SGER: Exploratory Research on an Internet Framework to Improve a Social Network Structure

本研究考虑了以网络欺凌为代表的一类社会问题，并创建了一个基于社会学的网络框架来考虑两个新问题，在最初的研究中：网络框架（包括网络和应用程序）是否允许识别网络社会群体中的网络欺凌？如果确实如此，该框架能否找到减轻网络欺凌的方法？网络中保护隐私的信息表示是什么？在研究目标和确保最终用户的隐私受到保护以及对影响他们的框架有足够的透明度之间，有什么权衡？在缓解方面，该项目将探讨网络干预措施，如减少攻击性海报的传播频率，可以对社会同伴产生积极影响。该项目将研究开发一种称为派生结构的方法，因此缓解/干预可以在应用程序中进行，也可以在更深层次的结构中进行，或者两者同时进行。在该项目为期一年的探索性研究中，PI与日本的一些无偿合作者合作：1)与几位社会学家合作，以制定网络欺凌的定义和测试；2)与教育工作者一起开展基于案例的课堂社会网络研究，包括他们认为可行的缓解方法；3)与日本电信公司KDDI的研究人员合作，他们正在分享研究探索，并在日本提供实验基础设施。该项目对社会有更广泛的影响：网络上的社会经验在许多国家年轻人的发展中占有重要地位。各种形式的网络欺凌对许多人来说都是一种风险，无论老少。理解这一现象的创新对社会非常重要；越快越好。从这个角度来看，网络的社会计量学应用和基于网络的缓解措施的仔细分析，不仅是计算机科学家PI，还包括社会学家、教育家和网络运营商合作者，将打开新的大门。

This research considers a class of social problems represented by cyber bullying and creates a sociology-based network framework to consider two new questions,in an initial study: does the network framework (where network and applications are both included) allow identification of cyber bullying within networked social groups? And if it does, can the framework lead to ways of mitigating cyber bullying? What are the representations of information in the network that preserve privacy? What are the tradeoffs between the goals of the research and ensuring that eventual users have protected privacy and have enough transparency into a framework that affects them? In the mitigation area, the project will explores the insight that network interventions such as lessening the frequency of deliveries from an aggressive poster can affect social peers positively. The project will research will develop an approach called deriving structures, so the mitigations / interventions could be in the applications or could be in deeper structures or both together. In the one-year exploratory research of this project, the PI is working with a number of unpaid collaborators in Japan: 1) with several sociologists in order to develop definitions and tests for cyber bullying; 2) with educators to develop a case-based classroom social net study, including approaches to mitigation that seem realistic to them; 3) with researchers from the Japanese telecommunications company, KDDI, who are sharing the research exploration and also providing experimental infrastructure in Japan. The project has broader impacts on society: social experiences on the net loom large in young peoples' development in many countries now. Cyber bullying of various forms is a risk for many people, young and old. Innovations in understanding this phenomenon are very important to society; the sooner the better. This angle, the sociometric use of the network and the careful analysis of network based mitigations by not only the computer scientist PI, but also by sociologist, educator and network operator collaborators, will open new doors.