Homophilia can discriminate against minorities in social networks by limiting their ability to connect with people from a majority group. This can limit the general visibility of minorities in the network and cause distortions. In this talk I will show how the visibility of minorities in social networks is a function of (i) their relative group size and (ii) the presence or absence of homophilic behavior. In addition, the results show that perceptional distortions can occur in social networks with high homophilia or high heterophilia and unequal group sizes, and that these effects are highly related to the asymmetric nature of homophilia in networks. This work provides a basis for assessing the visibility of minority groups and corresponding distortions of perception in social networks where homophile or heterophile behaviour is present. Overall, the lecture will motivate and illustrate new research projects at the interface between computer and social sciences.
About the person:
Markus Strohmaier is Professor of Methodology and Theory of Computer-Based Humanities and Social Sciences at the HumTec Institute of Faculty 7 and at the Department of Computer Science of Faculty 1 of RWTH Aachen University and scientific coordinator for digital behavior data at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences. Previously he was a post-doc at the University of Toronto (Canada), assistant professor at the Graz University of Technology (Austria), visiting scientist at (XEROX) Parc (USA), visiting professor at Stanford University (USA) and founder and scientific director of the Department of Computational Social Science at GESIS (Germany). He is interested in the application and development of computer techniques to research challenges at the interface between computer science and the social sciences and humanities.
Information and images