(Press-News.org) When President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney square off in their first debate Wednesday, college students across the country will pilot test a new smartphone application that promises to make live polling possible for the first time on a large scale.
So far more than 175 political science professors nationwide have registered some 12,000 students to field test the real-time polling app, developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis, the University of Maryland, and the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.
"Most polling is done after a debate occurs," said Amber Boydstun, assistant professor of political science at UC Davis and co-developer of the app, called React Labs: Educate. "There is very little data in the political science world that deals with real-time reaction, and this will help us get that information."
Along with at least six other universities around the country, UC Davis will hold a debate-watch event for app testers on Wednesday. About 100 students are expected to participate in the UC Davis event, at which they will be able to view nationwide app responses on a separate screen as they tap out their own reactions on their phones.
The other universities planning Wednesday debate-watch events for app users are the University of Denver, which is hosting the first debate; University of Maryland, College Park; University of Arkansas, Little Rock; Hamilton College (New York); University of Texas, San Antonio; and University of Texas, El Paso.
In addition, thousands of students at UC Davis and around the country are expected to test the app in their dorm rooms, apartments and other locations.
Field testing will continue throughout the three scheduled 2012 presidential debates, as well as the vice presidential debate.
The app, released to students in a limited quantity for the first debate, will allow viewers who sign in on their phones or computers to use button taps to register agreement or disagreement with candidates' arguments. App users will also be able to signal when they think a candidate is spinning a fact or dodging a question.
Students will be asked pre- and post-survey questions intended to collect demographic information and to help measure changes in attitudes toward the candidates during the debates.
Boydstun hopes the app will help to engage the Facebook generation in politics, and has developed a variety of teaching resources for instructors to use in talking with students about the debate.
In the future, the app could also be used to get instant reaction to other types of live events, from state-of-the-union addresses to football games, Boydstun said.
Boydstun developed the app with Philip Resnik, a professor of linguistics and computer science at the University of Maryland; Rebecca Glazier, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock; and Matthew Pietryka, a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow in political science at UC Davis.
Resnik developed the React Labs real-time polling technology in his research at the University of Maryland. He also formed a startup company to commercialize it, but the technology is not yet available for public use, he said.
###
About UC Davis
For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.
Media contact(s):
Karen Nikos, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu
UC Davis smartphone application to allow instant polling for presidential debate Wednesday
2012-10-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
The Asian-American vote in California
2012-10-03
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Asian Americans — who account for 10 percent of registered voters in California — support a tax measure proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, are closely divided on the death penalty ballot measure, overwhelmingly support affirmative action, and support tax increases on high earners to close the federal budget deficit, according to two new reports from the National Asian American Survey.
The reports — "The 2012 General Election: Public Opinion of Asian Americans in California" and "The Policy Priorities and Issue Preferences of Asian Americans in California" ...
Sea urchin's spiny strength revealed
2012-10-03
Sydney, Australia - For the first time, a team of Australian engineers has modelled the microscopic mechanics of a sea urchin's spine, gaining insight into how these unusual creatures withstand impacts in their aquatic environment.
The skeleton of the purple-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii), found in tidal waters along the coast of New South Wales, has many long spines extending from its core. These spiky features are used for walking, sensing their environment, and for protection against predators and rough surf.
The long hollow spines are made from a ...
Surgeons investigate whether rural colon cancer patients fare worse than urban patients
2012-10-03
CHICAGO—Colon cancer patients living in rural areas are less likely to receive an early diagnosis, chemotherapy, or thorough surgical treatment when compared with patients living in urban areas. Rural residents are also more likely to die from their colon cancer than urban patients, according to new research findings from surgeons at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The study was presented earlier today at the American College of Surgeons 2012 Annual Clinical Congress.
Colorectal cancer is the third-leading ...
New fanged dwarf dinosaur from southern Africa ate plants
2012-10-03
VIDEO:
This shows the making of the Heterodontosaurus flesh model. Muscles, skin, scales and quills are added to a skull cast of Heterodontosaurus.
Click here for more information.
The single specimen of the new species was originally chipped out of red rock in southern Africa in the 1960's and discovered in a collection of fossils at Harvard University by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno, paleontologist and professor at the University of Chicago. Details ...
Innovative new defibrillator offers alternative for regulating heart beat
2012-10-03
OTTAWA, October 3, 2012 – A new ground-breaking technology was recently used at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) where two cardiologists, Dr. David Birnie and Dr. Pablo Nery, implanted a new innovative leadless defibrillator, the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD), to a 18 year-old patient. Under Health Canada's special access program, this was only the third time this new type of ICD had been implanted in Canada.
Conventional defibrillators, known as transvenous defibrillators, are implanted with wires, called the leads, that snake ...
City of Ottawa sits atop soil, geologic features that amplify seismic waves
2012-10-03
Engineers and city planners study surface geology in order to construct buildings that can respond safely to earthquakes. Soft soil amplifies seismic waves, resulting in stronger ground motion than for sites built over bedrock. This study examines the local site response for the city of Ottawa, and the results indicate seismic waves may amplify ground motion greater than expected or referenced in the National Building Code of Canada.
Current knowledge of the earthquake activity in Ottawa area is based on less than 200 years of reported felt events and approximately ...
New Queen's University Belfast plasma jet gives 'cold' shoulder to superbugs
2012-10-03
Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have developed a new technique which has the potential to kill off hospital superbugs like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, C. difficile and MRSA.
As revealed in the most recent edition of leading journal PloS One, the novel method uses a cold plasma jet to rapidly penetrate dense bacterial structures known as biofilms which bind bacteria together and make them resistant to conventional chemical approaches.
The new approach developed by scientists in the School of Mathematics and Physics and the School of Pharmacy at Queen's passes electrical ...
Nursing outlook celebrates 60 years by publishing research on nurses in the media with UCLA
2012-10-03
St. Louis, MO, October 3, 2012 -- Historical impact and modern media stereotypes of nurses offer a fascinating contrast in the September/October issue of Nursing Outlook, published by Elsevier, the leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Nursing Outlook celebrates 60 years of leading the nursing field in 2012 with two special issues.
"Supplement Issue: Nursing and the Media"
Millions of viewers watch nurses being portrayed on TV shows, news and movies. Yet, many of these portrayals display an outdated and incorrect image ...
New gender benchmarking study finds numbers of women in science and technology fields alarmingly low
2012-10-03
New York, October 3, 2012 – In the first study of its kind, researchers have found that numbers of women in the science, technology and innovation fields are alarmingly low in the world's leading economies, and are actually on the decline in others, including the United States. The study maps the opportunities and obstacles faced by women in science across the US, EU, Brazil, South Africa, India, Korea and Indonesia. It was conducted by experts in international gender, science and technology issues from Women in Global Science & Technology and the Organization for Women ...
Cardiac medication may reduce stiffness caused by certain muscle diseases
2012-10-03
Mexiletine, a decades-old drug previously used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, has been used to alleviate the symptoms of patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain.
The preliminary research, published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that taking mexiletine can improve patient-reported stiffness.
NDMs are estimated to affect about 1 in every 100,000 people. They are not life-threatening, but can be debilitating, as patients' muscles contract ...