Cancelled Classes (tentative):
None
Note that some of these classes may be covered by Guest Lectures.
They also link us, often through important but weak ties, to other humans. Their origin is biological: going back to quorum-sensing, swarming, flocking, social grooming, gossiping, etc. Yet, as we have connected our social networks to traditional human institutions (markets, justice systems, education, etc.) through new technologies, the underlying biology has become obscured, but not dormant.
This course will introduce the tools, analytics and algorithms for the study of networks and their data. It will show how certain common principles permeate the functioning of these diverse networks: e.g., issues related to robustness, fragility, and interlinkages etc. The lectures will emphasize following topics:
(1) Introduction to Networks (Biological, Social, Economic and Communication)
(2) Historical developments in computer science, culminating now in ubiquitous social-technological netwroks
(3) Fundamental principles of computer science
(4) Graph Theory and Evolving Social Networks
(5) Graph Laplacians and Social Ranks
(6) Game theory: Information Asymmetric Games and Deception
(7) Signaling and Cyber Security
(8) Digital Market Places
(9) Ad Exchanges
(10) Crypto-Coins and Payment Systems
(9) Case Studies:
Personal Data Markets, Wikileaks, Bit-coins, Cyber Security (M-coins), Information Finance Markets (WealthFront, etc.), Market Microstructure
Fequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. The course description says, `underlying biology has become
obscured, but not dormant,' but the syllabus does not mention how this is
going to be brought up. Will the class require prior knowledge of
biology?
A1. The course does not require any prior knowledge of biology, nor
will any biology be covered in the class in great details. The course
will use ideas from evolutionary game theory and its connection to signaling and
evolutionary games.
Q2. What is the goal of the class? Will it be:
descriptive/prescriptive? qualitative/quantitative? Will it involve
algorithms, architectures and simulations?
A2. The intent is to make the class as quantitative and algorithmic as
possible, while being descriptive (how current internet works) as well
as prescriptive (how the future internet should work). The students
will engage in class projects that will involve some implementation
and simulation.