Abstract
We introduce the Sentinel platform that supports semantic enrichment of streamed social media data for the purposes of situational understanding. The platform is the result of a codesign effort between computing and social scientists, iteratively developed through a series of pilot studies. The platform is founded upon a knowledge-based approach, in which input streams ( channels ) are characterized by spatial and terminological parameters, collected media is preprocessed to identify significant terms ( signals ), and data are tagged ( framed ) in relation to an ontology. Interpretation of processed media is framed in terms of the 5W framework (who, what, when, where, and why). The platform is designed to be open to the incorporation of new processing modules, building on the knowledge-based elements (channels, signals, and framing ontology) and accessible via a set of user-facing apps. We present the conceptual architecture for the platform, discuss the design and implementation challenges of the underlying stream-processing system, and present a number of apps developed in the context of the pilot studies, highlighting the strengths and importance of the codesign approach and indicating promising areas for future research.
Highlights
I T HAS become widely recognized that public social media streams can provide valuable insight and actionable information to support situational understanding and decision making [1]–[3]
Signals obtained by our FlexiTerm algorithm from the locally generated tweets tend to feature the names of train companies operating in the region: “sw trains” (Southwest Trains) and “southern trains” (Southern Trains)
The ontology was expanded with additional concepts, and the SentiSum and SentiNow apps were useful beyond the Summit experiment
Summary
I T HAS become widely recognized that public social media streams can provide valuable insight and actionable information to support situational understanding and decision making [1]–[3]. The low unit cost of generating and consuming tweets (restricted to 140 characters until late 2017) has made them useful for rapid information dissemination, e.g., of breaking news and eyewitness reports, and mobilizing individuals into collective behavior, e.g., protesting an issue or campaigning for support [4], [5]. Other forms of public social media, e.g., blog posts or comment threads on news articles, provide complementary platforms for raising issues, sharing information, and discussion. While it is generally acknowledged that relying on social media to provide a balanced understanding of a situation is Manuscript received September 7, 2017; accepted September 28, 2017.
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