In this episode (25 min. long), we talk with Alex “Sandy” Pentland, who is one of the most cited web scholars at the crossroads of web science, network science, and computational social science. He’s a professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, directs the MIT Connection Science Research Initiative, and heads MIT’s Human Dynamics Group, among other accomplishments. His work has pioneered organizational engineering, wearable computing, modern biometrics, and more.

In this conversation, Sandy brings insight to how data is the “new resource.” He talks about issues of data and privacy, as well as why people should have more control over their data. He also discusses what he learned in his study of signals and the mobile web, why wearable devices have a social dimension, and how the web can help respond to COVID-19. And he tells us the power of blockchain as the web evolves from not just a communication medium but also toward a transaction medium. To hear about this or more, listen to this episode!

Click here for this episode’s transcript, and click here for this episode’s show notes.

In this episode (22 min. long), we talk with Gina Neff, whose work focuses on…work! No, that’s not a typo — she’s actually a sociologist who studies how web-based technologies are shaping the changing nature of work. Gina is a professor of Technology & Society at the Oxford Internet Institute and the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford, and has published three well-acclaimed books. 

In this conversation, Gina tells us about the cross between web science and work. She brings us through the early onset of the Web, discussing why an Internet industry would form in New York City, even though the Web is hypothetically worldwide. Part of the reason is that industries rely on social capital, which is easier built in person. That’s precisely the type of interactions that we’ve largely lost during the pandemic and work-from-home era. And Gina touches on this too, talking about work done over web meetings and potential privacy concerns if workers get tracked at home. To learn about all this and more, press play!

Click here for this episode’s transcript, and click here for this episode’s show notes.

Our guest for this episode (19 min. long) is Brooke Foucault Welles. She recently co-authored the award-winning book, #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice. Brooke studies how online communication networks enable and constrain behavior, with particular emphasis on how these networks both enhance and mitigate marginalization. 

During this conversation, Brooke talks about just exactly what “hashtag activism” means, especially in the context of web science, and about her research into specific hashtags beyond her book. She tells us how these hashtags can impact public discourse, validate online participants and form networks of people online. But she also discusses why the web can be a difficult space for activists and how web science can work to change that. Listen to learn about these topics and more!

Click here for this episode’s transcript, and click here for this episode’s show notes.

For this episode (30 min. long), we talk with Fil Menczer, whose work is awesome. No, seriously — he’s the director of OSoMe, which is pronounced “awesome” and stands for the Observatory on Social Media. Fil’s research spans web science, computational social science, network science, and data science.

In this conversation, Fil gives insight into how information can spread on social media and be manipulated. He talks what astroturfing looks like and how bots can work. And he tells us the tools that the Observatory on Social Media has developed to combat some of these issues, including “Botslayer.” Despite the name of that tool, he also discusses why not all bots are “bad,” and what differentiates a good or neutral one from one that’s harmful. Listen to learn about this and more!

Click here for this episode’s transcript, and click here for this episode’s show notes.

For this episode, (24 min. long) we talk with Jen Golbeck, who is known for her work in computational social network analysis. Her models for computing trust between people in social networks were amongst the first in the field. Now, she’s a professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park.

In this episode, she discusses her path to web science, her work in trust-based recommender systems, and how we can use web data to understand people’s behaviors. But Jen isn’t just interested in people — she’s also become somewhat of an expert on dogs on the internet. Or more accurately, social media networks centered around pets. 

Click here for this episode’s transcript, and click here for show notes.