CSV 886: Special module in Algorithms

Social, Economic and Information Networks

AnnouncementsThe final exam will be held on Friday (Feb 27) from 3 to 5pm in 501 (Bharti)
Instructor
R Ravi* ravi
Andris A. Zoltners Professor of Business
Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professor
Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
* This course is offered with support from the Rohet Tolani Professorship
Contents
This is a 1-credit module exploring the networked nature of social, market and information interactions and building simple models for them that explain their qualitative behavior. Topics include how opinions, trends and fads grow and spread, and the politics, economics and technology of on-line networks. Methods discussed will include centrality measures in social networks, auctions and matching markets in economic networks, the structure of the www, models of internet search and sponsored search auctions in information networks. Models of network cascades and bargaining in networks will also be introduced.

Who can regsiter
Students who have done a course in Algorithms can regsiter. The class timings are listed blow. Please register only if these class timings do not conflict with those of your other courses. If you have not done a course in Algorithms, you will not be able to register but  you are welcome to sit through the class.

Sources
We will loosely follow a recently published textbook by Profs. David Easley and Jon Kleinberg, (both from Cornell University) titled Networks, Crowds and Markets (Cambridge University Press, 2010). I highly recommend purchasing a copy of this comprehensive book; however, a complete pre-publication draft is conveniently available in the web at www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/.

Tentative Schedule
Date
Time
Chapters from Book
Topics
Slides
Jan 27 (Tue)
1500-1630
(1,2),3
Connectivity, distances, STC
Lec1
Jan 28
1500-1630 4,5,
Affiliation, Balance
Lec2
Jan 29
1500-1630 3, 8
Games, Traffic
Lec3
Jan 30
1500-1630 9
Auctions
Lec4
Jan 31 (Sat)
1500-1700
10, 15
Matching and Sponsored Search Markets 
Lec5
Feb 2
1500-1630 17
Network EffectsLec6
Feb 3
1500-1630 12
Bargaining Lec7
Feb 4
1500-1630 14
HITS, Page Rank
Lec8
Feb 5
1500-1630 19
Diffusion Lec9

Evaluation
Evaluation will be through a written exam at the end of the course, homework assignments and daily quiz creation, improvement and finalization activities.