Workshop on Bridging Diverse Connections through Mobile Social Networking

Workshop on Bridging Diverse Connections through Mobile Social Networking

Sponsored by:
ACM Chicago Chapter, ACM ChicagoCHI Chapter and Discovery Partners Institute

Supported by:
ACM SIGCHI Development Fund Grant

Location:
Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), Classroom A,
200 S Wacker Dr., 4th Floor,
Chicago, IL, 60606

Time:
1:00 to 6:00 PM (in-person and online)

Event Description

We attend in-person events but often forget who we met and where. We receive many contact requests in our online social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook from people we do not know. How can we make it easier for people to connect from offline to online? In this workshop, we will discuss

a) cutting-edge research on connecting people through offline and online interactions and how technology facilitates these transitions,
b) strategies for incorporating diversity into the development of mobile social networking applications, and
c) establish a multidisciplinary and diverse network in mobile social networking, involving experts from academia, industry, and Chicago's inclusive populations across computer science, sociology, and human-computer interaction.

Workshop Committee:

Alvin Chin, Discovery Partners Institute
Kevin Leicht, Discovery Partners Institute
Philip Yu, University of Illinois Chicago
Ali Tafti, University of Illinois Chicago
Diego Gomez-Zara, University of Notre Dame

Workshop Agenda:

12:30 – 1 PM Networking
1-1:05 PM Welcoming remarks from the Chairs of the workshop, ACM Chicago and ACM Chicago CHI Chapter
1:05-1:10 PM Welcoming remarks from R&D Director at DPI, Venkat Venkatakrishnan
1:10-1:30 PM 30 seconds intro from the participants (in-person and online)
1:30-2:15 PM Keynote on Finding Emergent Patterns of Behaviors in Dynamic Heterogeneous Social and Behavioral Data, Anura Jayasumana, ACM Distinguished Speaker, Colorado State University
2:15-2:30 PM Coffee break
2:30-3:00 PM Talk #1 Social Network in Physical Space (Ciro Catutto, ISI, Italy)
3:00-3:30 PM Talk #2 Ephemeral Social Networking – Connecting from Offline to Online (Alvin Chin, DPI)
3:30-4:00 PM Talk #3 Unleashing the Metaverse: A Study of Collaborations in Virtual Reali (Diego Gomez-Zara, University of Notre Dame)
4:00-4:30 PM Interactive activity led by Diego Gomez-Zara
4:30-5:00 PM Discussion
5:00-5:05 PM Closing
5:05-5:15 PM Poster pitches
5:15 – 6:00 PM Networking and Poster Session

Confirmed SpeakerAnura Jayasumana, Professor, Colorado State University and ACM Distinguished Speaker
Emergent Patterns in Social NetworkCiro Cattuto, Scientific Director, ISI Foundation
Social Network in Physical Space
Alvin Chin, Research Scientist, Discovery Partners Institute
Ephemeral Social Networking – Connecting from Offline to Online
Diego Gomez-Zara, Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame
Incorporating Diversity in Teams for Successful Collaboration

Additional information about Distinguished ACM Speaker

This event will feature a Distinguished ACM Speaker, Anura Jayasumana,
Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Computer Science
at Colorado State University.

The talk title:

Emergent Patterns in Social Networks

Talk abstract:

Detecting latent or emerging patterns in dynamic networks is crucial across multiple domains, including homeland security, consumer analytics, behavioral health, and social computing. However, dynamic network data presents unique challenges in collection, mining, analytics and processing. We will present INSiGHT (Investigative Search for Graph Trajectories), a comprehensive framework for detecting emergent patterns of behaviors in knowledge networks containing social and behavioral data, with a focus on detection of domestic radicalization. To account for recurring behavioral indicators and the recency of behaviors as the imminence of a threat, e.g., INSiGHT provides parameterized methods to score multiple occurrences of indicators and to dampen the significance of indicators over time. Recognizing that radicalization can occur within small groups or collective plots, INSiGHT employs a non-combinatorial neighborhood matching technique that enables analysts to identify clusters of individuals potentially engaged in conspiracies. Our approach combines advanced natural language processing (NLP) and supervised machine learning models to classify textual data for radicalization indicators. Additionally, we have developed PINGS (Procedures for Investigative Graph Search), a specialized graph database library tailored for investigative search in social network mining. Finally, we will explore the potential of emerging Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and Graph Embedded Neural Networks (GENNs) to pave the way for more advanced analytical capabilities in dynamic network analysis.

About the Speaker:

Anura P. Jayasumana is a Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Colorado State University where he holds a joint appointment in Computer Science. He is the Director of the Information Science and Technology Center (ISTeC) at CSU, a university-wide organization for promoting research, teaching and service in information sciences and technologies. He received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and B.Sc. in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering with First Class Honors from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. His current research interests include mining knowledge networks for radicalization detection, Internet of Things, machine learning techniques for graphs, and synthetic data generation for machine learning. His research has been funded by DARPA, NSF, DoJ/NIJ, and industry. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society (2014-17), and is currently an ACM Distinguished Speaker. He has served extensively as a consultant to companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100.

Poster session information:

As part of the workshop, there will be a poster session, and students are encouraged to submit a poster title and abstract (see details below). If accepted, the student is expected to present the poster in the
poster session at the workshop in person.

If you have any questions about this event, please email

alvinc@uillinois.edu

Call for Posters
We welcome poster submissions on the following topics:

Social computing, social networking, mobile social networking, social
network analysis, human computing

Submission:
Title, authors, and abstract 150 words by March 28
E-mail to alvinc@uillinois.edu
Poster notifications: April 3
Poster Session: April 11 5:05 to 6:00 PM
Poster Dimensions: 25 in X 30 in