In addition to readings from these texts, there will be frequent articles from the recent scientific and popular literature that will be provided directly on this web page at the appropriate points in the syllabus.

CLASS SOCIAL NETWORK AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES

We have created our own online social network Lifester, which will be used for a variety of participatory course experiments. See the course schedule below for more details.

Also, Prof. Kearns has accounts on a number of commercial social network services, and welcomes anyone who is interested to send him mail to add links to him on those services. We may also use these services to periodically demonstrate principles from the course.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Except for occasional hard-copy handouts distributed in lectures, all of the material for the course will be posted in the table below, which will be gradually filled in as we progress through the students. Lecture slides, reading and homework assignments, due dates, exam information, etc. will all be provided below. It is every student's responsibility to monitor this schedule closely and regularly.

In the assigned readings below, "Gladwell", "Watts" and "Schelling" refer to the three required texts cited above. Other readings will be directly provided as links to PDF documents. Unless specified otherwise, you should generally try to complete the assigned reading during roughly the period spanned by the dates given in the same row of the table.

The lecture slides are all in PowerPoint format, but they may often contain links to documents in other formats, including PDF, Postscript, JPEG, etc. In order to view all of the linked content you may need to be using a computer with viewers installed for these formats.

DATES	SLIDES	ASSIGNED READING AND HOMEWORK	COMMENTS
Tu Jan 11	Course Introduction and Overview	To get an early sense of just a few of the course themes, read pages 37 -- 39 of the recent article "Economics, Computer Science, and Policy" by Prof. Kearns. We will return to examine the latter material on interdependent security in the middle of the term.	At the start of the first lecture, Prof. Kearns will ask for two volunteers from the class. Together the two will split 20 dollars in cash, awarded on the spot. Also in the first lecture, Prof. Kearns will distribute a hard-copy document containing a brief background survey and our first communal social experiment. These should be returned at the start of the next lecture (Th Jan 13).
Th Jan 13; Tu Jan 18; Th Jan 20	The Networked Nature of Society	Read Gladwell, Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2. A due date of the start of lecture, Thu Jan 27, has been set for turning in a write-up for Task 1 of the Network Construction and Analysis Project. Please see that page for details; Prof. Kearns will also elaborate in class on Thu Jan 20. Note added 1/24: Towards the bottom of Task 1, some tips on finding and extracting data sources have been added. Also on Thu Jan 20, Prof. Kearns will introduce our course social networking service Lifester. As described, you must complete Lifester Task 1 online by 6 PM on Tue, Jan 25.	Turn in your background survey and last-name experiment as you enter lecture on Jan 13. We will analyze the results of the latter on the fly in class. Prof. Kearns will discuss the Network Construction and Analysis Project at some point during these lectures. Thanks to course participant Will Frank for proposing this Networked Life course theme song, for which you can read the lyrics here. Apparently we may conclude that Roger Daltrey is not a connector. Historical Note: Archaeological evidence indicates that "The Who" were a popular rock band that was prominent in the approximate period between the Second Great War and the first term of American president William Jefferson Clinton. During a previous lifetime, Prof. Kearns attended not just one but two "farewell concerts" held by this band in ancient coliseums.
Tu Jan 25; Th Jan 27; Tu Feb 1	Contagion, Tipping and Networks	Read Gladwell, Chapters 4 and 5. Read ``An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem'', by J. Travers and S. Milgram. Read ``An Experimental Study of Search in Global Social Networks'', by P. Dodds, R. Muhamad, and D. Watts. Remember that you should print out, review, and bring to class Tue Feb 1 the profiles of all of your Lifester neighbors. You will need them for an in-class experiment.	These lectures will be largely but loosely based on topics raised in The Tipping Point, as well as some related writings. Here are two interesting but unassigned readings: A quite recent New York Times Magazine article on word-of-mouth advertising, and an Internet Retailer article on the use of social networks for online marketing. Thanks to course participant Katy Keenan for pointing out the latter. Keep 'em coming!
Th Feb 3	The Language of Networks: A Painless Introduction to Graph Theory	The date of the midterm will be Thursday, March 3.	I recently became aware of this diagram detailing the network of Wall Street scandals. Though the definition of the vertices and especially edges is a bit less formal than we'd like, it's still pretty interesting.
Tu Feb 8; Th Feb 10; Tu Feb 15; Th Feb 17;	Social Network Theory	Read Watts, Chapters 2 through 5. As described in class on Feb 8, revisions to Task 1 of the Network Construction Project will be accepted on Thursday, Feb 10. On Tue Feb 15, class will be devoted to mandatory collective experiments using the Lifester network. Everyone should print out the profiles of the Lifester neighbors and bring them to class that day. Also, please read and make sure you understand the description of all three experiments below before coming to class. The Rules Lifester Coloring Experiment Lifester Matching Experiment Lifester Independent Set Experiment The results and analysis of these experiments can be found in the Powerpoint deck to the left. Overall the results were quite interesting, as the class did an excellent job at the collective optimizations. New assignment (posted Feb 17): At the start of class on Tue Feb 22, you should turn in a brief (1-2 page) description of the kinds of discussions and interactions you had with your Lifester neighbors during the Feb 15 in-class experiments. Please divide the document into the three experiments (coloring, matching, and independent set), and feel free to also make observations on the behavior of your neighbors and the class as a whole. Network Construction Project Task 2, in which you actually execute the precise methodology you described in Task 1, will be due by email by midnight, Tuesday, March 1. See the project page for more details. Reminder: the midterm will be Thu Mar 3. A good way of preparing for the exam is to work through Homeworks One and Two, and the midterm, from last year's course.	On Friday Feb 11 there is a talk by Duncan Watts (3620 Walnut, Room 110, Annenberg School) that I strongly recommend. Extra credit will be given to anyone who attends this talk and turns in a brief (1 page) analysis of how Watts' talk relates to themes discussed in Gladwell. Here are some incredibly cool visualizations of blog networks discovered by Field Agent Priscilla Spencer. They are a bit slow to download, but worth the wait. [One] [Two] [Three] [Four] On Friday Feb at noon there will be another great outside speaker --- Colin Camerer of Caltech will speak on behavioral game theory, a topic we will be studying later in the term. Details about the talk can be found here . As with the Watts talk, extra credit will be given to anyone who attends the talk and writes a brief (1 page) report on it.
Tu Mar 15; Th Mar 17	The Web as Network	Read ``Graph Structure in the Web'', by A. Broder, R. Kumar, F. Maghoul, P. Raghavan, S. Rajagopolan, R. Stata, A. Tomkins, J. Weiner. Read ``The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web'', by L. Page, S. Brin, R. Motwani, T. Winograd.	The midterms will be returned in class on March 15. The average was 71, the standard deviation was 13, the high score was 94, and the low score was 32. A histogram of the scores can be found here.
Th Mar 17; Tu Mar 22	Local Incentives and Global Outcomes Strategic Dynamics: Introduction to Game Theory	Read Schelling, Chapters 1, 3 and 4. The main assignment for the remainder of the term will be a final report (probably around 10 pages long) for the Network Construction Project, in which you analyze your network in light of the themes of the class. More detail will be provided shortly. In the meantime, here is a directory containing visualizations of your networks. It is organized by last name. In the immediate term, you should make sure there are visualizations of your network there; if not, contact Prof. Kearns by email immediately.	Here is an amusing site on PigeonRank from Field Agent Brian Hertler. On Monday Mar 28 at 4:30 PM in the Levine Auditorium, Prof. Kearns will give this talk, which is designed for a general audience and is directly related to course themes. No extra credit this time, as this would be just too self-serving. But you can get a head start on some of the topics we'll be covering soon by attending. Plus, free food afterwards!
Tu Mar 29	Networks and Interdependent Security Games	Read "Economics, Computer Science, and Policy" in its entirety.
Th Mar 31; Tu Apr 5	Exchange Economies and Networks	Further details about your final reports for the Network Construction project can be found here. This material will be updated as more details are settled. A number of you have expressed interest in being able to generate and manipulate visualizations of your networks directly. Here is a link to page for graphviz, the software we have been using to generate network images. It is extensively documented there and available for download for a variety of operating systems. The graphviz program is also installed on the SEAS server minus.seas.upenn.edu; in addition to the documentation at the link above, you can type "man dot" and "man neato" on minus to learn how to use it. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The final exam will be held on Friday, May 6, from 11-1 in Moore 216 (NOTE UNUSUAL ROOM!).	The following talk on Thursday, April 7 is only peripherally related to course themes, but looks like it should be interesting.
Th Apr 7	NO CLASS
Tu Apr 12	In-class experiments	During this class session, we will run experiments in exchange markets on networks. Participation is mandatory and for course credit. Detailed instructions are available here.
Th Apr 14	How Do People Really Act?: Behavioral Game Theory	As discussed briefly last week in class, the final reports for the Network Construction Project will be due in hardcopy form at the final exam on Friday May 6 at 11 AM.	We seem to be blessed with course-relevant lectures on campus this term. "Micromotives and Macrobehavior" author Thomas Schelling speaks on Thursday, April 14 at 4 PM in Logan 17, followed by a reception. The title of his talk is "Rational Choice and Some of its Alternatives" and is described here. As usual, extra credit will be given to any student who attends and writes a brief report.
Tu Apr 19; Th Apr 21	The Economics of the Internet	At the end of class on Tu Apr 19 (and for missing parties, on Th Apr 21), time will be allowed for the completion of course review forms. Please take the time to fill one out and provide feedback, which is taken seriously. REMINDER: The final exam will be held on Friday, May 6, from 11-1 in Moore 216. There will be a review session for the final exam led by Prof. Kearns on Friday, April 29 at noon in the Levine Auditorium.	We close with a couple of links to items of local interest: The very cool buzztracker, the senior design project of Penn DMD student Craig Modzelesky; and a DP article about NW Life student Michael Highland's acclaimed autobiographical film on video-game addiction. Good Luck on the exam to all of you, and have a terrific summer!

ADDITIONAL LINKS AND RESOURCES

This area contains links to web pages, demos, articles, etc. that are related to course topics. Suggestions for additions are welcome.