Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
14.4
Concept and Methodology
Our goal was to create an Augmented Reality Compass on a smartphone showing
the intensity of emotions in the directions around the user.
For this we broke down the activity into different domains:
the system to harvest messages from major social networks in real time;
the geo-referencing/geo-coding techniques;
the Natural Language Processing techniques;
interface design and interactive information visualization.
14.4.1
A System to Harvest Messages from Major Social
Networks in Real Time
There are many different techniques and technologies using which a system of this
kind can be implemented.
The main issues we were faced with during the design and implementation
process were both legal and technical.
Starting from the legal issues: users and developers wishing to use the features
of major social networks have to abide to the rules dictated in the providers' Terms
of Service (ToS), which are very complex legal documents
Most social networks offer Application Programming Interfaces (API) of some
sort, which developers can use to build their own applications by interacting with
the social network's ecosystem (users, communities, content, etcetera).
These APIs offer an opportunity for service designers and developers, as they
permit accessing a vast amount of data about people's expressions and positions, the
topics they discuss and the relations which they maintain, allowing for the creation
of a variety of useful services.
APIs usage is constrained by the ToS, which limits the degree to which any
developer or company is able to capture, process, use and visualize information
coming from social network operators.
Limits are mainly imposed on:
ownership of the data;
number of interrogations over time;
storage of the captured information;
processing of the harvested information;
visualization and branding.
These legal limits are different across different providers and also change quite
frequently and arbitrarily.
Furthermore, it must be said that the issue of expectation for publicness also
represents a very important legal aspect. Just as it happens when we go to malls
