SBP 2013 Big-Data Challenge Deadline Extended to February 8, 2013

The deadline of the challenge problem sponsored by the International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction (SBP) has been extended until Friday, February 8, 2013. The theme of the SBP 2013 Challenge is to encourage researchers to combine the power of big data and the power of systems thinking in the field of social computing, behavioral-cultural modeling, and prediction. Challenge Overview: Because of their pervasiveness, sensing capabilities, and computational power, cell phones afford a convenient platform to advance the understanding of social dynamics and influence. However, lack of data in the public domain and the interdisciplinary nature of conducting social science research with mobile phones continue to limit the role that phones play in social research and mobile commerce backed by a solid social-science foundation. In an attempt to address these challenges, the MIT Human Dynamics laboratory will release several mobile datasets on “Reality Commons” that contain the dynamics of several communities of about 100 people each. Challenge Problem:  Researchers are invited to either 1) propose and submit their own applications to demonstrate the scientific and business values of these data sets, 2) suggest how to meaningfully extend these experiments to larger populations, or 3) develop math that fits agent-based models or systems dynamics models to larger populations. The problem itself will be open-ended, and approaches from different disciplines that encompass a range of applications using the data are encouraged. Submissions and Finalists: Submissions (of approximately 3000~4000 words) will be evaluated based on theoretical grounding and experimental evidence. Winners will be selected by an interdisciplinary committee of researchers, and recognized at the conference with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place prizes. The winners will also introduce their ideas briefly at the conference and/or give a quick demo. We hope to collect the submissions into a publication. Important Dates: * Submission deadline: extended to Feb. 8, 2013 (23:59 PST) * Notification of Winners: March 2, 2013 The International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction will be held in Washington, DC on April 2-5, 2013. Conference information may be found at: http://www.sbp2013.org/challenge.shtml. For additional information on the Challenge Program, please contact the Challenge Problem co-chairs Nitin Agarwal at nxagarwal@ualr.edu, or Wen Dong at wdong@media.mit.edu.