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/.