This seminar is organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on Complexity and the CABDyN Complexity Centre

Speaker: Professor Ginestra Bianconi, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Northeastern University

Summary: The recent availability of data describing social networks is changing our understanding of the”microscopic structure” of a social tie. A social tie indeed is an aggregated outcome of many social interactions such as face-to-face conversations or phone calls. Analysis of data on face-to-face interactions and phone-calls shows that such events, as many other human activities, are bursty, with very heterogeneous durations. In this talk we present a model for social interactions at short time scales, based on a reinforcement dynamics. In this model the longer two individuals interact the smaller is the probability that they end their conversation. We present the analytic solution of the model and numerical study of the model’s dynamical properties, and show that it reproduces important features of empirical data.

For further information please contact the Cabdyn Administrator: info.cabdyn@sbs.ox.ac.uk, 01865 288785

Sandwiches and drinks will be provided