Monittering Twitter...

As the education world begins to get its head around Twitter and the concept of microblogging, a potentially useful way to use this is to look at keywords that are tied to location. Such a tool exists and is quite interesting, almost mesmerising, to watch. But it can also be a quick way for teachers and students to get a snapshot of Twitter posts for a given location. The website Monitter allows one to key in a location and up to three key words and it will then pull Twitter feeds onto the screen. Recording a screencast of the results could be useful in a number of academic areas such as journalism, communications and new media. Plus its just plain fun. So even if you are not Twittering, you can at least play the bystander role and watch others. Along the same lines, Google's hot trends at its zeitgeist website is also interesting to peruse.

Keene (UT-Austin)