A cognitive categorization-based approach for understanding identity representation online
Name
825555258-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
8.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e8d07a9138ed4b8f0088027a4eac2e74
Author(s)
Vargas, Gregory G
Advisor(s)
Fox Harrell.
Alternative Title
Cognitive categorization-based approach to assist in understanding identity representations in social networks
Date Issued
2011
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Computationally representing social identities using social networking profiles traditionally involves the reduction of identities to fit into simplistic categories such as "friends." In contrast, this thesis proposes that the data structures underlying user identities can be algorithmically processed and interpreted in ways that assist in understanding more nuanced aspects of identity such as "subculture" or"personality" Building upon an interdisciplinary computational identity model developed by Fox Harrell in his NSF-supported Advanced Identity Representation Project, this thesis proposes an algorithm based on theories of cognitive categorization[6, 7] to reveal implicit categories in computational identity systems. The algorithm has been applied to social networking site Facebook and a suite of graphical user interfaces was developed to enable users to explore individual and group identities. In a qualitative study, we found that most of the generated categories coherently represented social groups and would be useful for applications such as expressing the groups' collective identities.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-100).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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