science

TXTMob

TXTMob is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand TXTMob rather than just read about it. In short: TXTmob is a service, similar to electronic mailing lists and predecessor to Twitter, that lets users share mobile phone SMS text messages with both friends and total strangers. Users can sign up to send and receive messages to and from various groups, which are organized around a range of different topics.

Key takeaways

TXTMob belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect TXTMob to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of TXTMob from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TXTmob is a service, similar to electronic mailing lists and predecessor to Twitter, that lets users share mobile phone SMS text messages with both friends and total strangers. Users can sign up to send and receive messages to and from various groups, which are organized around a range of different topics.

History TXTMob was first developed by the Institute for Applied Autonomy for protesters at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston and the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City (see 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity). Tad Hirsch, a researcher in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Smart Cities Group and Computing Culture Research Group, continues to offer TXTmob cleaned up, packaged and released under the GPL via SourceForge. Tad Hirsch, creator of TXTMob, was the subject of a subpoena by the City of New York in connection with several lawsuits against the City that allege police misconduct during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Features The TXTMob service will forward messages received to all members of a particular group as they are received. In an unmoderated group, any group member can send a text message to be received by all other members of that group. Groups can also be moderated, in which case the group is set up as a sort of announcement-only group, which is used primarily as a one-way conduit of information and text messages can only be sent by selected people (often just that group's particular administrator).

Groups A public group is one which any TXTMob member may join. Membership in a private group is limited by the group's administrators. When an individual first attempts to join a private group, his or her membership will be listed as "pending." Once an administrator of the group upgrades their membership, they will be able to receive messages, and depending on if the group is moderated or not, send messages. Secret groups are similar to private groups in that membership is restricted by the group's administrators. However, membership in secret groups is by invitation only; secret groups do not appear in group directories and uninvited members are unable to sign up for "pending memberships".

Legacy TXTMob was one of the example services which was used as a model for the service Twitter when it was originally created.

References

External links Institute for Applied Autonomy — developers' website TXTMob @ Sourceforge - code Interview with Tad Hirsch - Hirsch discusses subpoena

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with TXTMob

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what TXTMob claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to TXTMob before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about TXTMob ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of TXTMob

In research: TXTMob appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses TXTMob in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: TXTMob is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Telecommunication services, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for TXTMob outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study TXTMob in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what TXTMob means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain TXTMob out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is TXTMob in simple terms?

Why does TXTMob matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study TXTMob?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on TXTMob.