cas: initiative 2005-2006 The Age of Networks: Social, Cultural and Technological Connections The Center for Advanced Study's interdisciplinary initiative for academic year 2005-06 will examine the workings of networks across the sciences, arts, and humanities. This project will draw on scholarship in computer science, humanities, engineering, life sciences, law, organizational sciences and social sciences in order to take an in-depth look at socio-technical networks and theories for self-generating, self-organizing networks. It will undoubtedly reveal many ironies, ambiguities, and contradictions --- precisely those shifting areas where we are likely to discover basic human and societal values. This CAS initiative will include a series of distinguished speakers and will include a faculty/graduate student seminar. An edited volume is projected. Noshir Contractor (Speech Communication) and Dan Schiller (Library and Information Science) have been appointed CAS Resident Associates for Fall 2005. They will coordinate the faculty/graduate student seminar and oversee the book project with help from the steering committee which also includes: George Gollin, Physics Bill Greenough, Director, CAS; Neuroscience, Psychiatry Masumi Iriye, Associate Director, CAS Jay Kesan, Law Harry Liebersohn, History For more University-wide projects relating to the Networks initiative, click here.

The Age of Networks: Series of Distinguished Speakers The first lecture in this series was Monday, August 29 Social Networks and Social Dynamics in a Small World Duncan Watts Department of Sociology, Columbia University and author, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age This lecture was also a part of the CAS/MillerComm series. Upcoming lectures include: Monday, October 24 4:00pm Room 1404, Siebel Center 201 North Goodwin Avenue, Urbana Dynamic Network Analysis Applied to Counter Terrorism Kathleen Carley Professor, Institute for Software Research International, and director, Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) Carnegie Mellon University Dynamic network analysis (DNA) is an emergent field centered on the collection, analysis, understanding and prediction of dynamic relations (such as who talks to whom and who knows what) and the impact of such dynamics on individual and group behavior. DNA facilitates reasoning about real groups as complex dynamic systems that evolve over time. In this talk, a basic tool chain for DNA is described and then their use is illustrated by examining al Qaeda.Technology described enables the analyst to identify vulnerabilities in the terrorist network and to assess how that network might change in response to strategic interventions. This presentation is also part of the Department of Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series. Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Monday, October 31 4:00pm Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana Assembling Publics: New Technologies of Deliberation and Demonstration in Rebuilding Lower Manhattan David Stark Arthur Lehman Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and Director, Center on Organizational Innovation, Columbia University David Stark will present material from a research project on how digital modes of deliberation and representation are co-evolving with structures of public planning, design, and policy. That research focuses on representations of the public and representations to the public in the process of rebuilding Lower Manhattan after 9/11. Combining ideas from John Dewey and methods from science and technology studies, it analyzes the socio-technologies of assembly. Who's demonstrating? Architects demonstrate. Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Monday, November 14 4:00pm Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana Degree Mills -Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Allen Ezell co-author of Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas Alan Ezell will define the major characteristics of a Degree Mill, and discuss why DMs are a problem, why we have them, what types exist, and how to identify their red flags. He will include a history of the FBI's DIPSCAM taskforce and the federal statutes used in the investigation. Included in this detailed picture of DMs will be a close look at academic accreditation, the specific example in Miami concering fraudulent academic credit for school teachers, and a look at who sets up shop in our nation's capital. Ezell will discuss which states have strong laws/enforcement, and those that do not, a look at Credential Services, who counterfeit degrees and transcripts from legitimate universities, and what you can do to stop this lucrative criminal enterprise. Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Allen Ezell was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. This initiative is supported by: Beckman Institute Center for Advanced Study College of Business College of Law College of Liberal Arts and Sciences College of Medicine Department of Anthropology Department of Computer Science Department of Sociology Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Neuroscience Program Office of the Chancellor Program in Science, Technology, Information and Medicine Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program