Marlon – The Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC)

Modeling the diffusion of complex innovations as a process of opinion formation through social networks

2018-05-18 No Comments

A new research article by Valentina Assenova demonstrates how innovations diffuse through networks. Her model incorporates opinion formation processes that occur through diffusion. She also tested her model with diffusion data from a field experiment previously collected in India (Banerjee et al., 2013).

The research article is published in PLoS One: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0196699

A podcast about the article is here: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-innovation-spread-faster-through-social-networks/

Reference:

Banerjee A, Chandrasekhar AG, Duflo E, Jackson MO. The Diffusion of Microfinance. Science. 2013;341(6144):1236498. pmid:23888042

Networks in the News

Cuba’s illegal gaming network serves the community

2017-07-03 No Comments

Cuba’s desire for digital connectivity has led to the organization and development of the “Street Network”. It acts as a social community as well as an alternative to government-controlled and regulated Internet service. Gaming online was a key motivator in the network’s development, but it now contains social media, wikis, marketplaces, and more. Being connected is important in 2017, but increasing access globally remains a challenge.

The last rule of the Street Network is that you don’t talk about the Street Network. But that wasn’t always the case.

For several years the clandestine Havana network of illegal Wi-Fi repeaters, lengths of high-speed network cable and squirreled away servers packed with pirated games, movies and music was sort of an open secret.

The government didn’t just turn a blind eye to it; in some cases it protected the valuable equipment located on windowsills and rooftops, keeping an eye out for potential thieves.

All of that changed in some people’s eyes in 2015 after several people in the Street Network (often just called the Snet) talked to the Associated Press and brought too much attention to their efforts. Since then, the Snet has continued to grow, quickly stretching outside the bounds of Havana and becoming something more than the gaming and entertainment network it started out as. But now that growth happens despite the government’s continued efforts to take the network down, several people who help maintain the network tell Polygon…

Read the full article here.

SONIC News

Marlon Twyman presents two posters at NetSci 2017

2017-06-23 No Comments

SONIC graduate student, Marlon Twyman, presented two posters at the International School and Conference on Network Science (NetSci) 2017 held in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 19-23, 2017. One poster explores the integration of shared cognition, dynamic task networks, and agent-based modeling when studying collaboration within astronaut teams. The other poster investigates the performance of organizations when using various search strategies to find members of problem-solving teams.

Poster Citations:

Marlon Twyman, Leslie DeChurch, & Noshir Contractor. Using a Network Approach for Modeling Shared Cognition of Astronaut Teams. NetSci 2017 International School and Conference on Network Science, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19-23, 2017. Twyman, M., Ma, L., Srivatsa, M., Cansever, D., & Contractor, N. Searching Networks to Assemble Teams. NetSci 2017 International School and Conference on Network Science, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19-23, 2017.

Marlon Twyman, Liang Ma, Mudhakar Srivatsa, Derya Cansever, & Noshir Contractor. Searching Networks to Assemble Teams. NetSci 2017 International School and Conference on Network Science, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19-23, 2017.