In the space of just a few years, the social networks on the Internet have deeply transformed our society and are now one of the most studied and debated phenomena in the scientific world, and not only. Professor Alessandro Panconesi, one of the top scholars in this field, will be speaking on the IT analysis of the social networks, in which such interesting social interaction phenomena as the “six degrees of separation” and the transmission of gossip can be found or modeled.

 

The spreading of the social networks and blogs has engendered an enormous, indeed hitherto unheard of, amount of data on the tastes and opinions of Internet users, which is now being analysed with the sentiment analysis – aka opinion mining – techniques discussed at the seminar. The Fondazione Ugo Bordoni is on the cutting edge in the development of these techniques, which have become widely known after having been used during the latest US presidential campaign. This sector is today undergoing a strong industrial growth, with enormously remunerative applications, such as e-commerce, business intelligence and “brand” reputation monitoring.

 

Alongside their scientific aspects and industrial applications, the seminar will also tackle the legal and regulatory aspects of the social networks which have become a very important issue, also in the light of the recent court decision which found Google liable for violation of a person’s privacy due to a video uploaded to YouTube.

 

PROGRAM

 

Opening speech:
Enrico Manca, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni

 

Introduction:
Giuseppe Richeri, Comitato Scientifico, FUB

 

Keynote address:
“Il gossip è una cosa seria! Il connubio tra informatica e scienze sociali attraverso la rete”
(Gossip is a serious thing! The marriage between IT and the social sciences through the Web”
Alessandro Panconesi, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”

 

Speech by:
Gianni Amati, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni

 

Round Table
“Opportunità e rischi dell’opinion mining nelle reti sociali” (The opportunities and risks of opinion mining in the social networks)
Introductory address by the moderator:
Mario Frullone, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni

 

Speakers:
Giampaolo Balboni, Telecom Italia
Eugenio Contatore, Wind
Lisa Di Feliciantonio, Fastweb
Antongiulio Lombardi, 3 Italia
Alberto Marinelli, “La Sapienza” University of Rome
Maurizio Mencarini, Expert System
Valeria Sandei, AlmavivA Consulting

 

Contribution by:
Luigi Montuori, Data Protection Authority