How Clusters and Thresholds Led to an Unexpected Trump Win in 2016
According to polling data during the 2016 election, a Trump victory was impossible. Hillary Clinton was projected to win and no one had any doubts. A grand fireworks show was planned to occur over the Hudson River on election night, but it was quietly called off a few days earlier (Musumeci). At 2:30 AM, the […]
Diffusion and the Privacy Paradox
Final Paper https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/20/why-we-need-federal-data-privacy-law/2803896001/ Last semester I wrote a paper (attached) about the privacy paradox and whether or not social norms dictate the use of corporate surveillance. The paper discussed how perfectly educated people continue to use technology even though they are aware that they are losing dangerous amounts of privacy, and why companies can get […]
Diffusion, fake news, and COVID-19
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/information-overload-helps-fake-news-spread-and-social-media-knows-it/ This article, titled “Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It,” discusses ideas very closely related to our class. It first opens with a hypothetical situation involving a person named Andy, who relies on his closest friends for tips on COVID-19. Due to his cognitive biases, he ends up joining an […]
Cancel Culture: Empathy in Online Information Cascades
In a commentary of his book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, journalist and author Jon Ronson claims, “in the early days of Twitter, it was like a place of radical de-shaming. People would admit shameful secrets about themselves, and other people would say ‘Oh my god. I’m exactly the same’. People could connect and empathize […]
Diffusion and Demonetization: How Modi Made A Very Expensive Mistake
On November 8th, 2016, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced that all 500 and 1000 INR notes would be deemed worthless overnight. He justified such a shocking declaration by taking a stance on promoting the elimination of the flow of black money within India, as the total amount of invalidated 500 and 1000 notes in […]
Social Media Influencers, Diffusion and Popularity
There is no denying that the entire landscape of social media has changed in just the past few years beyond what most people could have ever imagined. Social media was once just considered to be for small interactions between friends. It consisted of updating your status on twitter for your 100 followers or posting a […]
Diffusion and Cascades: The Vaping Epidemic
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7023954/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4630093/ https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2018/11/28/the-diffusion-of-juul-among-teens/ The use of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes meant to have similar nicotine effects as a real cigarette, has exploded in popularity in recent years. Many young adults have fallen into the trap of vaping for reasons such as the renormalization of smoking amongst their peers and the marketing strategies, such as […]
Using the Concept of Diffusion at Cornell’s Tatkon Center to Help the Freshmen Class Connect
The pandemic has caused major shifts in our world and has presented a lot of unprecedent challenges to how we socialize and stay connected with others. We’ve encountered and observed this challenge first-hand here at Cornell as many clubs and organization try to maintain some sense of community connection through virtual and online spaces. Despite […]
From Niche to Mainstream: The Advent of Alternative Meats
This last year has been an extraordinary one for a once niche industry: alternative meats. The United States’ deep-rooted fast-food joints are now offering kinder, greener alternatives that a broad range of customers, not just vegans, are indulging in. This is not only a testament to the advancements of technology, but also to the intelligent […]
Analyzing the Cascade of the “Queen’s Gambit”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/arts/television/chess-set-board-sales.html It’s no lie that Netflix has solidified their position as a streaming media juggernaut, with over 190 million subscribers tuning into the latest shows and movies the company has to offer. Netflix has turned into an oasis for people to stream media and pass the time, especially during a pandemic that has curbed […]
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