Internet has evolved to a point where the convergence of telecommunication networks and human social networks is becoming an irreversible trend. On the one hand, online social sites provide massive data sets that capture human social activities. With the data, researchers can for the first time closely observe and understand human social interaction at large scales. On the other hand, understanding of human social network and its underlying dynamics sheds new light into the design of more efficient telecommunication networks. There is little doubt that by bridging these two once-seemingly parallel networks, a whole new paradigm of services and applications can be created.
In views of this new trend, the Social Networks Technical Committee is created to promote interdisciplinary researches among social science, information theory and computer science. The main scope of this committee is to encourage study and research activities that answer the very fundamental questions in human and telecommunication networks, including:
-
- ● new applications and services
- ● convergence of telecommunication networks and human social networks
- ● small world phenomenon and its implication in telecommunication networks
- ● information propagation and dissemination in human social networks
- ● formation and evolution of human social network