Information dissemination via multiple channels in society and cyberspace

Abstract

Today, information dissemination in society and cyberspace is increasingly a mixture of a wide range of different communication channels, including public media (e.g. TV, newspapers) and social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and emails). Public media can potentially deliver information to a large audience, but the effectiveness of information transmission at the individual level can be small, e.g. its ability to alter a personÕs behavior. Whereas social media may have little or no access to the majority of people who are not connected to a selected target group, but they provide rapid infection of the local group with high effectiveness. Inspired by recent research on the critical hybrid epidemics, in this project we will investigate the interaction between different media channels and their joint impact on information dissemination. In particular, we will study whether the dissemination process has the characteristics of a critical hybrid epidemic, where different media channels help each other to circumvent spreading barriers to achieve faster, larger dissemination. A better understanding of such process can provide crucial clues for solving many real-world problems. As the first stage of the research plan, this project will design, develop and conduct social-cyberspace experiments to collect data on information dissemination via multiple channels. We will extract key parameter values and determine the critical nature of the spreading process.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Feb 14, 2019
Source ID
W911NF1810044

Entities

People

  • Shi Zhou

Organizations

  • Army Contracting Command
  • United States Army
  • University College London

Tags

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Computer Networking
  • Cybersecurity.

Technology Areas

  • Cyber