The Effect of Information Cascades on Protests
This article discusses the protests against racial discrimination that have been occurring on campuses across the country, including Ithaca College, Smith College, Yale, and Claremont McKenna College. Students say they were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests at the University of Missouri, which led to the resignation of the heads of […]
Health Insurance and Minimum Wage
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/nyregion/new-york-state-workers-welcome-plan-to-raise-their-minimum-wage.html This article discusses Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent plan to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15 for New York State government employees. It discusses many of the issues faced by government employees, using specific examples of individuals, whose low pay has made life extremely difficult for them. The main example used is a woman […]
When Service Charge is Always Included
Currently, it is considered rude and unusual to give a tip of ten percent for service at restaurants in the United States. In the future it might be considered equally peculiar to tip ten percent, but for an entirely different reason. The elimination of service charge has been declared, by some, imminent across the nation. Restaurants in […]
Paris and the trail of social media misinformation
Social media has full of misinformation due to concern and outrage from the terror attacks on Paris last Friday. According to Coye Cheshir who is a social psychologist, “this phenomenon can result from an ‘information cascade’..[It is when] an observer sees something and does the exact same thing despite one’s own beliefs or other private information […]
Real Life Information Cascade
Starting this year, I downloaded a mobile app called “Venmo”, which allows people to send money back and forth conveniently with just a few clicks on smartphones. As we learned about information cascade in lectures, it becomes interesting to me that starting to use Venmo was actually a real-life example. While hanging out with friends, […]
Black Lives Matter – Cascade Through Social Media and It’s Effects
It isn’t surprising that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign has gained enormous momentum in an age where social media allows cascades to happen rapidly through a friend group. Similar cascades can be seen through the University of Missouri’s “#Mizzou”, “#StandInSolidarity” posts and France’s “#PrayForFrance” hashtag/posts. These issues bring people together in a national level […]
Hybrid Cars — Saving the Environment or your Wallet?
Starting roughly half a decade ago, mass vehicle consumerism switched to a more economical sentiment. With the declining state of our environment — greenhouse gas emission, burning fossil fuels, and global warming in general — car companies took an environmentally friendly approach to increase their sales. By offering hybrid vehicles and later on fully electric […]
Should We Eat Bugs?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092422441500151X It’s safe to say that entomophagy, or the consumption of bugs, is not a common word in the vocabulary of many Western Citizens. But should it be? The article I decided to choose focuses on the benefits of an insect supported environment, then examines why such a diet is not widely accepted in our […]
Social Media Craze and Coded Information Cascades
There are countless individuals who use social media in this information age. The use of social media has served for both good and for bad. This article describes numerous institutions that have started to utilize these platforms in order to educate and assist people. For example, a health professional at Wellness Warriors Revolution based in […]
“Feeling Cold? It Could Be Contagious”
We have been talking about the effects and the processes behind social contagion and how ideas spread across networks. We have mainly focused on how this affects our ideas and choices, however this effect isn’t only limited to that. We can see on a more fundamental level how the people around us affect us in […]
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