A Model of Load Failures
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f5ba/96369c8990e98a1684b2faa9ee9f510d8309.pdf This research paper designs a model for cascading failures in a power grid. It starts by modeling a disturbance on device. Then check to see if the device fails. A device is listed as going to fail if it’s load exceeds its capacity to handle the load. When a device fails its load gets […]
The Long Tail Distribution in Media
https://hbr.org/2008/07/should-you-invest-in-the-long-tail In her article, “Should you invest in the long tail distribution?,” appearing in the Harvard Business Review, Anita Elberse argues that in today’s digital age, pursuing a “blockbuster strategy” ends up being more valuable than focusing on the profits obtained in the long tail. The long tail refers to a section popularity distribution, and […]
Opening up about mental health in the Youtube community
Where speaking about one’s mental health once seemed taboo in everyday life, it has become more and more normalized over the past several years, especially in the Youtube community. Creating Youtube videos can often sound like a dream job to many viewers. To students, filming vlogs about what they’ve bought on recent shopping hauls or […]
Bitcoin’s Value History and its Network Effects
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/121815/bitcoins-price-history.asp The article discusses how Bitcoin is the world’s first and most successful blockchain-based cryptocurrency, whose price reached a peak of nearly $20,000 each late 2017. When it was first created in 2009, the bitcoin initially traded for close to nothing. The first real price increase occurred around July 2010, when each coin was […]
YouTube’s Long Tail Model Contributing to Radicilzation
Unlike traditional market economies where consumers are enticed to the most sought after products, digital distributors of entertainment and their respective recommendation engines drive them to increasingly more obscure content that they wouldn’t have potentially found otherwise; down the long tail. For example, Spotify recognizes one’s taste in music and begins recommending increasingly more niche […]
Rumors and Information Cascades
If you are walking on a street and see someone is standing there and looking up to the sky, you might think that he is trying to let his neck relax for a while and you might pass by him without paying any attention to that stranger. However, if there are five people looking up […]
Discussion on Political Microtargeting
Over the last couple of years the internet has grown to become a powerful platform. The internet has presented itself as an ideal model used in most topics discussed in class. Within the vast span of the net are opportunities for network phenomenons to be amplified. One of these processes that happen on a large […]
Youtube Recommender System and Network Effects
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/youtubes-recommendation-algorithm-has-a-dark-side/ The article revolves around the important connection between Youtube’s recommender system and how they make revenue. The article discusses how Youtube’s revenue directly relates to the amount of time the users spend on watching targeted ads. In order to maximize the views on an advertisement, Youtube has to retain its viewers through having […]
Contact Networks, Herd Immunity, and Measles
https://ctmirror.org/2019/10/21/data-show-spike-in-number-of-ct-schools-that-have-lost-herd-immunity-to-measles/ This article is about the increase in measles among elementary schoolers in Connecticut due to more lenient vaccination regulations, i.e. religious exemptions to otherwise mandatory immunization. At such schools, vaccinated students now comprise less than 95% of all students— a value that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has deemed necessary to […]
Disinformation through Massive Clusters
https://gizmodo.com/what-are-the-biggest-challenges-technology-must-overcom-1837985525 This article covers a very wide range of technological hurdles we have yet to surpass, but I’d like to zero in specifically on the second professional’s opinion. Scott Atran speaks towards the high risks posed by easy access to disinformation tools: all one really needs is an Internet connection. Well crafted misinformation need only […]
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