MCIN2012
1st International Workshop on Modelling and Computing Influence in Social Networks: Theory and Applications
http://larim.uqo.ca/MCIN2012

In conjunction with IEEE/ACM ASONAM’2012 August 2012, Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.asonam2012.etu.edu.tr/


OVERVIEW
==========================

The explosive growth of online social media has provided users with the opportunity to create and share digital content on a scale barely imaginable a few years ago. Indeed, massive participation has transformed online social networks into hubs of social activity and a critical information medium. This is reflected by the number of news, opinions, and reviews that are constantly posted and discussed on these networks. The size and diversity of user generated content coupled with the possibility of tracking its propagation created an opportunity for identifying and understanding behavioural trends. Social network users can affect and be affected by the information that flows in the networks. Therefore, it would be interesting to know how trends and opinions are shaped, who are the starting users of such trends, and how these trends spread on social networks. To answer these questions we need to study influence propagation and maximization.

Mutual influence is a natural phenomenon in human cognition. But what does it mean for humans to influence and be influenced in an environment such as online social networks where technology imposes limitations and provides new possibilities? It can be useful, for instance in business and politics, to identify influential people with the hope that they help shape other users’ opinions and influence their behaviour.

We refer to influence when the actions of an individual can induce his/her friends/followers to behave like him/her, e.g., in adopting a new technology, in choosing a brand over another, or in voting for a political candidate. However, users in a network are not influenced in the same way. They are not identical with regard to the probability that they adopt a given behaviour. For instance, a user's decision to purchase a product might depend on the proportion of other users who have already purchased that product. Such a proportion (threshold) is different from one user to another one. Moreover, a user's amount of influence on another user may depend on the relationship between these two individuals. The proposed workshop aims to discuss these and other influence related issues by bringing together researchers and practitioners from Academia and Industry with background in Computer Science, Management Science, Social Science, etc.

TOPICS OF INTEREST
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The scope of MCIN’2012 includes, but is not limited to the following topics in social network analysis:
• Challenging issues in influence computation and modelling
• Influence propagation and maximization in social networks
• Information and opinion diffusion and modelling
• Role computation and influential actor identification
• Virus propagation in computer networks and epidemic spreading
• Cascading processes, etc.


SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION
==========================

All submissions must be in English with a maximum length of 8 pages using the following IEEE two-column template:
http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html.


Please submit your contributions electronically in PDF format at
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mcin2012

Papers will be evaluated according to their significance, originality, technical content, style, clarity, and relevance to the workshop. At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to attend the workshop.

The main workshops proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer Society Press. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit an extended version of their paper to a special issue of a journal.

WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS
===================

Morad Benyoucef (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Rokia Missaoui (Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada)
Idrissa Sarr (Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Sénégal)



PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
===================

Talel Abdessalem (Telecom Paris Tech, France)
Reda Alhajj (University of Calgary, Canada)
Morad Benyoucef (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Omar Boussaïd (université Lumière Lyon 2, France)
Cyril Goutte (NRC, Canada)
Jiawei Han (University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, USA)
Laks V.S. Lakshmanan (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Juan Lang (University of California Davis, USA)
Stan Matwin (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Rokia Missaoui (Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada)
Hubert Naacke (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France)
Sergei Obiedkov (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia)
Gregory Richards (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Camille Roth (CNRS, France)
Idrissa Sarr (Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Sénégal)
Julien Velcin (université Lumière, France)
Michael Weiss (Carleton University, Canada)
Tony White (Carleton University, Canada)
Osmar Zaiane (University of Alberta, Canada)


For any question please contact the organizers via mcin2012@easychair.org