In our July 15th meeting we discussed information diffusion. This is a fragmented field--covered by sociologists, folklorists, journalists, and epidemiologists, among others--so it was hard to follow our "1 recommended paper" rule from last time. In the end we read this paper on simulating rumors, which attempts to answer the question: why, through the 70s and 80s, did every third-grader in the U.S. hear that Bubble Yum is made from spider's eggs? An interesting conclusion of the article is that skeptics can inadvertently help spread rumors.
What role should gossip play in an online social system? The Hess and Hagen paper emphasizes that gossip can be a weapon, and that it flourishes when there's a lack of verifiable information. So should we discourage it? Consider the U.S. stock market, which tries hard to prevent gossip. Insider trading laws essentially criminalize it; and regulations about SEC filings aim to make gossip less necessary. The system's not perfect, but it sure beats crony capitalism.
But does the stock market experience generalize to other settings? It's not like we can force anyone who dates online to file quarterly with the SEC. And if we want online spaces to be as socially rich as physical ones, perhaps gossip mechanisms are required. Maybe the question is how online systems might prevent some of the weapon-like uses of gossip. For instance, one of the advantages of an online space is that it's possible to keep archives. Maybe a good system allows people spread rumors as much as they want, but only in such a way that you can easily see what they're saying in the context of what they've said before.
Some possible readings on identity...
Here are 3 classic works on identity:
And here are three recent social psychology papers on identity. These are new to me, they seemed, at a glance, relevant.