Creating and navigating social and classroom spaces with gravity

Weidman, Jake; Kropczynski, Jessica

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89322 Copy

Description

Title

Creating and navigating social and classroom spaces with gravity

Author(s)

Weidman, Jake; Kropczynski, Jessica

Issue Date

2016-03-15

Keyword(s)

• gravity
• group structures
• organization
• classroom organization
• algorithms

Abstract

Gravity is one the principle forces in the universe, its power always apparent, giving us three-dimensional creatures a constant sense of “up” and “down”. We propose the use of a metric for applying gravity, or similar “pulling” forces, to social environments by weighting and reordering set network structures where links cannot be added, but nodes may be rearranged. We begin by introducing gravity in social networks, describe previous web applications and uses, and then briefly experiment with the metric within a classroom setting. To that point, we describe and design requirements to effectively apply our metric to classrooms, as well as other social spaces. Finally, we assert that by flavoring network structures with our so-called “gravity”, we make those structures inherently more navigable in terms of personality similarity, and perhaps indirectly, communication and learning.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

IConference 2016 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89322

DOI

https://doi.org/10.9776/16153

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 is held by the authors. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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