Comments on: Twitter Jumps the Shark? http://irangcc.com/2009/06/19/twitter-jumps-the-shark/ Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:14:14 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: John http://irangcc.com/2009/06/19/twitter-jumps-the-shark/comment-page-1/#comment-589 John Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:51:12 +0000 http://irangcc.wordpress.com/?p=438#comment-589 I think Twitter is good if you've got trusted, reliable sources. Ignore the #iranelection feed as it's just full or RTs, spam and disinfo. But if you've got trusted sources, it's very, very good. Here's a guide on how to use the new Google Translate service to auto-matically translate Twitter messages (in Persian, Arabic, etc.): http://isthistaarof.blogspot.com/2009/06/translate-persian-twitter-messages-with.html And updated: http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/?p=2303 I think Twitter is good if you’ve got trusted, reliable sources. Ignore the #iranelection feed as it’s just full or RTs, spam and disinfo. But if you’ve got trusted sources, it’s very, very good.

Here’s a guide on how to use the new Google Translate service to auto-matically translate Twitter messages (in Persian, Arabic, etc.): http://isthistaarof.blogspot.com/2009/06/translate-persian-twitter-messages-with.html

And updated: http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/?p=2303

]]> By: irangcc http://irangcc.com/2009/06/19/twitter-jumps-the-shark/comment-page-1/#comment-588 irangcc Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:29:20 +0000 http://irangcc.wordpress.com/?p=438#comment-588 "Twitter is a great tool, but morons are the greatest tool of all." brilliant. this needs to be the motto of something, just not sure what. -Will “Twitter is a great tool, but morons are the greatest tool of all.”

brilliant. this needs to be the motto of something, just not sure what.

-Will

]]> By: Al Haraka http://irangcc.com/2009/06/19/twitter-jumps-the-shark/comment-page-1/#comment-587 Al Haraka Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:22:51 +0000 http://irangcc.wordpress.com/?p=438#comment-587 I have to be honest, this was my impression from the very beginning. I am a big fan of Twitter, but people's obsession with is has gone too far. I was talking to a friend while working yesterday, and she informed me that she was tweeting false information on Iran. I imagine that she, like others, gets her instructions from the moron mothership, Boing Boing: http://boingboing.net/2009/06/16/cyberwar-guide-for-i.html Needless to say, I went on a tirade. Only one comment pointed out the falsity of other suggestions, for instance changing your timezone so your tweets look like they are coming from Iran. Plus they are English, so you must be convincing the Iranian government there. I wish people would learn to honestly help or honestly respect the voice of the minority (because, as a cynic, I believe the supporters of Mousavi are a minority and that rigging claims are heavily overblown). As I said elsewhere, it is funny a country still reeling after Bush II would be so quick to judge. As you say, I think it is no surprise the opposition is so adept at using social networking in languages other than Farsi. Twitter is a great tool, but morons are the greatest tool of all. When I hear Hillary Clinton making comments on Twitter, I want to cry. There, that is the end of my rant. By the way, keep up the good work. Love the blog. You guys are doing a fantastic job. And as a guy who studied MT and computational linguistics, I also agree. We are taught never to take our technologies too seriously, they are still far too unstable. They are all stochastic, and take decades to train properly. Google is doing okay, but a human recognized an error rate of 0.01%, and the best systems (discussed in academics, not sure of their deployment in the real world) for MT and grammar parsing hover around 90 - 91%. FYI. I have to be honest, this was my impression from the very beginning. I am a big fan of Twitter, but people’s obsession with is has gone too far. I was talking to a friend while working yesterday, and she informed me that she was tweeting false information on Iran. I imagine that she, like others, gets her instructions from the moron mothership, Boing Boing:

http://boingboing.net/2009/06/16/cyberwar-guide-for-i.html

Needless to say, I went on a tirade. Only one comment pointed out the falsity of other suggestions, for instance changing your timezone so your tweets look like they are coming from Iran. Plus they are English, so you must be convincing the Iranian government there.

I wish people would learn to honestly help or honestly respect the voice of the minority (because, as a cynic, I believe the supporters of Mousavi are a minority and that rigging claims are heavily overblown). As I said elsewhere, it is funny a country still reeling after Bush II would be so quick to judge. As you say, I think it is no surprise the opposition is so adept at using social networking in languages other than Farsi. Twitter is a great tool, but morons are the greatest tool of all. When I hear Hillary Clinton making comments on Twitter, I want to cry. There, that is the end of my rant.

By the way, keep up the good work. Love the blog. You guys are doing a fantastic job.

And as a guy who studied MT and computational linguistics, I also agree. We are taught never to take our technologies too seriously, they are still far too unstable. They are all stochastic, and take decades to train properly. Google is doing okay, but a human recognized an error rate of 0.01%, and the best systems (discussed in academics, not sure of their deployment in the real world) for MT and grammar parsing hover around 90 – 91%. FYI.

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