Noshir Contractor at the NU Digital Marketing and Computer Science Workshop
Earlier this week, Professor Noshir Contractor attended Northwestern University and Adobe Research’s Digital Marketing and Computer Science Workshop. This workshop brings together people and ideas from the field of Digital Marketing and Computer Science with the hope of finding a new intersection between the two and creating a medium for individuals to network for future communication and collaboration.
In the workshop, Professor Contractor shared his insights during the “Understanding Consumer Behavior in Digital Environments” Panel. Other speakers in the panel include Ashlee Humphreys from Northwestern Medill/Kellogg and Georgios Theocharous from Adobe Research.
More information about this workshop can be found here.
Check out our new podcast, Untangling the Web
This year, we are proud to announce that we are hosting a podcast of the Web Science Trust called Untangling the Web. Untangling the Web is created to improve society’s understanding of the web, promote the Web’s positive impact on society, and ultimately change the Web for the better. In this platform, we bring thought leaders from around the world to explore how the Web is shaping society and how society in turn is shaping the web. Guest speakers include Professor Gina Neff from the Oxford Internet Institute, Professor Sandy Pentland from MIT, Professor Dame Wendy Hall from the University of Southampton, Professor James Hendler from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Professor Susan Halford from the University of Bristol, Professor Filippo Menczer from Indiana University, and Professor Jen Golbeck from the University of Maryland.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast from major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple, Google and SoundCloud. Follow our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for updates.
More details can be found at https://webscience.northwestern.edu and check out this recent press release about the podcast here.
Houston, We have a feature!
Houston, We have a feature!!! A new episode of Houston We Have a Podcast, the official podcast of NASA just dropped today! Today’s episode features none other than our amazing Lab Director Noshir Contractor and our lovely collaborators Leslie DeChurch and Suzanne Bell. Listen to their conversation on team compositions, team processes, and essentially all about team science here.
More details about the episode: https://go.nasa.gov/2LuMaqX
Interested in an internship at SONIC? Apply now!
2020 is about to wrap up, which means SONIC is hiring new interns for the Winter Quarter!! Interested applicants, please check out our flyers here!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Feodora Kosasih (feodora.kosasih@northwestern.edu).
Noshir Contractor presented at the University of Buffalo’s Virtual Brown Bag Series and Global HR Forum
Noshir Contractor recently presented at the Virtual Brown Bag Series at the University of Buffalo and the Global HR Forum.
- At the Virtual Brown Bag Series, his presentation titled “Using Digital Traces to Leverage Network Insights During COVID-19 Today – and in Space in the Future” featured some of our latest works on digital traces and how we can gain network insights from these data.
- At the Global HR Forum (글로벌인재포럼) 2020, Noshir Contractor was one of the panelists during the “Big Data and the Future of Human Resources Management” session. Other speakers in the session include Sidney Yang (CEO, Heartcount), Heather Whiteman (Fellow, Future Workplace), and Eun Jinki (Partner, HR Strategy, re:BOX Consulting).
- More details about the event can be found here: https://www.ghrforum.org/program/program_03.html?sMenu=m3…
Citation:
Contractor, N. (2020, November). Using Digital Traces to Leverage Network Insights During COVID-19 Today – and in Space in the Future. Speaker at the Virtual Brown Bag Series Department of Organization and Human Resources, School of Management, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.
Virtual NCA 2020 Convention Highlights
Last weekend, current and former SONIC members had the pleasure to present at the Virtual National Communication Association (NCA) Convention 2020. Here’s some highlights from the convention:
If you missed the live session last weekend, watch the recorded conference presentation here:
Noshir Presenting at NCA 2020 Tomorrow!
Tomorrow (11/20), Noshir Contractor will be presenting at the National Communication Association (NCA) Convention. He will discuss topics surrounding AI and teams as part of a panel titled Team Communication Research in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
Other speakers in the panel include:
- Brooke Foucault Welles from Northeastern University
- Javier Garcia from US CCDC Army Research Laboratory
- Nina Lauharatanahirun from University of Pennsylvania and US CCDC Army Research Laboratory
- Andrew Gambino from Penn State University
- Christoph Riedl from Northeastern University
- Leslide DeChurch from Northwestern University
More details on the panel can be found below:
Title: Team Communication Research in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Fri, 11/20: 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM EST
Room: Zoom Room 17
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has accelerated at a rapid pace in recent years, presenting novel opportunities and challenges to the study of team communication. In this panel, we bring together experts who use AI in many different aspects of their team communication research, including: AI-supported data collection and analysis, behavioral modeling and prediction in teams, agent-based modeling of teams, and hybrid human-agent teams. This panel will feature short individual presentations about leading edge AI-team research, followed by discussion of critical issues in this domain including data security, ethics, privacy, and student training. Together, we aim to outline an agenda for future work where AI is thoughtfully integrated into team communication research.
Diego Presenting at the National Communication Association (NCA) Convention 2020
Our gradaute student Diego Gomez-Zara is going to present his research on team formation at the upcoming National Communication Association (NCA) Convention. The 106th Annual NCA Convention will be fully virtual and will cover topics surroounding Communication at the Crossroads. Diego’s presentation will be live from 7-9AM CST and is part of the Information Seeking, Impressions, and Technology.
More information about the presentation can be found here: https://ww4.aievolution.com/nca2001/index.cfm?do=ev.viewEv&ev=11014
Title: Do I Know You? The Effects of Offline Social Capital on Self-Assembled Teams Online
Abstract: This study investigates how individuals’ offline social capital affects the formation of teams in online contexts. We conducted a study with 854 participants who assembled teams using an online platform developed for this study and examined how they sent invitations to assemble teams to others, as well as their responses to others’ invitations. Through a family of statistical models for analyzing social network data, ERGMs, the result suggests that participants’ prior offline relationships have strong effects on the likelihood of being invited and accepted in a team. We found that the strength of offline relationships, the number of weak and strong ties, and leadership experience influenced the processes of team formation online. This study provides empirical support for social capital theories that explain how teams emerge online.
Citation: Gómez-Zará, D., DeChurch, L. A., & Contractor, N. S. Do I Know You? The Effects of Offline Social Capital on Self-Assembled Teams Online. Accepted at the NCA 106th Annual Convention.
Niloufar presenting at INFORMS 2020
Our graduate student, Niloufar Izadinia, presented at the 2020 Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting today (11/13). Her presentation titled Optimization-based Metrics Of Multilevel Performance In Multiteam Systems will be available for the next three months.
More Event Details: http://meetings2.informs.org/wordpress/annual2020/schedule/
Below please find the abstract and link to the presentation.
Abstract: Members in Multiteam system (MTS) have to negotiate making decisions that optimize their individual performance vis a vis the performance of their team and the MTS. Further, the performance of an individual or a team is constrained by decisions made by others with whom they are independent. Organizational research has generally not accounted for these interdependencies when measuring performance, In this study, we develop optimization-based metrics for assessing the performance of individuals, teams, and MTS that take into account these constraints. We demonstrate that our metrics are valid, reliable, and superior to existing metrics as predictors and outcomes of team states and processes.
Link to Presentation: https://cattendee.abstractsonline.com/meeting/9022/Session/3435
Note: If you’re not a registered for the annual meeting, you’ll still be able to access the event and watch Niloufar’s presentation by creating an account.