While the 2010 census is beginning to find it’s way into Americans’ mailboxes the US Census Bureau has been hard at work incorporating modern tools into the process. However, the actual form is still a piece of paper that is physically mailed to citizens. But if the actual process of filling out the census is the same, it brings into question just how the Census Bureau is using things like social media. The official Twitter handle only has 3245 followers. The main page for the 2010 census is a multimedia experience filled with interactive maps, video and a blog written by director Robert M. Groves. A once over of site reveals that the Census Bureau is using these tools to essentially convince people that filling out the census form is not only safe but necessary. Considering recent outrage against the census itself, it’s not surprising that the Census Bureau is trying to reach out to as many people as possible. This approach might work on people who are already on board or on the fence, but is probably doing little to those who oppose it. Those people aren’t likely to follow the Census Bureau on Twitter or even take a look at their homepage. No, this is a job for the mainstream media and in this instance they are not pulling their weight. But as has been the case for years (some might say decades) the mainstream media does little more than report on the outcry against the census and not on the census itself.
I do not have a need “all the time” to take myself away from the oppressive facts of my life, however oppressive they may be, in order to go somewhere where I have control. I need to stay here and take control. Right now, for example, I cannot speak, but I am writing this. You lose some, you win some.
-Roger Ebert
Almost three years after losing his voice to thyroid cancer, Roger Ebert has debuted his new, electronic voice today on the Oprah Winfrey show. Many have commented that the quality and similarity to his original voice are impressive. But what’s more impressive is how he has maintained his status as one of the country’s most respected movie critics without the use of his voice. With the aid of tools like Twitter and his site on the Chicago Sun Times he’s maintained the profile and quality of writing he’s known for.
The below chart is a rough estimate of traffic to Roger Ebert’s site created by Quantcast. Note that the data being collected begins in April 0f 2007, 4 months before making his loss of speech public.
While there are some dips during health related inactivity, site traffic remains relatively high. His story is inspirational because it’s such a great reminder that the internet can not only include but cater to people traditionally left out of the conversation.
We apply Trendistic, the web analytics trending tool used in our previous post, to the topic of earthquakes. Covering the past 30 days, we can link spikes in the usage of the keyword “earthquake” on Twitter while associating blog coverage of what was going on during that particular moment. Additionally, the chart allows us to track the frequency of the term as a percentage of total Tweets (how often the topic is discussed in every 100 posts).
“It was a moderate quake, no damage, no tsunami,” said Lawrence Anton, seismologist at the Geological Institute of Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea, located on the “Ring of Fire” Pacific junction of several tectonic plates, is regularly the scene of an earthquake.
Today’s quake adds to the North Coast’s reputation as being one of the most seismically active regions in the western hemisphere. The Jan. 9 quake caused $40 million in damage, says sfgate.com. Jim Goltz of the California Emergency Management Agency told the Eureka Times-Standard that today’s event might have been an aftershock to the Jan. 9 quake.
The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake hit at 3:10 p.m. (0610 GMT) and registered magnitude 6.6. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.4. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Some Twitter users in Mexico City reported feeling the quake, though others said they did not. One witness in Mexico City said his building shook for approximately 30 seconds. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
So, when I woke up and saw that the top story on the news was the earthquake outside of Chicago, of course I called Mom and Dad to make sure they were all right.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we didn’t really get any of the ‘blizzard’.”
“What are you talking about? You had a blizzard.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The earthquake.”
“What earthquake?”
“The earthquake y’all had last night.”
“Betsy, I just turned the news off after the top stories and they didn’t mention an earthquake. I’ll go look for some damage if you want, but it doesn’t even look like the cat’s rattled.”
(Though I have met their cat and I think it always seems a little rattled.)
