Occupy Wall Street (OWS)

On November 17th, 2011, on its second month anniversary, the OWS movement planned a series of organized activities across Manhattan and the five boroughs of New York City, as a demonstration and celebration of its commitment to action. This was not a spontaneous demonstration, but rather a well-organized event with a set schedule, advertised broadly through a wide spectrum of communication avenues, ranging from the blogosphere to Facebook and even posters (see Figure).

poster_ows

The activities were organized around three key planned events as shown in the event poster and communicated through social media channels:

  • 7 a.m.: Shutting down Wall Street
  • 3 p.m.: Occupying the subways (with a particular emphasis on Union Square as the subject of a mass student strike)
  • 5 p.m.: Taking Foley Square, across from New York’s City Hall.

These events were to be followed by a march towards Brooklyn Bridge to round out this day of action.

Through the use of Twitter and Flickr we have created a short movie that shows how social media portrayed the event. You can see the spatial and temporal clusters formed around the corresponding locations at 7 a.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m., and then get a magnificent view of the people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Demarcating New Boundaries: Mapping Virtual Polycentric Communities through Social Media Content

The proliferation of social media has led to the emergence of a new type of geospatial information that defies the conventions of authoritative or volunteered geographic information, yet can be harvested to reveal unique and dynamic information about people and their activities.

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