Web Conference at Penn State, June 7, 2013

1. #umflint24
A Day in the Life
of “A Day in the Life”
Friday, June 7, 13

2. 10.11.12
The University of Michigan-Flint
embarked on its first 24-hour
photo project.
12:00 a.m. - 11:59 p.m.
Photos captured with Twitter,
Instagram, and Flickr.
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3. We weren’t the first to capture
“a day in the life,” but our successes and
challenges were our own.
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4. In which we discuss:
Motivation and goals
Planning and promotion
What we built
Highlights
Complications
Lessons learned
Plans for the future
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5. “Help us tell the UM-Flint story
because you are the UM-Flint story.”
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6. Some background
• UM-Flint is traditionally a
commuter campus with few
established traditions.
• The university has a large
population of non-traditional
students, who don’t often
participate in campus events.
• UM-Flint is deeply rooted in the
community of Flint, Michigan.
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7. Engage all students in a single,
unifying experience.
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8. Connect students, faculty, staff,
alumni, and community members.
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9. Combine many voices to tell the story
of the University of Michigan-Flint.
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10. “Post your photos to Instagram,
Twitter, or Flickr and tag them
#umflint24”
Facebook posts
Tweets
Posters
300 info cards on lanyards at the
Welcome Back Picnic
Promotion
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11. Posted on September 10 | ~400 views before the event
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12. Emails to all departments, and
select faculty, staff, and students
Schedule of events and
happenings for the 24-hour-
period
University Relations staff
scheduled around the clock
Preparation
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13. University Relations schedule snapshot
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14. We have the technology!
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15. 15
The tech stuff.
Pulled photos tagged #umflint24 usingTwitter, Flickr, and Instagram APIs, and
used Javascript to pull images into the web page.
Date, time, and description were pulled in for each photo. Date and time were
used to divide by hour.
When load times suffered, implemented AJAX to load one page at a time.
Friday, June 7, 13

16. The build-up.
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17. The build-up.
• 8 p.m.
Posted reminders to Facebook and Twitter
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18. The build-up.
• 8 p.m.
Posted reminders to Facebook and Twitter
• 10 p.m.
Redirected umflint.edu/umflint24 from the description
page to the live page, and waited.
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19. The build-up.
• 8 p.m.
Posted reminders to Facebook and Twitter
• 10 p.m.
Redirected umflint.edu/umflint24 from the description
page to the live page, and waited.
• 11:55 p.m.
Eeeeeeeeeeeh!
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20. The build-up.
• 8 p.m.
Posted reminders to Facebook and Twitter
• 10 p.m.
Redirected umflint.edu/umflint24 from the description
page to the live page, and waited.
• 11:55 p.m.
Eeeeeeeeeeeh!
• 12:05 a.m.
My naively planned bedtime.
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21. 17
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22. The morning.
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23. The morning.
• 12:30 a.m.
First hiccup. Photos were inconsistent between “All”
and “12AM” views. ITS fixed the issue within 20
minutes.
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24. The morning.
• 12:30 a.m.
First hiccup. Photos were inconsistent between “All”
and “12AM” views. ITS fixed the issue within 20
minutes.
• 1 a.m.
Bedtime.
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25. The morning.
• 12:30 a.m.
First hiccup. Photos were inconsistent between “All”
and “12AM” views. ITS fixed the issue within 20
minutes.
• 1 a.m.
Bedtime.
• 5 a.m.
Up and at ‘em!
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26. And then things blew up.
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27. Meet Tim.
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28. 5 a.m.
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29. Alaina (5:48 a.m.):
Also, it looks like some/most of Melissa's photos aren't showing up
on the page (hopefully other people aren't having the same
problem). Is it something about the photo service she's using?
Here's an example: http://twitter.yfrog.com/moh7rhrj.
5 a.m.
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30. Alaina (5:48 a.m.):
Also, it looks like some/most of Melissa's photos aren't showing up
on the page (hopefully other people aren't having the same
problem). Is it something about the photo service she's using?
Here's an example: http://twitter.yfrog.com/moh7rhrj.
Tim (5:49 a.m.):
Why is she using yfrog? Hmmmm. I wonder if it isn't working
because she isn't using twitters native photo service.
5 a.m.
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31. Alaina (5:48 a.m.):
Also, it looks like some/most of Melissa's photos aren't showing up
on the page (hopefully other people aren't having the same
problem). Is it something about the photo service she's using?
Here's an example: http://twitter.yfrog.com/moh7rhrj.
Tim (5:49 a.m.):
Why is she using yfrog? Hmmmm. I wonder if it isn't working
because she isn't using twitters native photo service.
Alaina (5:51 a.m.):
I'm guessing that whatever Twitter app she's using on her phone
uses yfrog. She's got a really old crappy Droid and I'm not sure
what app is on it.
Oh, and good morning! I thought you were sleeping in.
5 a.m.
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32. Alaina (5:48 a.m.):
Also, it looks like some/most of Melissa's photos aren't showing up
on the page (hopefully other people aren't having the same
problem). Is it something about the photo service she's using?
Here's an example: http://twitter.yfrog.com/moh7rhrj.
Tim (5:49 a.m.):
Why is she using yfrog? Hmmmm. I wonder if it isn't working
because she isn't using twitters native photo service.
Alaina (5:51 a.m.):
I'm guessing that whatever Twitter app she's using on her phone
uses yfrog. She's got a really old crappy Droid and I'm not sure
what app is on it.
Oh, and good morning! I thought you were sleeping in.
Tim (5:55 a.m.):
Trying but you keep vibrating my phone. :) if twitters API only sees
pic.twitter photos as photos then we won't see any that are posted
via yfrog
5 a.m.
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33. Meet Joel and Donald.
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34. 7 a.m. - 8 a.m.
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35. Alaina (7:47 a.m.):
You are going to hate me by the end of the day. Some of the times
in the morning aren’t showing any photos at all. Maybe you’re
working on it and so it’s being buggy?
7 a.m. - 8 a.m.
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36. Alaina (7:47 a.m.):
You are going to hate me by the end of the day. Some of the times
in the morning aren’t showing any photos at all. Maybe you’re
working on it and so it’s being buggy?
Donald (7:50 a.m.):
Should be now. You probably caught it while I was uploading the
new version. I just changed our requests to API up to 500 for each.
This will probably need to be changed again but we will spare load
times for now.
7 a.m. - 8 a.m.
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37. Alaina (7:47 a.m.):
You are going to hate me by the end of the day. Some of the times
in the morning aren’t showing any photos at all. Maybe you’re
working on it and so it’s being buggy?
Donald (7:50 a.m.):
Should be now. You probably caught it while I was uploading the
new version. I just changed our requests to API up to 500 for each.
This will probably need to be changed again but we will spare load
times for now.
Alaina (7:50 a.m.):
There are still a bunch missing. There were probably around 40 in
the 12AM time period and it’s only showing one.
7 a.m. - 8 a.m.
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38. Alaina (7:47 a.m.):
You are going to hate me by the end of the day. Some of the times
in the morning aren’t showing any photos at all. Maybe you’re
working on it and so it’s being buggy?
Donald (7:50 a.m.):
Should be now. You probably caught it while I was uploading the
new version. I just changed our requests to API up to 500 for each.
This will probably need to be changed again but we will spare load
times for now.
Alaina (7:50 a.m.):
There are still a bunch missing. There were probably around 40 in
the 12AM time period and it’s only showing one.
Donald (8:01 a.m.):
Ok I added another filter to the twitter feed call and that allowed
more requests. Twitter is limiting us to 100 results per pull. I believe
I will be able to increase this. We should be good until I can get into
work.
7 a.m. - 8 a.m.
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39. 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
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40. Alaina (8:35 a.m.):
Okee dokee. Not sure what is going on, but now Instagram photos
that were showing up in the time breakdowns aren’t there anymore.
I counted about 30-40 Instagram photos that should be in the
12AM block that aren’t there.
8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
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41. Alaina (8:35 a.m.):
Okee dokee. Not sure what is going on, but now Instagram photos
that were showing up in the time breakdowns aren’t there anymore.
I counted about 30-40 Instagram photos that should be in the
12AM block that aren’t there.
Donald (8:41 a.m.):
Same problem as twitter. Gonna call Joel and walk him through the
fix.
8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
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42. 7 p.m.
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43. Joel (6:55 p.m.):
Hey guys,
I just updated the code that processes the twitter feed. I checked
and it definitely wasn't pulling in all the images. There should be a
ton more images coming in for the early hours now (around 200
more as of now)…
Total images at this moment between all sources: 1013. I would
say it was a success. Congrats! :)
7 p.m.
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44. #umflint24
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45. 27
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46. 28
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47. 29
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48. 30
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49. 31
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50. 32
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51. 33
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52. 34
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53. 35
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54. 36
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55. 37
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56. 38
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57. Giant baby head.
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58. Photos submitted: 1,475
Unique users: 253
871 unique visitors, from 10 countries and 20 states
#umflint24 on Twitter: 764 tweets (average 31.83/hour), 67 retweets
Unique reach of tweets and RTs: 78,156 users
The numbers.
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59. Lessons.
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60. Testing conditions will
not match actual
conditions.
Be ready. (Not that you can be.)
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61. Testing conditions will
not match actual
conditions.
Be ready. (Not that you can be.)
Joel:
During initial testing of the APIs,
there were not enough images
available to load-test the limits on
content being served per call... It
was determined that multiple calls
to the APIs would be needed for all
images to be pulled in correctly.
With multiple API calls now being
processed, end user load times
suffered.
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62. Be sure tech/web
staff are available.
We didn’t take this measure. We
got lucky.
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63. Assume you will work
most of/all of/more
than 24 hours.
Because you’ll want to.
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64. Is email a good
option?
How will email photos be
posted? Organized?
And when do you get to leave
your desk?
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65. Don’t expect to leave
your desk.
If you are handling social media
or web updates during your 24-
hour project, you may not get to
be part of the photo-taking fun.
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66. Stream moderation.
The option to moderate the
photo stream is important.
Set clear parameters for what
should be removed.
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67. Use those photos!
You’ll be amazed at what an
Instagram filter can do.
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68. For next time.
New web address (umflint.edu/umflint24? What about 24.umflint.edu?)
Push data into a database first, allowing for filtering and better performance
Incorporate non-photo content
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69. More examples.
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70. flickr.com/uwgbadmissions
UW Green Bay
#GB1DAY 51
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71. oswego.edu/about/24
SUNY Oswego
#24hoursinphotos 52
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72. LaSalle University
#LASALLE150
lasalle.edu/lasalle150
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73. UW-Madison
#UWRightNow
uwrightnow.wisc.edu
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74. University of Pennsylvania
#penndayinlife
upenn.edu/dayinlife
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75. Radboud University
#24Radboud
www2.ru.nl/radboundinbeeld/
24hr/index.php
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76. Resources
“#Alaina24: A Day in the Life of a “Day in the Life”
http://alainawiens.com/2012/10/26/alaina24
“Days of our lives in photos: worth much more than 1,000 words”
LINK, by Tim Nekritz
http://link.highedweb.org/2012/02/days-of-our-lives-in-photos-worth-much-
more-than-1000-words/
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77. Questions?
Alaina Wiens
@alainawiens
alainawiens.com
alainawiens@gmail.com
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