Welcome to the Networks blog (Fall 2012)! + “A simple guide to start”
Welcome to the course blog for INFO 2040! This is a course which will cover how the social, technological, and natural worlds are connected, and how the study of networks sheds light on these connections.
Topics include: how opinions, fads, and political movements spread through society; the robustness and fragility of food webs and financial markets; and the technology, economics, and politics of Web information and on-line communities.
The content on this blog is viewable by the public. However, only the course staff and enrolled students are allowed to comment or post to this blog. All students enrolled in this course are required to participate in updating this blog. The guidelines can be found here.
To register and start posting:
Step 1- I need you to first sign in on the blog using your NetID, to get a Cornell Blogs account. To do this, click the “login” link on the right side of this page, and login using your NetID.
Step 2- Now, you will be allowed to set up your profile, including selecting a nickname. In keeping with course privacy guidelines, no student will be required to make their true identity public as part of this activity. Students are strongly encouraged to use a nickname when posting or commenting.
Step 3- After you have created an account, you should request permission to post articles to the blog by emailing me (rn274@cornell.edu) or Hedyeh (hb377@cornell.edu) with “INFO 2040 Post Permission Request – (Your NetID)” as the subject. To have a fair partitioning of the requests, flip a (fair) coin before sending the permission request email. In the case of ‘Head’, send your request to rn274@cornell.edu. Otherwise, send it to hb377@cornell.edu. Note that you cannot be added as an author unless you have already registered (Step 1). Also note that you will not receive a notification that you have been added as an author, but will generally be added within a few hours (a maximum of 48). You can try posting at any point after that.
Step 4- To create a new post, go here. You can also find instructions on posting here, and for other questions, the help pages may be useful.
The interface for updating this blog is fairly straightforward, but if your problem persist (or you have any other questions regarding this blog) feel free to email me or Hedyeh.
In an article on Malware and Apple computers, Adam J. O’Donnell uses game theory to discuss why there are more reported instances of viruses have increased for Apple computer users compared to that of PC users. His article explains how in 2003 there were not many instances of malware in Apple products, but currently for Apple there have been over 250 different forms of viruses documented. The article claims that apples rising market share has less to do with this increase than does the security of Windows products compared to Apple products.
This is interesting in terms of what we discuss in class because the article discusses how peoples decisions about what computer they choose are affecting the decisions of the people who make malware. People who write malware don’t want to have to learn the new code to infect mac users, but with over 90% protection rate for PC security systems compared to the low security of apple products, it only makes sense to start writing new code.
-efo5
sources –
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/04/20/cybercrime-game-theory-why-apples-malware-grace-period-ended-early/2/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/italy-exits-before-greece-in-bofa-game-theory-cutting-research.html
Over the past several month, the Euro Zone has been facing many issues, mainly Debt. As Greece continued to suffer through the summer, many countries had talks of leaving the Euro Zone including Italy and Ireland. However, if these countries decided to leave vs decided to stay, the downside on the US economy would vary greatly. In this article, we read about how Bank of America, Foreign Exchange analysts used game theory to help predict various outcomes to better be prepared for what happens over seas.
In our course, we have discussed game theory and looking at various outcomes depending on different strategies. The key goal: find Nash Equilibrium or the strategies by both parties that will help both parties the most. One strategy could be for countries such as Germany, who hold most of the assets to pull out of the Euro Zone. This however would not be good for other countries such as Greece and not good for the US. Another option would be Greece and other struggling countries to leave. This too, however would result horribly for Greece and for the US as currencies fluctuate and trade potentially ceases. I personally feel the Nash Equilibrium of this situation would be for all countries currently in the Euro Zone to stay in the Euro Zone so as to not create a ripple effect that could harm other countries.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the economy slowly improves. This was a great example of game theory because it looks at cost/benefit analysis of various situations and strategies. I enjoyed reading this article.
-bmb97