox – official Twitter addon
• TwitBin – add on for Firefox

Conference (possibly class) related Twitter tools:

• TweetDoc – document your Twitter events
• TweetWallPro – turn your event into a Twitter conversation
• TwtPoll - create simple Twitter polls
• TwtVite – create and find TweetUps in your area.
• twubs – Twitter groups built around hashtags

I don’t know how to categorize these:

• twtBizCard – Twitter business card
• twtQpon – create Twitter Coupons
• twtPets – Twitter for pet enthusiasts

Device specific apps:

• Android
  • TweetCaster Pro
  • UberSocial (formerly TwitDroid)

• BlackBerry PlayBook
  • Blaq
  • Seesmic (looks like they are dropping support on the PlayBook)
  • tweedless

Yes, I know the above is an incomplete list. That is why comments are open/ moderated. If you have a tool which you prefer and it is not in the above list, please add it in the comments section. I do not own an iPhone, nor an iPad, nor an iAnything. Therefore my above items are focused on the Android market (with some Blackberry PlayBook apps) and web sites. Again, enlighten me by placing comments in the spot below. As long as they are not spam, they will be approved.

I hope this overview of various tools has been informative/ helpful. Perhaps you now have a better understanding why I refer to Twitter as an “ecosystem.”

On more than one occasion, I have mentioned to someone – “if you followed me on Twitter…” Often, I get either a blank stare or some short statement about not using Twitter. I thought I would take a little time and explain why I use Twitter. Short answer – it helps me professionally. I tend to think of Twitter as an online version of meeting around a water cooler. Of course, you get to choose the individuals you want to exchange information with. Ok, how does this help me professionally?

First, I follow a number of people I know and those who are influential with the technologies I have interest in. I never cease to be amazed at the insights one can obtain in a mere 140 characters.  One can be almost overwhelmed by the speed of change in web technologies. Frankly, it is faster and more pervasive than any other area of computer technology I am familiar with.  Those who know me, know that I am familiar with many aspects of computer technology. It is no longer possible to keep up with all the changes by reading articles and books. Most are outdated by the time they are published. Side note – depending on the people you follow, you can also keep yourself well informed of global news. For example, I knew Steve Jobs was dead before it was reported on any news network (and was able to share that information with others before the start of a session at AdobeMAX (no one else in the room had checked their Twitter feeds before me)). Similarly, I knew of the recent earthquake in San Francisco as it was happening. Twitter helps me keep up to date with what is happening in web technology as it happens. No other service comes close.

Second, I routinely use it myself (tweet). Originally, I published at least one new thing I learned every day. Now, I tend to post a number of tweets on various aspects of technology (ranging from articles I have read/ written) to questions about certain technologies. When I am participating in a conference, I tend to tweet more often (and employ an appropriate hashtag – for terms, see below). Many individuals at these conferences (myself included) review Twitter streams for that particular hashtag. This has allowed me to meet a number of individuals who I never would have met at these conferences. Often, we find we share very similar interests. This happened repeatedly at the recent AdobeMAX conference I participated in. For example, I posted a photo of the speaker as a session was about to start and was immediately mentioned in a tweet. The tweet told me to turn around because that individual was sitting two rows behind me in the session. They figured out my location from the photo I had just posted (and I am rather obvious in a crowd). Additionally, there is a #FF (follow Friday) tradition where individuals tell their followers that they should also follow certain individuals. This is typically done on Fridays. Twitter helps me connect with people who have similar interests.

Third – I often use it as a short chat session with individuals I know. This is done with DM (direct messages). These are private in that both you and the other individual must follow each other. These posts do not appear in your public timeline. This is one of the fastest ways to obtain an answer from a respected authority. Obviously, one doesn’t want to over use it. For example, a student in one of my network security classes identified a bogus gMail certificate. I tweeted a screen capture of this to several security experts and received nearly immediate feedback from a number of individuals who provided significant insights into this particular certificate error. Twitter helps me get needed information incredibly quickly.

Now that you know why I use Twitter, let’s focus a bit on the interface itself. First (and most importantly), I almost never use the Twitter website itself. It is simply too clunky. I use TweetDeck (now owned by Twitter) and TweetCaster Pro for most of my interactions. The latter tool can be found in the Android Market. One can set up lists to follow specific people or hashtags. One can set these to display notifications when there is  new tweet or you are mentioned by someone else. Yes, these can be just as annoying as the email notifications we have all turned off by now. I find these two tools to be very helpful in managing the amount of information generated by those I follow on Twitter (for example some tweet over one hundred times per day, others tweet once a month or less).

I also use tools to analyze who is following me. These include TwitSprout and SocialBro. Oh, yeah, I found out about these tools through… you guessed it… Twitter. Here is a little “behind the scenes” information. From TwitSprout, one can see overall trends (losing a few followers since I haven’t tweeted much in past few days). Just click on the image to see a larger view.

Using SocialBro, I can tell where my followers are located, what their interests are, and when the best time for me to tweet is to reach the greatest number of individual followers. For those who are curious, I provide maps to the locations of my followers around the world as well as those in North America.

Those reading this should now have a better understanding what I mean when I say “if you followed me on Twitter…”

Terms (these are some of the commonly encountered terms associated with Twitter that I have used above).

• Direct Message (DM) – In Twitter interface, one uses d followed by the Twitter user name to privately communicate with someone. Both you and the other individual must follow each other on Twitter in order to take advantage of this capability. These notes do not appear in the public timeline.
• Hashtag – One must begin with a # immediately followed by a short phrase. For example #AdobeMAX. If  number of people assign the same tag (perhaps during a large conference), one can follow posts by others participating in the conference.
• Mention – When someone else includes your Twitter username in their tweet. For example, @Mark_DuBois posted a blog entry on Twitter fundamentals.
• Tweet – This is the individual short message (140 characters or less) posted by someone on Twitter. For those who are verbose, there are services like TwitLonger (which allow you to use more than 140 characters).

It is rare that one is present at a defining moment in the history of technology. This was one of those events which focused on the tectonic changes happening in technology today. Although touch and gesture are big, the ubiquity of mobile devices is changing the way we interact. We need to recognize this also has profound implications for the way we teach and learn.

Here are my insights from all the events I participated in at AdobeMAX this year. We are witnessing a convergence of technologies including: cloud computing, mobility, and social media. This will have a definite impact on how we teach and learn. There are three “elephants in the room” that we should focus upon.

• Combined technologies. Although many of these technologies are revolutionary by themselves (for example, cloud computing), we need to focus on the combination of these technologies. That is where the significant gains in both teaching and learning will occur. Although I am still trying to understand all the implications, tools like Adobe Proto running on a tablet and passing wireframe information to “the cloud” which can then be directly imported into Dreamweaver is an example of a small convergence which may well affect the way we teach web design to our students. We need to start thinking in the terms originally voiced by Tim Berners-Lee when creating the WWW – access to desired information by anyone, at any place, and at any time. After over two decades, this is now within reach.
• Magnitude. We are probably underestimating the magnitude of the changes happening. Consider that each major technological innovation (whether mainframe to mini-computer or desktop computing to the WWW) resulted in at least a 10 fold increase in the number of devices and interactions. We already have more devices connected to the Internet than there are people (and the cell phone is more ubiquitous than the toothbrush). We can no longer think in terms of a virtual campus with online classes. We need to start thinking about unfettered access to information on an “as needed” basis. We need to think of the experience for both student and teacher and how multiple devices/ views will affect these experiences.
• Flexibility. We need to rethink how we can make this possible in our institutions. At school, it is impossible for me to set the “out of office” assistant to reach students who don’t use their “sanctioned” email account (news flash – most don’t). We put together rigid budgets annually. We select textbooks months in advance of a given class being taught. All these approaches worked great in the 1960s. However, it is 2011 and we need to adapt. We need to adopt a much more flexible approach to teaching and learning and the devices this is happening upon. On demand eBooks (or chapters) might be the least of our concerns. I can almost guarantee this is going to be a most cathartic experience for most academic institutions.

Ok, enough speculation; here are some notes I took during the various sessions. I have listed them in chronological order.

October 3 Keynote – The Adobe Creative Cloud was announced (planned availability in November, 2011). Services, community, and applications are synchronized via the Adobe Creative Cloud. Initially individuals will have access to 20 GB of storage in this medium. Creative services – Adobe has acquired TypeKit (https://typekit.com/). This will be a subscription based service with fonts under one license and working with all browsers. Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition was also announced. Creative community – Adobe announced https://creative.adobe.com/ where individuals can share examples of their work. One can also search for examples of work and see how it was created. Creative applications – in addition to familiar desktop applications (such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop), there will be a number of touch based apps (for tablets) emerging in the coming months. These include: Ideas (which allows you to sketch on your tablet and upload your ideas for further refinement in other apps), Carousel (which allows you to store, share, and edit your photos form the cloud – they no longer need to reside on a given device), Kuler (to use and design color themes), Collage (think electronic mood board), Debut (for more elegant presentations), Proto (for initial web design work and wireframes), Photoshop Touch (for editing of photos on tablets). These will initially be deployed for Android devices in November, 2011.

Developing Android applications with AIR and Flash Builder – This hands on session provided experience in developing an app and testing on your local Android device. We started with the basics of configuing your device and progressed through the more advanced topics of launching native SMS text and phone call applications, working with gestures, handling multi-touch, interfacing with the accelerometer, performing geolocation and interfacing with the camera. Working code snippets were provided (one needs the latest version of these tools to actually work with the code). Additional deployment issues were also discussed (including whether to pull the AIR app form the Android Market or include a captive Runtime version). I learned a lot in this session.

360/ Flex Unconference session – Getting data from here to there – This session covered the basics of connecting your Flex application to various data sources. Except for raw TCP calls, the following means of passing data were discussed (and code samples were reviewed): BlazeDS, remote object calls, SOAP and Web Services, REST/ JSON calls, XML over http, external variables within the web page itself (using FlashVars). Advantages and disadvantages of each approach were discussed along with a list of which servers work best for a given technology. This session provided a lot of useful information.

October 4 Keynote – Where the October 3 keynote focused on design aspects, this keynote focused on developer aspects. One of the items to emerge over and over was the inclusion of greater emphasis on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript as the core means of developing apps. Flash was covered and the combination of Flash with HTML yields great possibilities. Flash Player 11 and AIR 3.0 were released (with many impressive new capabilities). Contributions from Adobe to WebKit and jQuery were highlighted. PhoneGap has been acquired by Adobe (it is already incorporated into Dreamweaver CS 5.5). Numerous examples of what can be done in Flash for gaming were also covered. Fireworks update pack for CS 5.1 was also released (which allows one to easily modify jQuery mobile templates to create a custom theme). CSS Regions and CSS Exclusions were also discussed (I have demonstrated these at a previous Adobe User Group meeting on campus). CSS Shaders has now been submitted to the W3c (think Pixel Bender using CSS). 2D and 3D graphics and animation within Flash were also reviewed. This was another impressive keynote with a lot of additional information wich may well affect what we need to include in our web classes.

Building your first mobile application – This was another hands on lab session (I tried to focus on the lab sessions as much as possible as I know the other sessions are being recorded and I should be able to watch them in the future). We built a simple application with Flex and Flash Builder. We also saw some of the pitfalls one may encounter when developing for mobile devices. We developed a mobile app covering the restaurants in the vicinity of the LA Convention Center and Staples Center. We also saw how data is passed to the application.

Design better experiences with Fireworks by understanding how people think – This was a great session on UX (User Experience). The presenter has a background in psychology and covered many aspects which can affect the outcome of our testing. These include the framing effect, anchoring effect, and the theory of constraints. We reviewed various techniques to help individuals focus on solutions (such as the 10 – 3 – 1 technique and 6 in 6 minutes technique). The presenter reviewed creativity and flow and discussed how our apps should enhance flow (where you get so lost in the experience that time seems to stand still). A humorous reference was also provided http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2011/07/08/beans-and-noses/. (Sometimes you just have to let an executive make a serious mistake; it is the only way some learn). We also had the opportunity to creatively design a digital mannequin as part of the concluding exercise.

Build it with jQuery Mobile – This was another hands on lab where we developed a wine list application for deployment on Android or iOS devices. We reviewed the advantages of single vs. multi-page apps and spent a great deal of time actually developing a working app we could deploy. I participated in a similar session last year, but this one took advantage of the latest technologies including WebSQL and persistence.js. We worked with swipe gestures (to delete items in the application).

Adobe MUSE overview – Although I have been working with this product for a while (version 3 is available from Adobe Labs), I learned a lot in this session. This also was a hands on session. We covered the basics of working with the interface (I presented on this at a recent user group meeting). There are many new features in version 3. We built a standards compliant site in 90 minutes.

Work in new ways with mobile apps – This session focused on the use of the just announced Proto tool for tablets. We got to see how one can develop a wireframe and then pull the developed wireframe into Dreamweaver (it generates HTML code). This takes the recent trend towards HTML wireframing to a whole new level. One can also collaborate with others via the Adobe Creative Cloud (by sharing these prototypes).

CSS for Web and Mobile Design – This session focused on many of the new CSS-3 enhancements (a fair number of those covered with –webkit specific). Progressive enhancement and regressive enhancement were covered. A number of advanced techniques were covered (such as using border to generate a triangle and making a box shadow with only one side).

Mastering mobile design in minutes with Fireworks – After spending a fair amount of time on the fundamentals of mobile design, the speaker focused on the newly released CSS-3 enhancements for Fireworks. This allows one to rapidly create/ modify existing jQuery mobile themes (much more difficult in the past). I have downloaded a copy and am in the process of developing a deeper understanding so I can share with students.

What’s new in Flash Catalyst CS 5.5 – This was the final session I attended at AdobeMAX. It was also the session where I saw the power of social media. I learned about the death of Steve Jobs before anyone else in the room (roughly 100 people in attendance). Just happened to check Twitter feed prior to the start of the session. The history of Flash Catalyst was covered (beginning with the announcement of Thermo in 2007 – at the AdobeMAX I also attended). Many new features and components were presented (a fair number of which I was unaware of until this session).

One final “take away” – I am amazed at the power of social media (such as Twitter). Yes, I tweet a lot (over 3,500 times at this point). However, I met new individuals at AdobeMAX (they approached me based on my tweets). Turns out we shared a number of common interests. In one case, I tweeted a photo of the speaker and had someone two rows back tell me to look back as they were also in the audience. I have gained new insights into what can be done with social media like Twitter based on my participation in the conference.

Los Angeles. Sunday, October 2,  2011 – This event was provided for educators (those living in the Los Angeles area and those visiting from many other states and countries). Sessions were recorded for those who could not physically be present. It was a great opportunity to meet and discuss current trends (in technology and education) with roughly 150 individuals throughout the afternoon and evening.

Synopsis of the information presented below. As educators, we need to be aware of the profound changes happening at this time. We have roughly 3 years to adapt to these changes. Learning will happen when and where students choose. We must use these technologies to fully understand their capabilities (hint – if your teacher doesn’t have one or more tablets and smartphones, it does not bode well for them in the long run).

I participated in the following sessions:

• Joseph Labrecque – From desktop to mobile: application functionality for small screens. The key points of his presentation included the following – when going from desktop to mobile, one must distil everything to the absolute minimum. One should also focus on the platforms where the app will be used (and adjust accordingly). AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) is one technology solution which can help you deploy consistently with less time focused on individual platforms. In the world of mobile, one needs to focus on issues such as resolution, touch interface and multi-tasking (whether applications continue to run in the background or are closed when you open a new app). Individual clients are used to specific behaviours on their device (iPhone vs. Android) and they expect your app to behave similarly. Joseph also provided an overview of the mobile app he developed at the University of Denver (and explained why certain aspects of the desktop app were not included (or were moved).
• Tom Green – Multi-screen: Our lives just got interesting. Tom focused on the world view of mobile devices (and used China as an example of sophisticated mobile users). He helped put many of the issues we face into a global perspective. For example, the transactions on Taobao (http://www.taobao.com/index_global.php) were $60 billion (in equivalent $US). This is the Chinese equivalent of eBay (which reported $3 billion in the same time period). 66% of Chinese access the Internet via their smartphones (that is 660,000,000 people). 70% say they can’t live without their phones. 40% of Chinese “netizens” create content (equivalent of Facebook, Flickr, and so forth). This is 2 times the US rate. Humanity has become untethered. There were roughly 10 billion devices connected to the Internet in 2010 (and there were only 6.775 billion people). Smartphone sales have exceeded PC sales. All this has profound implications for teaching and learning. As educators, we don’t need to develop apps, we need to focus on learning experiences. Unfortunately for many – “changing education is a lot like changing a cemetery – you don’t get much help from the inhabitants.” As educators, we must be both consumers and creators of media. We have about 3 years before we are left behind. Institutionally we need to rethink where learning happens (hint – it will not be in the classroom). How do we keep up? As educators, we must be intensely curious and not afraid of change. Tom also provided a list of resources.
• Jenna Date and Dylan Vitone – Collaboration and partnerships within the community. Jenna and Dylan provided a number of examples of work their students have been involved with. Both Human Computer Interaction and School of Design projects. Unfortunately, Jenna could not share the results of much of her student’s work as they developed proprietary applications for various companies. They covered the process by which their students developed these applications. This included a lot of research (and involved “social following” – mining information from clients Twitter and Facebook feeds). Unfortunately, I had to leave this session a bit early to set up for my presentation.
• Mark DuBois – Modifying existing websites for mobile/ multi-screen – I focused on the actual process involved in transforming an existing web page into a page which displays properly from a smartphone to a large screen TV (the largest is presently 82 inches). If you would like to examine the actual presentation (or the code I supplied, please visit http://markdubois.me/2011edsummit).