Social Computing

Context-aware middleware for anytime, anywhere social networks

by dario bottazzi

Learning from Kiosks: Observations and Insights

by Sujai Kumar

Face Recognition and Privacy enhancing techniques

by Alberto Cammozzo

In The Social Impact of Social Computing, edited by Andy Bissett, Terry Ward Bynum, Ann Light, Angela Lauener, and Simon Rogerson, pp.101--109, Sheffield University, 2011

This paper aims to clarify “face recognition” privacy issues emerging in social networks and public places. Reviewing... more This paper aims to clarify “face recognition” privacy issues emerging in social networks and public places. Reviewing current uses, a taxonomy of face recognition technologies is suggested to discern what aspects of face recognition impact the most on privacy, what are the main issues, and what privacy enhancing techniques are currently available to address them. Findings underline the need for a privacy-by-design approach where social computing follows evolving social norms without puncturing social context integrity.

Explaining participation in online communities

by Petter Bae Brandtzaeg

Brandtzæg, P. B., & Heim, J. (2009). Explaining Participation in Online Communities. (Eds) Brian Whitworth and Aldo de Moor. Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems (pp. 167-182). Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference). New York, USA

The last few years have seen a substantial growth in online communities such as MySpace and Facebook. In order to... more The last few years have seen a substantial growth in online communities such as MySpace and Facebook. In order to survive, online community systems must increase and enhance social interaction and participation. This chapter analyzes participation in new online communities, by a combination of socio-technical perspective and a Human-computer interaction perspective. Data were collected in 2007through the use of questionnaire and qualitative from five sample groups in Norway – four online communities and one national sample of Internet users. The results show that online communities attract like-minded people. Most visits have a clear social purpose, but the level of participation differs with respect to user characteristics and community type. Participation in terms of user-generated content (UGC) differs greatly, depending on the medium used. Most users do not contribute audio-visual UGC. Text is still the main UGC. Possible future research and socio-technical design implications are discussed.

Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge

by William P. Hall

2010: Hall, W.P., Nousala, S., Vines, R. Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge. ICOMP'10 - The 2010 International Conference on Internet Computing July 12-15, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one... more The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one individual, its value is increased through social processes involving cycles of tacit and explicit sharing for intersubjective criticism. Sciences and many organizations have well developed processes for managing the tacit-explicit cycling to produce what Vines and Hall call "formal knowledge". Nousala and Hall have studied the emergence of informal communities concerned to develop and refine bodies of knowledge relating to particular issues. The present paper describes one such emergent community’s use of ICT to facilitate knowledge formalization. Their most effective solution uses free Internet applications in the Google "cloud" made possible by changes to Google Docs only released in January 2010. Although involving several poorly documented "apps" and their "gadgets" the resulting architecture is surprisingly coherent, user friendly and apparently robust.

Intelligent System for Quick Response to City-wide Emergency Calls

by Tarin Bansal

This paper proposes an efficient information dissemination approach for path planning related to first responders to... more This paper proposes an efficient information dissemination approach for path planning related to first responders to an emergency call. It involves practical application of Dijkstra’s algorithm for path planning, supplemented by live response through GPS routing. The paper aims at improving the existing methods for dispatching vehicles during times of emergency namely fire, police, and ambulance. In present conditions in India, there are a lot of factors which cause a lag in the response of these services like miscommunication, lack of information and traffic congestions.

The three emergency systems will be combined under a single contact number with each emergency service being differentiated by extension. This will direct the call to the appropriate operator who will note down the address of the emergency location. Upon entering the address in the processor, it will locate the closest base station and generate shortest route from the base to the emergency location. The major roads in the city will have a dedicated lane for emergency vehicles demarcated by LEDs. The emergency route will be illuminated by the LED during the time of emergency. The traffic on the emergency lane lightened with LED will be expected to vacate the lane (not the road).

Emergence and Communication: Overcoming some epistemological drawbacks in computational sociology

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in Proceedings of the III Edition of Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation - A Cross-Disciplinary Workshop. Lisbon. Portugal, 105-124. 2008.

Computational sociology models social phenomena using the concepts of emergence and downward causation. But the... more Computational sociology models social phenomena using the concepts of emergence and downward causation. But the theoretical status of these concepts is ambiguous; they suppose too much ontology and are invoked by two opposed sociological stands, namely, individualistic and holistic interpretations of social phenomena. In this paper, we propose a theoretical alternative that not only might clarify those concepts, but also keep their heuristic and interpretative value for computational sociology. We do so by advancing two proposals. Firstly, we suggest a non-ontological framework that allows modellers to identify emergent processes. This framework asserts the macro level and micro level as the emergent by-products of an instrumental prompting (the very modellers’ act of distinguishing). Secondly, in order to support analytically the modellers’ social simulations, we link this non-ontological framework with the theory of self-referential social systems. This theory gives an account of the emergence of the social realm from the bottom-up as communication and describes the process by which society limits the possible selections of individuals. These two proposals are well-positioned to overcome some epistemological drawbacks, although they also generate new challenges to computational sociology.

Multilevel and Agent-Based Modelling in the Analysis of Differential School Effectiveness

by Mauricio Salgado

Working Paper (2011)

Multilevel Models (MLM) have pioneered the analysis of hierarchical data, with two or more levels. Agent-Based Models... more Multilevel Models (MLM) have pioneered the analysis of hierarchical data, with two or more levels. Agent-Based Models (ABM) are also used to analyse social phenomena in which there are two or more levels involved. This paper addresses the integration between MLM and ABM. To provide a basis of comparison, we focus on differential school effectiveness analysis, where MLM has been well studied, using data from the London Educational Authority’s Junior Project. A MLM is fitted and an ABM of pupils’ educational attainment using a social network structure is built. We reports the results of both models and compare their performances in terms of predictive power. Although the fitted MLM outperforms the proposed ABM, the latter still offers a reasonable fit and provides a causal mechanisms to explain differences in school performance that is absent in the MLM.

Friends forever: social relationships with a fuzzy agent-based model

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in In Corchado, Emilio, Abraham, Ajith and Pedrycz, Witold (Eds.), Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems. Springer. Berlin-Heidelberg. Germany, pp. 523-532. 2008.

Sociological research shows that friendship and partner choice tend to reveal a bias toward social similarity. These... more Sociological research shows that friendship and partner choice tend to reveal a bias toward social similarity. These relations are ruled by the so called “proximity principle” which states that the more similar two individuals are, the more likely they will become friends. However, proximity, similarity or friendship are concepts with blurred edges and grades of membership (acquaintances, friends, couples). Therefore, in order to model the friendship dynamics we work on an Agent-Based Model that already manages the social relationships, together with demographics and evolutionary crossover. To introduce these theoretical concepts we decided to fuzzify the system, explaining the process in detail. Thus, we end up with fuzzy sets and operations, a fuzzy friendship relationship, and a logistic function for its evolution.

The calm after the storm? Looting in the context of disasters

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in Proceedings of The Third World Congress on Social Simulation. University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany. 2010.

We report the results of an agent-based model to study the strategies that policy makers can apply to prevent the... more We report the results of an agent-based model to study the strategies that policy makers can apply to prevent the escalation of deviant behaviour in the aftermath of a disaster. Three policies are tested, namely: a reinforcement of the police power; an increase of the information available to the affected population and a combination of both policies. We test the effect of time in the implementation of these policies. The model shows that the policy which minimises deviant behaviour is the mixed one applied early after the occurrence of a disaster. Therefore, the outcome of this policy depends ultimately of the timing of their application, which is consistent with what has been observed in some real episodes.

Review of Advances in Social Computing: Third International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral Modeling, and Prediction, SBP 2010, Bethesda, …

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. Book Reviews. Vol. 14., No. 2. 2011.

'What Did You Say?'Emergent Communication In A Multi-Agent Spatial Configuration

by Mauricio Salgado

Published in Advances in Complex Systems, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 469-482. 2010.

This paper reports the results of a multi-agent simulation designed to study the emergence and evolution of symbolic... more This paper reports the results of a multi-agent simulation designed to study the emergence and evolution of symbolic communication. The novelty of this model is that it considers some interactional and spatial constraints to this process that have been dis- regarded by previous research. The model is used to give an account of the implications of differences in the agents’ behaviour, which are embodied in a spatial environment. Two communicational dimensions are identified: the frequency with which agents refer to different topics over time and the spatial limitations on reaching recipients. We use the model to point out some interesting emergent communicational properties when the agents’ behaviour is altered by considering those two dimensions. We show the group of agents able to reach more recipients and less prone to changing the topic have the highest likelihood of driving the emergence and evolution of symbolic communication.

Measuring social relations: Case otaSizzle

by Juuso Karikoski

Karikoski, J. and Nelimarkka, M., 2010. Measuring social relations: Case OtaSizzle. In: The Second IEEE International Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom-2010). Minneapolis, USA, August 20-22 2010.

There are different levels of engagement in social relations between persons. Using a single data set for measuring... more There are different levels of engagement in social relations between persons. Using a single data set for measuring social relations may, however, lead to fallacious results, while using multiple data sets the threat of fallacy can be reduced and the nature of different kind of social relations examined. This paper presents the OtaSizzle research platform for combining multiple data sets and measuring social relations. To present the usefulness of this, the first empirical results of the social network analysis performed with the platform are presented and discussed. Handset-based measurements are used together with data from the OtaSizzle social media services to study the social relations within a group of 20 users. As a result the social networks derived with the different data sources are presented and compared and a number of future research items discussed. According to the measures calculated the social networks derived from the mobile devices are quite similar while the OtaSizzle service network is considerably different, indicating a difference in the online social network and the communication network inside the user group.

Measuring social relations with multiple data sets

by Juuso Karikoski

Karikoski, J. and Nelimarkka, M. (2011) ‘Measuring social relations with multiple datasets’, Int. J. Social Computing and Cyber-Physical Systems, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 98–113.

Because people have different levels of engagement with each other, measuring social relations is difficult. In this... more Because people have different levels of engagement with each other, measuring social relations is difficult. In this work we propose a method of measuring social relations with multiple data sets and demonstrate the differences with empirical evidence. Our empirical findings demonstrate that people use different communication media channels differently. Therefore we suggest that in order to understand social structures, one should use several kinds of data sources and not just depend on a single data set. Our data sets include mobile phone data gathered with handset-based measurements and data from OtaSizzle online social media services. By means of social network analysis we show that the online social media services have a different friendship network than the networks based on mobile phone communication. The mobile phone communication networks, however, have a very similar structure. These results are encouraging as previous research also indicates differences in the communication networks.

The biggest shed in the world: an approach to computer enhanced creativity

by Roger Alsop

ACMC07 Trans : Boundaries / Permeability / Reification – Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2007

When I was growing up we had a shed in the back yard,
it was the place where any and everything we did notmore When I was growing up we had a shed in the back yard,
it was the place where any and everything we did not
have an immediate use for was stored; there was no
method to what was kept or where it was put. This
created an environment where anything could be found
with anything else, everything was familiar and nothing
was sacred or precious: a true cornucopia from which
much was made.
This paper looks at a role of the computer as an assistant
to creativity through being a resource of information,
opinions and interpretations and the conceptual spaces
they inhabit, where the digitized object or idea is
available to the artistic creative processes at a variety of
levels and in a variety of ways

Thanks and Tweets: Comparing Two Public Displays

by Sean A. Munson

CSCW 2011. Co-authored with Emily Rosengren and Paul Resnick.

Two public display systems, with different methods of posting, were deployed over several years. One, the Thank You... more Two public display systems, with different methods of posting, were deployed over several years. One, the Thank You Board, was designed to give people an outlet specifically for publicly thanking and acknowledging others in the community. The other, SI Display, showed any Twitter post directed to the display and did not have explicit usage guidelines. People preferred the flexibility of the latter, but ambiguity about its purpose and norms of usage persisted even six months after deployment and made some people hesitant to post. Also, using Twitter as the posting mechanism facilitated participation for some but also created barriers for those not using Twitter and for Twitter users who were wary of mixing their professional and nonprofessional contexts.

Motivating and Enabling Organizational Memory with a Workgroup Wiki

by Sean A. Munson

WikiSym 2008

Workgroups can struggle with remembering past projects and sharing this information with other groups in the... more Workgroups can struggle with remembering past projects and sharing this information with other groups in the organization. In a case study of the deployment of MediaWiki as a publishing tool for building organizational memory, group members’ motivation to document past projects increased. A browsable collection of past projects allowed for discovery of past work, building the reputation of individuals and the workgroup, and development of transactive memory within the workgroup. The “anyone can edit” feature, frequently touted as the main benefit of wikis, had both benefits and drawbacks in this implementation. Group members did not feel comfortable making substantial edits to others’ content but did occasionally use the wiki to coauthor content and also categorize and link to others’ content and fix typos, particularly when asked to help.

Happier Together: Integrating a Wellness Application Into a Social Network Site

by Sean A. Munson

Persuasive 2010. Co-authored with Debra Lauterbach, Mark W. Newman, and Paul Resnick.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of integrating health and wellness interventions into existing online social... more What are the benefits and drawbacks of integrating health and wellness interventions into existing online social network websites? In this paper, we report on a case study of deploying the Three Good Things positive psychology exercise as a Facebook application. Our experience shows that embedding a wellness intervention in an existing social website is a viable option. In particular, we find adherence rates on par with or better than many other Internet-based wellness interventions. We also gained insights about users’ privacy and audience concerns that inform the design of social network-based wellness applications. Participants did not want all of their entries to be shared with all their Facebook friends, both because they did not want others to know some things and because they did not want to clutter others’ newsfeeds. Users found it compelling, however, to interact with their friends around some “Good Things” they had posted.

Disagreement, Confusion, Disapproval, Turn Elicitation and Floor Holding: Actions as Accomplished by Ellipsis Marks-Only Turns and Blank Turns in Quasisynchronous Chats

by Kenneth Keng Wee Ong

Published in Discourse Studies, 13(2), 211-234, April 2011. Please access the paper at http://dis.sagepub.com/content/13/2/211.abstract

This study evidences turn actions done by ellipsis marks-only turns and blank turns as employed in quasisynchronous... more This study evidences turn actions done by ellipsis marks-only turns and blank turns as employed in quasisynchronous chats that are not discussed in prior literature. A brief introduction to the research background of ellipsis marks in online chats is followed by a description of the data collected before delving into the actions done by ellipsis marks-only turns and blank turns. Data was culled from multi-party chats among tertiary students during a critical reasoning class. A Conversation Analysis-informed approach is applied in this paper to analyze the preference organization of elliptical turns that illustrates responses signaling disagreement, confusion and disapproval besides initial actions of eliciting responses and holding the floor. More than punctuation marks or paralinguistic restitution of silences, their interpersonal meaningfulness in sequential context and differentness/similarity vis-à-vis temporal silences are demonstratively shown in microscopic and interpretive description of chat excerpts.

Kooperatives Arbeiten unter der Lupe

by Wolfgang Prinz

C. Seeling, W. Prinz, R. Ruland, A. Becks: Kooperatives Arbeiten unter der Lupe. Proc. of Mensch & Computer 2007, T. Gross (Ed.), Oldenbourg, pp. 99-108.

In diesem Beitrag zeigen wir, wie ein Mix aus Text Mining, Informationsvisualisierung und Explorativermore In diesem Beitrag zeigen wir, wie ein Mix aus Text Mining, Informationsvisualisierung und Explorativer
Datenanalyse helfen kann, den Überblick in kooperativen Arbeitsumgebungen zu verbessern. Das
neuartige Systemkonzept ermöglicht dem Projektmitarbeiter oder –manager eine Art grafischen Röntgenblick
auf Dokumente und Ordnungsstrukturen, noch wichtiger aber auf Personen und ihre Netzwerke
und Aktivitäten. In einer Benutzerstudie mit Experten aus dem Bereich kooperatives Arbeiten wird
der Nutzen solcher Werkzeuge für das kooperative Arbeiten in Forschungsprojekten bewertet.