Social Computing, Behavioral Modeling and Prediction (SBP ...huanliu/sbp09/SBP09Report.pdf ·...
Transcript of Social Computing, Behavioral Modeling and Prediction (SBP ...huanliu/sbp09/SBP09Report.pdf ·...
SocialComputing,BehavioralModelingandPrediction(SBP2009)
Overview
TheSecondInternationalWorkshoponSocialComputing,BehavioralModelingandPredictionwasheld
in Phoenix, Arizona from Mar 31 – Apr 1, 2009. Most presentations are available at the workshop
website.TheworkshopwasjointlychairedbyProf.HuanLiu(ArizonaStateUniversity),Dr.JohnSalerno
(Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate) and Dr Michael Young (Air Force Research
Laboratory,HumanEffectivenessDirectorate).
TheeventwaskickedoffwithareceptiononMar30thatprovidedanopportunityfortheparticipantsto
familiarizethemselveswitheachotherbeforetheworkshop.Theworkshopspannedtwodaysoverfour
sessions. Invited talkswerescatteredover thesesessionsandakeynotespeechset the tone foreach
day.Anadditionalpostersessionwasalsoheldonthefirstday.Thisposterboardsessionwaswellliked
by the participants as it afforded them an opportunity to interact, discuss and build interdisciplinary
relationships.
WithsponsorshipsandsupportfrommultipleprestigiousorganizationssuchasAFOSR,AFRL,ONR,NIH
andNSF,theeventevincedakeeninterestfromnumerousresearchersfromtheacademia,industryas
wellasgovernmentorganizationswhilealsoattractinganumberofstudents.Atotalof108participants,
aboutthesameasthefirstworkshop,wereinattendance.Theparticipantshaddiverseeducationand
culturalbackground,withaboutathirdofthembeingfemale.
Keynote Speaker, Alex Pentland, in conversation with participants
Keynote and Invited Speakers
The keynote speecheswerewell received by an enthused audience. The first keynote speaker, Prof.
Philip Bonacich (University of California, Los Angeles), a sociologist of great repute best known for
developing measures on centrality in networks, presented social‐psychological models of power and
exploitation in exchange networks. The second keynote speaker, Prof. Alex (Sandy) Pentland
(Massachusetts InstituteofTechnology),directoroftheHumanDynamicsLabatMITandapioneer in
computationalsocialscience,presentedhisinfluentialworkonHonestSignalsandRealityMining,which
uses data gathered from cell phones and other specially designed equipment to provide insight into
patternsofhumanbehaviorandsocialinteractions.
Keynote Speaker, Philip Bonacich presents
Invited speakers from funding agencies also piqued the audiences’ interest through their informative
talksandforesight.Dr.Patty Mabry (OfficeofBehavioralandSocialSciencesResearch,NIH)presenteda
talk on the opportunities for Systems Science in Health Research, highlighting areas that were of
particularinteresttothevariousinstitutesunderNationalInstitutesofHealth.Dr.Joseph Psotka(Army
Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences) presented a talk on the assessment of the
consistencyofpersonal knowledgeasameasureof intelligence. John Graniero (Director, Information
Institute,AirForceResearchLabs)presentedontheopportunities forresearchanddevelopmentwith
theInformationInstitute.Dr.Terence Lyons(ProgramManager,AirForceOfficeofScientificResearch)
presented on research directions in collective behavior and socio‐cultural modeling and related
opportunitieswithAFOSR.Dr.Mary Lou Maher (DeputyDirector, InformationandIntelligentSystems,
NSF)presentedonthechallengesandvisionforresearchinhuman‐computerintelligence.Dr.Rebecca
Goolsby (OfficeofNavalResearch)presentedonthemajorchallengesforresearch inmodeling,social
communicationandweakstates.
Springer published the workshop’s proceedings http://www.springer.com/978-1-4419-0055-5.
Papers, Participants and Awards
Atotalof19paperswereselectedforpresentationandanother12wereacceptedasposters (froma
totalof47papersubmitted).Eachpaperwasallotted25minutesforpresentationanddiscussion.The
authorsof theposterpaperswerealsogivenanopportunity toprovidea5minuteoverviewof their
work,a format thatwasappreciatedbymanyparticipants.The talkswere trulymulti‐disciplinaryand
included a wide range of topics that mixed various areas including computer science, sociology and
psychology.
Student Awardees
Thisyear’sworkshopalsosawachangeintheparticipantinteraction.Whilelastyear’sparticipantswere
mostly unfamiliarwith each other, this yearwas a different casewith a lot of participants being the
same as last year. Facilitated by the intimate setting of theworkshop, a stronger camaraderie and a
sense of belonging were distinctly noticeable. While last year’s workshop helped build numerous
multidisciplinaryrelationships,thisyear’sworkshopfortifiedthesepartnerships,whilelayinggroundfor
newones.
Student Author Awardees
Name Affiliation Department
BabatundeOlubando MorganStateUniversity Industrial,Manufacturing&InformationEngineering
KarstenSteinhaeuser UniversityofNotreDame ComputerScienceandEngineering
NikaKabiri UniversityofWashington DepartmentofSociology
ShadeShutters ArizonaStateUniversity SchoolofLifeSciences
ShuyuanMaryHo SyracuseUniversity SchoolofInformationStudies
ZheshenWang ArizonaStateUniversity ComputerScienceandEngineering
DavidMurillo ArizonaStateUniversity DepartmentofMathematicsandStatistics
VadasGintautas LosAlamosNationalLaboratory CenterforNonlinearStudies
YasminSaid GeorgeMasonUniversity DepartmentofComputationalandDataSciences
Student Participant Awardees
Name Affiliation Department
CourtneyCorley UniversityofNorthTexas ComputerScienceandEngineering
Kun(Maggie)Hu VirginiaTechUniversity IndustrialandSystemsEngineering
SallyOlderbak UniversityofArizona DepartmentofPsychology
ShannonSmith ArizonaStateUniversity DepartmentofExercise,NutritionandWellness
SindhuAnand ArizonaStateUniversity DepartmentofBioengineering
TawandraRowell UniversityofPennsylvania SchoolofSocialPolicy&Practice
PriyamvadaTripathy ArizonaStateUniversity ComputerScienceandEngineering
JesusBarrientos ArizonaStateUniversity ControlSystemsLaboratory
Thisyear’sworkshopalsosawanincreasedparticipationofenthusiasticstudents.Atotalof30students
participatedthisyearandwereenrichedbytheexperience.Inaddition,somepostdoctoralparticipants
alsogainedconsiderableexposure to thisdevelopingareaof research.Among these,17were funded
towardsregistration,traveland/orlodgingexpensesfromthefundingprovidedbyoursponsors.These
included9authorsand8participantswhodidnothaveapaperorposteracceptedby theworkshop.
The awardees included an eclectic mix from diverse backgrounds, both academically and ethnically.
Morethanhalfoftheseawardeeswerefemale.
Student Awardees with Sponsors
Suggestions for Next Year’s Workshop
Theworkshop concludedwith discussion about the future of theworkshop. The audiences’mandatewasclear;theywerelookingforwardtoanothereditionoftheworkshop.Thesponsorsconcurredwiththeaudience,leadingtoananimatedsessionfilledwithnumeroussuggestions.Amongthesuggestions
werethefollowing:
• Sponsors’discussionsledtothesuggestionofusingasessionforidentifyingchallengeproblemsintheareathroughgroupdiscussions.Thiswouldallowforthedelineationofsuitableproblemsthat researchers could work on and sponsors could fund. A related idea was to identify
participantswhowouldbewilling towork togetheron these interdisciplinary ideas to submitwhitepapers.Theseideasareprimeexamplesofthereachoftheworkshopinshapingthisareaofresearch.
• Achangeinformatwasalsocalledfortoincorporatethenumeroussuggestions.Asapartofthischange, it was decided that a structure would be put together in advance and modifiediteratively throughacollaborative toolsuchasawiki.Amongthesuggestions forchange,was
alsoacallforparallelsessions.• Numerous participants were also interested in sessions that would allow scientists from one
discipline to educate those from a different discipline to allow for knowledge sharing and
understanding thatwouldallowscientists frommultipledisciplines tobeoncommonground.Somesuggestionsfortutorialsandoutlineswereprovided.
• One of the ideas called for the collaborative creation of a common dictionary for computerscientistsandsocialscientiststohelpalleviatesomeofthediscrepanciescausedbyconflictingunderstandingofvarioustermsusedcommonlybybothgroups.
• Finally,itwasdecidedthatthelocationfortheworkshopwouldbechangedfornextyear.Onesuggested approach was to alternate between the east coast and the west coast each year.Volunteerswererequestedtoheadtheworkshopupontheproposedmovetotheeastcoast.
BothGeorgiaTechResearchInstitute(GTRI)andGeorgeMasonUniversity(GMU)haveofferedtotakeonnextyear’sorganizationalresponsibilities.
Acknowledgments
The organizing committee of SBP09 sincerely thanks PC members, authors, participants, invitedspeakers,aswellasgeneroussupportand/orsponsorshipsfromAFOSRandAFRL/II,NIH,NSF,andONRtomakeSBP09asuccess.
MoredetailsofSBP09canbefoundathttp://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/sbp09/.