On an individual level each person behaves in distinct and unique ways, having specific objectives in mind. Yet, when analysed at an aggregate level, communities and cities exhibit non-random patterns that emerge from the combination of each distinct person’s activities. Such patterns are known as aggregate patterns, and can describe how people encounter each other, or how information is diffused and spread through the community.
Published in Chapter:
Cityware: Urban Computing to Bridge Online and Real-World Social Networks
Vassilis Kostakos (University of Bath, UK) and Eamonn O’Neill (University of Bath, UK)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 10
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-152-0.ch013
Abstract
In this paper, we describe a platform that enables us to systematically study online social networks alongside their real-world counterparts. Our system, entitled Cityware, merges users’ online social data, made available through Facebook, with mobility traces captured via Bluetooth scanning. Furthermore, our system enables users to contribute their own mobility traces, thus allowing users to form and participate in a community. In addition to describing Cityware’s architecture, we discuss the type of data we are collecting, and the analyses our platform enables, as well as users’ reactions and thoughts.