What makes people react to and share information online? In the past, as social scientists studied individuals and groups in the physical world, they were able to observe trends and tendencies from which to infer certain principles of human behavior. Today鈥檚 social media outlets, as well as the rapidly increasing number of people who have access to digital devices, add even more complexity 鈥� and uncertainty 鈥� to those basic principles. Stephen Hawking described the phenomena and global interactivity as being 鈥渃onnected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain.鈥�
This 鈥渃onnection鈥� is vital because online information听鈥� whether it is听more robust and timely communications during a hurricane or more accurate information and access to health care options 鈥� can quickly impact the nation鈥檚 well-being. To that end, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created a program to help develop technologies for the computational simulation of online social behavior so that this behavior can be better understood and, perhaps, predicted. Researchers at the University of 91吃瓜 are among a multidisciplinary group of engineers and scientists who are working to achieve this goal in regard to the complex social phenomena that occurs online daily.
The team is led by and includes 91吃瓜 and Indiana University (IU). Researchers are听creating a virtual laboratory to study the dynamics of online interactions. The lab, Cognitive Online Simulation of Information Network Environments (COSINE), will study online social interactions听to create the first-of-its-kind cognitive agent simulation framework from which they can produce massive simulations to understand shifts of attention and听reactions to crises, as well as roles and influences in human behavior.
Emilio Ferrara, research leader at the USC/ISI, will coordinate and manage the overall activities of the COSINE team and听, assistant professor of , will lead the 91吃瓜 segment of the team. professor of computer science and informatics, will head the IU portion of the team.
Weninger鈥檚 research interests and expertise are in data mining, graph mining and network science, most recently focusing on social network environments and how information is organized and consumed across those channels. As such, 91吃瓜鈥檚 responsibility to the COSINE team will be conducted in conjunction with the University鈥檚 and 91吃瓜鈥檚 , allowing for large-scale analytics of social media posts. 91吃瓜鈥檚 contribution will also model and simulate human behavior in online social media and the way in which information diffuses across networks.
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Originally published by at on October 24, 2017.