This week long workshop will provide an introduction to mathematical and statistical research in data modeled using networks. Talks will be presented by statisticians and mathematicians who work with networks, but especially with social networks.
In this day and age, humans interact through a variety of channels, from face-to-face conversation to text messaging to Facebook. The large number of communication mediums as well as their foundational differences make modern social networks complex and exciting systems to study. For example, the understanding of social influence — whereby a given individual’s attitudinal, behavioral and/or health characteristics are altered as a result of interacting with others — is crucial to efforts aimed at improving the well being of societies. However, social influence becomes increasingly difficult to understand as the complexity of social interactions increases.
For a good part of the week, students, in teams of 3 or 4, will use data from the Social Evolution experiment in the MIT Human Dynamics Lab (Maden et al. 2012) to investigate a variety of questions related to the formation and evolution of social networks using data from approximately 100 students in a college dormitory during the 2008-2009 academic year. The survey data contain information on social interaction related to physical proximity, telephone calls, text messaging, and perceived relations. Student teams will investigate how these various forms of social interaction change over time and how they are correlated with changes in individual-specific characteristics such as eating and exercise habits, political opinions during the 2008 election, flu symptom exhibition, and tobacco usage.
Finally, student teams will give short presentations on the last morning of the workshop, and will have the option of having their final presentations reside on the SAMSI website.
John Haws – Appia Inc.
1:30-2:00 Students get feedback on their projects and keep working.
10:00-12:00 Group Work: Postdocs/Graduate Fellows will be around to help.
1:30-5:00 Group Work – Postdocs/Graduate Fellows will be around to help.