Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

Tracing Information Flow Online
David Liben-Nowell, Carleton College

Although information, news, jokes, and opinions circulate continuously in the worldwide social network, the actual mechanics of how a single particular "meme" spreads on a global scale have largely remained mysterious. A major challenge lies in the difficulty of acquiring large-scale data that records the diffusion of a single piece of information. In this talk, I will survey some recent computational research that studies information propagation through the digital traces of online activity. I will focus on joint work with Jon Kleinberg and Flavio Chierichetti that traces such information-spreading processes via the reconstruction of the propagation of two massively circulated Internet chain letters, one protesting the beginning of the Iraq war and one protesting budget cuts in U.S. governmental funding of public radio. Along the way, I will mention a few unexpected connections to problems and techniques from computational biology that arose in our data reconstruction.

# vimeo.com/63965875 Uploaded 192 Views 0 Comments

Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

Kavli Frontiers of Science

The Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium series is the National Academy of Science’s premiere activity for distinguished young scientists. Unlike meetings that focus on a narrow area of science, these meetings allow participants to explore innovative…


+ More

The Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium series is the National Academy of Science’s premiere activity for distinguished young scientists. Unlike meetings that focus on a narrow area of science, these meetings allow participants to explore innovative research ideas across a wide variety of fields and to develop new networks that will serve them as they progress in their careers..

Browse This Channel

Channels are a simple, beautiful way to showcase and watch videos. Browse more Channels.