Six Questions Board Members Should Ask About Social Media Usage – Boardmember.com
Teaming up with genomics to solve outbreaks
Jennifer Gardy of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control, presented a case study where she and her colleagues used a technique combining genome sequencing and social network analysis to contain a tuberculosis outbreak. Taking place in a medium-sized community in British Columbia, the researchers turned to the technique after finding traditional epidemiological methods rather ineffective. Combining social network analysis with genome sequencing allowed the researchers to paint a more detailed picture of the epidemic’s underlying structure.
The researchers eventually determined that the outbreak was likely not instigated by genetic changes to the pathogen, but instead likely due to tendencies in the community interaction. Additionally they were able to determine that a few key individuals acted as superspreaders, and these people were socially well connected and sympotmatic for long periods of time. This information is being used in a current outbreak investigation where public health officials are trying to target socially popular people for screening as a priority.
Electronic Games & the First Amendment
Just recently published in the Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review, a paper authored by SONIC researcher Thomas Rousse provides a structural theoretical analysis on the history and direction of electronic game censorship. Expanding upon the question of whether electronic games are protected under the First Amendment, raised by Brown v. EMA, a Supreme Court case likely to be decided tomorrow, this paper argues that electronic games should be protected by the First Amendment, and their lack of protection over the past forty years .
The paper has been uploaded and can be read at SSRN: Electronic Games & the First Amendment
Abstract:
Prompted by the upcoming Supreme Court case Brown v. EMA (formerly Schwarzenegger v. EMA), this article explores the case history of electronic game censorship, the history of new media regulation, and how significant free speech theories can be applied to electronic games. In Brown v. EMA and similar cases, lawmakers have attempted to regulate electronic games based on their violent content, while earlier cases refused to consider electronic games as speech at all. This paper advocates a structuralist analysis of media, the expressive germ perspective, to determine which media should be considered speech. By focusing on the capabilities rather than the content of nascent media, courts can avoid misclassifying rightfully protected expression due to cultural prejudice or unfamiliarity with new media. Ultimately, this paper broadens the discussion raised by Brown v. EMA to interrogate our judiciary’s failure to protect media in their formative stages and fulfill the anti-majoritarian goals of the First Amendment.
Loopt Flips Daily Deal Model Upside Down With U-Deal – NYTimes.com
Best Paper at Web Science 2011
A paper authored by members of the Virtual Worlds Observatory team including Brian Keegan, Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, Dmitri Williams, Jaideep Srivastava, and Noshir Contractor won a best paper at the 2011 ACM Web Science conference. The paper is titled “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Virtuali? Promise and Peril at the Intersection of Computational Social Science and Online Clandestine Organizations.”
Abstract:
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) maintain archival databases of all player actions and attributes including activity by accounts engaged in illicit behavior. If individuals in online worlds operate under similar social and psychological motivations and constraints as the offline world, online behavioral data could inform theories about offline behavior. We examine high risk trading relationships in a MMOG to illuminate the structures online clandestine organizations employ to balance security with efficiency and compare this to an offline drug trafficking network. This data offers the possibility of performing social research on a scale that would be unethical or impracticable to do in the offline world.However, analyzing and generalizing from clandestine behavior in online settings raises complex epistemological and methodological questions about the validity of such mappings and what methods and metrics are appropriate in these contexts. We conclude by discussing how computational social science can be applied to online and offline criminological concerns and highlight the “dual use” implications of these technologies.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) maintain archival databases of all player actions and attributes including activity by accounts engaged in illicit [DW1]behavior. If individuals in online worlds operate under similar social and psychological motivations and constraints as the offline world, online behavioral data could inform theories about offline behavior. We examine high risk trading relationships in a MMOG to illuminate the structures online clandestine organizations employ to balance security with efficiency and compare this to an offline drug trafficking network. This data offers the possibility of performing social research on a scale that would be unethical or impracticable to do in the offline world.However, analyzing and generalizing from clandestine behavior in online settings raises complex epistemological and methodological questions about the validity of such mappings and what methods and metrics are appropriate in these contexts. We conclude by discussing how computational social science can be applied to online and offline criminological concerns and highlight the “dual use” implications of these technologies.
[DW1]Rule breaking? Law breaking?
Yun Huang presented in ICSN at Austin TX
June 3rd, Dr. Yun Huang presented the paper “Distance Matters: Exploring Proximity and Homophily in a Virtual World” co-authored with Cuihua Shen and Noshir Contractor in the First International Conference of Theory and Applications of Social Networks at Austin, Texas. This study analyzes the impacts of distance, time zones, players’ gender, age, and game age on relation building in virtual worlds. The results show that spatial proximity, temporal proximity, and homophily in age and game age have strong impacts on players’ behavior in creating online relations in EverQuest II.
Giving real-life money to your Second Life friends
Recent research by SONIC undergraduate Nick Merrill and graduate student Brooke Foucault demonstrates that social status within a Second Life group is positively correlated with the donation of in-game resources to one’s group. In Second Life, in-game resources can be traded for real-world money, so this finding indicates that an avatar’s social standing among virtual friends may be strong enough to spur sacrifices in the player’s real-life bank account. Overall, this research shows that traditional models of social giving and altruism may hold in a virtual-world context.
The paper will be presented at the NCA Conference in November.
Contractor to give keynote address in Eindhoven, Netherlands
This Wednesday, June 8th, Professor Noshir Contractor will be giving the keynote address at the 22nd annual ACM conference on hypertext and hypermedia in Eidhoven, Netherlands. The title will be “From Disasters to WoW: Using Web Science to Understand and Enable 21st Century Multidimensional Networks”. More information can be found at the ACM website.
Virginia Tech Talk: Petascale Level Network Analysis
“Conducting social network analysis at the petascale level: Challenges and Opportunities” was the title of Professor Noshir Contractor’s Presentation for Virginia Tech’s Annual Workshop on Network Science. The presentation was June 2nd in Blacksburg, VA.