Feeding Twitter onto a map for geo referencing...

[chris...@gmail.com]

I am with a graduate student project working on a tool that provides real-time mapping of crime, violence, and community issues.  I am wondering if any one might be willing to explain the process of having something like twitter posts feed into a GIS map.  I am not a comp science guy, but have some experience with HTML and building websites.  Specifically, how do you build a map from scratch using geocommons that will display tweets in a specific geographic location?  

Any help or expertise you have would be going to a legitimate cause/project

Cheers