Social networks and collective intelligence

A return to the Agora

20/06/2012, Cambridge

Manuel MazzaraUNU-IIST and Newcastle University

A Fantastic New Era…

... and an Old Problem Made Worse

Trustworthy?

Relevant?Newsworthy?

Traditional Media Gatekeeping

World Audience

13/04/23 5

“There are no facts, only

interpretations”

(Friedrich Nietzsche)

Power of Media

6

Power of Illusion

7

Overcoming Gatekeeping ?

Internet offers an open platform where users can

interactively exchange information News is multimedia, multi-

dimensional, timely/timeless The user can control relevance The user is able to choose topics,

sources … The user can interact with

authors, other readers/followers …

Traditional/New Media Synopsis

Traditional media

Search engines

Social networks

Relevance/presence of the news

Decided by the

publisher

Decided by the

algorithm

Decided by the network

Interaction / feedback

Not allowed

Not allowed Possible

Topic

Content

Decided by the

publisher

Decided by the user

Decided by the network

Expand topic Not allowed

Allowed Allowed

Deciding Source Not allowed

Allowed Allowed

Individual (trust-based) ranking

Absent Absent Absent

We will either find a way, or make one ...”Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”

Maslow’s Law of the Instrument

”It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

- H. Maslow, The Psychology of Science:A Reconnaissance. Harper & Row, 1966

13/04/23 10

Create a virtual agora where people can freely discuss and exchange information

More control over the news/information

Think Inform Verify Interact Take an active role Make more informed decisions

Goals of Polidoxa

The core ranking parameters:

configurable static parameters trustworthiness of contacts (decided by the

user) trustworthiness of sources/domains… (by the

user)

Dynamic Parameters depending on network activities and contact’s

distance evaluate (among other things) “like” and

“dislike” many “like” for a post is and indication of

how your network perceives it

Polidoxa: ranking algorithm

Trustworthyness and ranking

www.page-x.com 4

www.page-z.com 6

www.page-y.com 3

News from z

News from x

News from y

Synopsis Continued

Polidoxa

Relevance of the news Decided by the user

Interaction / feedback Allowed

Topic

content

Decided by the user and his/her network

Expand topic Allowed

Deciding Source Allowed

Individual trust-based ranking

Possible

Be creative when solving problems, use your right brain

hemisphere more often!

Joint work with:

Antonio MarraffaLuca Biselli

Simona De NicolaLuca Chiarabini

Georgios Papageorgiou Pier Paolo Greco

Nafees Qamar