Social networking in Metaverse (SocMeta) TC Innovation Project

SocMeta proposal has been selected for funding by IEEE ComSoc under the TC Innovation Project initiative. Its main goals are related to how the Metaverse will revolutionize the existing social networking features, applied to different contexts, from Social Internet of Things to Vehicular Social Networks, as well Online Social Networks.

Metaverse is mainly used to refer to the expected future iterations of the Internet. This concept can also be referred to as Web 3.0. The advent of the Metaverse concept has further expedited the evolution of haptic, tactile Internet, and multimedia applications, thanks to the use of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Extended Reality (XR) services. As a result, fully immersive sensing will most likely define the next generation of wireless networks, providing novel and immersive user experience.

Metaverse will be the opportunity of creating new social networks that there not exist in real world. In SocMeta project, we intend to define new trust relationships that will allow seamless confidence in both worlds. We intend to introduce new trust concept of Metaverse social networks that allows equivalence of trust between entities.

In SocMeta we will look for innovative proposals from IEEE ComSoc students, addressing the main topics of SocMeta. Please, see the call for competition at the following link.

The First Workshop on Social Networking in Metaverse

The First Workshop on Social Networking in Metaverse will be held on December 22, 2023, at Roma Tre University, Department of Industrial, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, Via Vito Volterra 62, Rome, Italy.

Registration

Invited Speakers

The workshop will have two invited speakers.

  • Talk 1: Metaverse, Metastability and Beyond
    • Speaker: Dr. Tania Lorido-Botran (Roblox, USA)
    • Time: December 22, 2023, 10 am CET
    • Abstract: Roblox Metaverse supports an impressive 55M daily users. The underlying infrastructure is geographically distributed, with multiple edge data centers in all continents. The Metaverse stack consists of multiple layers of software systems, with complex dependencies that can be represented as a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) or a multi-layered queueing system. In short, the concept of Metastability happens when each moving part of the stack works in harmony. In contrast, a Metastable failure results from a trigger originating in some part of the stack that cascades through multiple dependencies to finally affect a third-party system. Such kind of failure has large-scale consequences and can deem the overall stack unusable. The present talk will deep-dive in the characterization (or absence) of metastability based on a queueing theory model and analyze the dynamics that can lead to different flavors of system-wide failures. Furthermore, the model will be used as the basis to (mathematically) devise measures for the early detection of failures and explore fault-tolerance measures that ensure metastability.
    • Bio: Dr. Tania Lorido-Botran is a full time research scientist at Roblox, where she leads several efforts at the intersection of Machine Learning and Distributed Systems. Prior to that, she worked at Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Lorido-Botran holds a PhD from University of Deusto with a Cum Laude Distinction. She is very active within the research community: invited keynotes (ACM DEBS´23, HotCloudPerf´23, BDCAT’22), doctoral symposium co-chair (ACSOS´23), session chair (ACM DEBS’23), panelist (HotCloudPerf’23), PC member (CCGRID´23, DEBS´23, HotCloudPerf’23, etc). Her research interests include ML for Systems, data center sustainability and fault tolerance.
  • Talk 2: Metaverse, Online Social Media and Networks
    • Speaker: Prof. Silvia Giordano (SUSPI, Switzerland)
    • Time: December 22, 2023, 10 am CET
    • Abstract: Metaverse, in addition to its virtual features, is a full-fledged social media: It integrates in the virtual space: chat and encountering features, gaming, co-working and befriending and many other social activities. Thus, it inherits the very same business model of social media, grounded on users engagement and (mis-)information spread. In social media, users leave digital footprints on a daily basis, and this makes more easy to spread harmful content and attack their privacy. All such risks – like privacy, security, profiling, harmful content, etc. – are already present in the current metaverse, but we can expect that this negative situation would be further amplified with the immersive and massively interconnected multiverses, such as the one envisioned by Meta. When using the virtual reality equipment, the digital footprint of a user is enormously bigger and even more in the spotlight as, not only user’s exchanged data and profile, but also its behavior and physical data (movement, body, etc.) are exposed and accessible to attacks. Which new issues is raising the metaverse? How can we face the known and unknown challenges? We have seen that the reluctance of social media companies to mitigate digital footprint related risks and the lack of transparency in their moderation policies have led to calls for regulation of social media platforms. This need of regulation is even more paramount in the new social media virtual space of metaverse.
    • Bio: Prof. Silvia Giordano, Ph.D. from EPFL, is at SUPSI University in Lugano, Switzerland since 2003. She is the head of the Trustworthy and Security group and of the Complex Systems research Area and direction member of the SUPSI Strategic Research Group. She is CNR associate researcher, and Distinguished professor at Tianjin University. Her research interests include Social Computing, Pervasive Computing and Networking, Security and Privacy, Industry4.0, MANETs, QoS and Traffic Control. She is IFIP-WG6.3 chair, ACM Distinguished Committee chair 2021, ACM Distinguished Scientist 2014, ACM Stars in Computer Networking and Communications 2017..