How out-of-control transaction costs spawn preferential attachment
Online human networks are highly centralized, with a few nodes raking in most connections. The conventional wisdom is that this
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Digital News
Topical news on social media, web culture, digital humanities
Disinformation is a “Big Lie” that contradicts Common Sense Asking For Faith Alone
In the digital era, “discourse power” is real power. Disinformation has become a preferred method of confounding the adversary and
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Should we regulate Facebook? Ask the moms.
An experiment by Tromholt Morten from the University of Copenhagen published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking suggests that people
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DC Conference on Social Media and Regulation
On Friday May 24, 2019 I organize in collaboration with the French Laboratory of Excellence in Creative Industries, the ICA preconference
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Social Media Analysis Online Class for Liberal Arts Majors
In collaboration with the Online Masters’ Program in Strategic Communication, I launched the Social Media Analytics Class, which will be
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Why electricity, magnetism (and radio waves) are the same thing and how should this help us understand the fundamental tradeoffs of modern telecommunication technologies
This article is a companion material to the Course COM 25100 Information, Technology, Society which I teach at Purdue University
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The generative dilemma of the Internet
This is an introduction to a set of core concepts related to Internet communication for the Course COM 251 Information,
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What is the Internet edge-to-edge (end-to-end or e2e) design principle? What is it good for and what are its main trade-offs?
This is a tutorial on a set of core concepts related to Internet communication for the courses I teach at
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What is the Internet? What does the Internet do? Why is it an “inter-net” and not just a simple “net? An introduction and tutorial
This is a tutorial on a set of core concepts related to Internet communication for my courses at Purdue University. For
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The Social Media Analysis of French Presidential Elections: Telescope or Microscope?
The results of the French elections are in and the two front runners in the polls did indeed come up
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Does Social Media Data Suggest that Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon Will Compete in the Second Tour of the French Presidential Elections?
What does the social media crystal ball say about the biggest global event of the day, the French presidential campaign?
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Did social media elect Donald Trump?
Donald Trump’s social media campaign is known for its virulence, but relatively less was said about its virality. Trump had
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The Trump vs. Clinton race goes on: 2016 presidential race not yet settled after first debate
Hillary Clinton did a very good job during the debates, as she was expected to, while Donald Trump had a
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I, you, we: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton word fight on Facebook emphasize the importance of assuming personal responsibility
The rhetorical struggle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is not only about issues, actions and change, but also about
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Jump in Google searches for “Donald Trump” mirrors closing gap between candidates
Google Trends analysis shows that Donald Trump has been dominating and dominates Google Searches by a large margin. This is a
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Hillary Clinton’s breathing down Trump’s neck only makes his sails billow in Twitterspace
On the quiet Saturday morning of July 23rd, just after the Republic National Convention, Donald Trump was getting about 7500 Tweets
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Donald Trump’s Facebook campaign leads Hillary Clinton’s by a large margin, building on Twitter strength
Donald Trump rip-roars his way through social media, keeping Hillary Clinton’s Campaign in a tight spot. An average official Trump
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Donald Trump Twitter campaign outperforms Hillary Clinton’s in all dimensions: output, engagement, performance
I dipped the R cup in the Twitter font of wisdom and here is what I found… For the period
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The message of Trump is Trump. And Hillary Clinton’s, too!
Donald Trump has an obsession: Donald Trump. But so does Hillary Clinton. This might give the Donald an extra umpf
Read MoreIs “the media” obsessed with Donald Trump? How much? Does it matter?
The issue if and how much is Trump’s celebrity influenced by a so-called “media obsession” with his persona and ideas
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Promoting competency based education through trade-off thinking
We live in a world of things. Those who make the things define the way we live our lives. Their
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The importance of trade-off thinking in studying communication technologies
Technologies such as the power grid, plumbing, or mass media rely on standards that are accepted as simply being there.
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Trade off as a way of thinking: An interdisciplinary undergraduate course and learning experience in technology / STEM education at Purdue Polytechnic
In Spring 2015, together with my colleagues, Michael Smith, Abrar Hammoud, and Davin Huston I developed a multidisciplinary learning experience
Read MoreFridge caught sending spam emails in botnet attack – CNET
You probably knew that the Internet is inherently unsecure. And you probably knew that 80% of email is spam. But
Read MoreA pean to the disrupted – The end of coherent thought is neigh
If New York City never lacked for something, those are the immensely talented, greatly gifted writers, whose words flow from
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Roles, trust, and reputation in social media knowledge markets (book)
The first major publication of the KredibleNet project is out. The volume Roles, Trust, and Reputation in Social Media Knowledge
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View The Great Pyramids of Giza in 3D through Google Maps
Google Maps just got the right to publish its “street view” of the roads surrounding the Great Pyramids of Giza,
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If All Dialects Are Rule Bound, Are They All Equal?
Agree or disagree? The Value of Admitting What We Don’t Know – Commentary – The Chronicle of Higher Educationhttp://chronicle.com/article/The-Value-of-Admitting-What-We/147983/All dialects
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Reliability of Peer Review in Psychology Publications: About 10%
Articles published in the same journals, resubmitted for review. Almost 1 in 10 articles rejected by 9 out of 10
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Find out how Facebook ranks your friends
There is much talk nowadays about the “wise crowds” that automagically emerge on social media to democratically decide what is
Read MoreThe Iphone livecast was a failure
I tried to watch the Apple launch with my Purdue Polytech students to show them how to introduce a product
Read MoreThe future connected car: Smartphones as the new dashboard…. The Economist
The next revolution in the digital world will not be on a desktop or in your pocket. It will be
Read More10 coolest videos on how the latest digital and hardwired objects are made
An awesome collection of “technology demystified” videos from the digital living magazine, Wired… Emphasis on special effects…
Read MoreAmazon.com URL shortcut when you only have the ASIN
Do you only have the ASIN of your product. Enter the ID (ASIN) of the product and hit GO… A
Read MoreA round up of latest new media / social media research
An update from the Nieman Journalism Lab While high-level speculation continues on the future of news and information, research studies
Read MoreWhy do chinese prefer numbers over letters in their URLs? Not only to avoid translation
The preference of some Chinese sites to use numbers over letters in their domain names has something to do, as you
Read MoreWill paper books still be read in the future? Paper still has some advantages over e-ink
In the enthusiasm for digital publishing and e-ink devices, such as the Kindle, the relative advantages of using old fashioned
Read MoreFacebook’s greatest challenge: mission creep
Zuckerberg’s silly slogan “stay focused and keep shipping” was never more childishly immitative of the digital “big boys” (whoever those
Read MoreSocial Physics: Measuring and Explaining Social Interactions as Complex Reflexive Systems
If the latest trendy phrase in cybersphere, Social Physics, should refer to anything, that should be an emergent social scientific
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How to succeed at everything you do
Failure is a gift from the gods, who want us to earn the privilege of success. Yet, those that fail
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The origin of human skin color
The origin of dark color in human skin is strongly connected to our African roots. However, it is puzzling how
Read MoreWired: Killing Net Neutrality Helps Underdogs Succeed?
A balanced view on net neutrality… To make sure consumers benefit, we need to solve the network capacity problem. Yes,
Read MoreHow much can you make from your YouTube channel subscriptions? About 10 dollars a head, a year…
New York Times reports that a successful YouTube broadcaster with 1,000,000 subscribers to multiple channels, who posts at least 20
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Practice Capital Concept Applied through Social Network Analysis to the C-Span Video Archive
A new concept, practice capital, which extends the concept of social capital to collaborative projects is proposed in my chapter
Read MoreA Rape in Cyberspace – A classic of cyberliterature
Who am I, when I am online? Why to I do the things I do? Who suffers? Who
Read MoreA Programmer Explains Why Android Apps Are Ugly | MIT Technology Review
Why I will not buy another Android phone anytime soon… The opinion of this programmer is worth his weight in
Read MoreXbox games responsible for drop in crime rates?
Do you buy into this explanation? Xbox effect: Dinner bells that summoned children from the great outdoors have long
Read MoreThe perfect Christmas gift for your elderly parents: An great, simple LCD TV at great price (Samsung UN32EH4003 32-inch 720p 60Hz LED HDTV)
This is the modest, “it just works” Samsung TV the your mom always wanted in her bedroom. Crisp image, great
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From mirroring to guiding
State of the art research and development on online collaborative technologies. An excellent recent summary: We review a representative selection
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The Evolution of Research on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning – Springer
What is known (and unknown) about computer supported collaborative learning? This chapter summarizes two decades of research on computer-supported
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The impact of group formation in a cooperative learning environment
An article about group design and selection collaborative learning. This study investigates whether instructor-formed heterogeneous groups
Read MoreThought leaders in online learning
An absolutely fascinating article on how leaders modulate and stimulate learning in online environments. If fits in nicely with the
Read MoreThe role of linker superusers in catalyzing online network evolution
An older study by Kumar et al. looking at Flickr and Yahoo 360 noticed not only the typical 80/20 distribution
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