Modelling the Effects of Information Campaigns Using Agent-Based Simulation

Abstract

Recent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated the importance of understanding the social processes and power dynamics of local populations. The goal of this study was to simulate the process of social influence within a population using dynamic social impact theory. The simulations reproduced the characteristics of social influence such as opinion- clustering, opinion polarization, minority opinion decay, and the non-linearity of public opinion change. The study demonstrated the potential benefits and limitations of using multi-agent social simulation through a case study of a large scale public health information campaign. The study highlighted the requirement for accurate data concerning a population's social hierarchy, social networks, behavior patterns, human geography and their subsequent impact on the success of both word-of-mouth and mass media driven information campaigns.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA452996

Entities

People

  • Tony Wragg

Organizations

  • Defence Science and Technology Group

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Case Studies
  • Command And Control
  • Computer Simulations
  • Demography
  • Engineering
  • Geography
  • Information Operations
  • Mass Media
  • Mathematical Models
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Operations Research
  • Organizational Structure
  • Public Opinion
  • Reliability
  • Systems Engineering
  • Urban Areas

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies