The University of Florida has a whole new way to experience a Gators game, no longer requiring the purchase of a ticket or a battle against the Florida heat.
 
The College of Journalism and Communications’ Atlas Lab, which opened this semester, uses the latest digital analysis tools and artificial intelligence-driven technologies for social media listening.

 Outfitted with 45 Roku television screens, students are encouraged to stop by for free watch parties during selected home and away Gator football games. 

Director of the Atlas Lab Nathan Carpenter said, “We had a good turnout for the game against Tennessee. People were stopping by and checking the place out all game long.”

During a football game, five screens are used for the watch party, four to highlight live social media engagements and one plays the actual game on YouTube TV. 

To follow live game updates, Carpenter uses Talkwalker, a social media search tool that accesses real-time conversations in 187 languages across all major social networks,   and Quid Monitor software to track specific keywords for both teams.

He also hosts free workshops, demonstrating how to study softwares like Talkwalker, monitoring major social networks, and offering free trials for students to manually operate. 

Live tweets and online commentary pop up, with accompanying AI-generated summaries of popular opinions and overall sentiments about the team — positive, neutral, or negative. 

Additional social listening nights are planned to follow, including the 58th Super Bowl, March Madness, and the upcoming presidential debates. 

Watch parties are only the beginning for the Atlas Lab. To increase nationwide media coverage and monitoring, research opportunities, grants, and immersion programs are being developed for the upcoming semesters. 

“The Atlas Lab is truly an impressive space,” Carpenter said. “To the best of my knowledge, it is the largest academic social media listening lab in the world.”