Learning and Using Social Context
in Communication Networks:
Social Area Networks and the Comm.unity Platform
Nadav Aharony
MIT Media Laboratory:
Viral Communications
01/23/2008
Introduction


Networking technology has expanded
greatly, nevertheless most advances have
been in terms of functionality.
There is still a lot that can be done to
improve usability of our networks, as they
remain very complicated.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Main Hypothesis
By modeling communication networks after
our innate social skills and relationships, we
could improve their performance as well as
their usability.
If the network is an augmentation of our social
interface to other people, shouldn’t it also
represent our social affinities?
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Proposed Symbiosis
Social
Interactions
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Network
Technologies
Motivation: Social Awareness


People act differently according to situation,
context, identity of counterpart(s), or who
else is around.
Communication devices mostly use hard
coded protocols and behavior towards other
devices, regardless of the relationship
between their owners.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Vision



LANs, WANs, MANs  Physical, geographical
hierarchy .
Personal Area Network (PAN): Not just any
device, but devices used by one user.
Storage Area Network (SAN): Not just
connectivity, but also storage related features.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Vision




LANs, WANs, MANs  Physical, geographical
hierarchy .
Personal Area Network (PAN): Not just any
device, but devices used by one user.
Storage Area Network (SAN): Not just
connectivity, but also storage related features.
Introducing: Social Area Network (SocAN):
Connectivity and socially related features.
(Or shall we say – “social services”)
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Use context and relationship to
determine file sharing
permissions
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Cognitive / Software Radio:
Family devices coordinate a
frequency hopping sequence
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Use encryption for
communicating with co-workers
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Change Wireless LAN’s
“Medium access politeness”
according to company hierarchy
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Use social network knowledge to
route data (“Friendship Routing”)
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
Use different authentication
protocols depending on
relationships
Social Area Network - SocAN
Social context pervades the network stack.
End-User App
Email, IM, File
Share, etc.
Application
e.g. HTTP, FTP, DNS,
Telnet
Presentation
Data Representation &
Encryption
Session
e.g. Sockets, SIP
Transport
End-to-End Link; e.g.
TCP, UDP
Network
Path Determination &
IP, ICMP, ARP
Data Link
E.g. MAC, Ethernet,
802.11 a/b/g/n, ATM
Physical
E.g. 802.11 PHY,
SONET, ADSL, T1
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social
Awareness
Layer”
“Social Firewall”
Implementation Domain:
Face-to-Face Networking
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Motivation: Face-to-Face Networking


Today:
Sending a file to a friend standing next to
me is like using FedEx to hand him a pencil.
Geographic proximity can be used to
bootstrap digital interaction.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Approach
Remote terminals of the big
“network cloud”
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Natural extensions of
our body and senses
How would we do that?
Networking
Social
Interaction
Design
Reality
Mining
Comm.unity Platform
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Comm.unity: Networking
Allow devices to talk directly to each other
(“Anything with a radio and can do sockets”)
 Ad-hoc, wireless, peer-to-peer, one-hop (F2F)
 NO: Centralized servers, coordination, or
administration
 Scalable. Easily deployed by end users.
 Implement SocAN ideas

©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Implemented Prototype: Share
Content with Different Groups
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
File System
Interface
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
UDP
TCP
Broadcast
802.11
Ad-Hoc
Already
Implemented
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Partially
Implemented
Unicast
Ethernet
Data
Collection
Engine
Comm.unity Component Stack
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
File System
Interface
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
UDP
TCP
Broadcast
802.11
Ad-Hoc
Already
Implemented
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Partially
Implemented
Unicast
Ethernet
Data
Collection
Engine
Comm.unity Component Stack
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
Data
Collection
Engine
File System
Interface
Identity Tools
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
Security Tools
Transport
Protocols
UDP
Transmission
Modes
Broadcast
Physical
Interface API
802.11
Ad-Hoc
Already
Implemented
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Partially
Implemented
TCP
Unicast
Ethernet
Comm.unity Component Stack
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
Relationship
Engine
Identity Tools
Security Tools
Context/State
Manager
“Multiple Identity”
Engine
Encrypted
Control
Transport
Protocols
UDP
Transmission
Modes
Broadcast
Physical
Interface API
802.11
Ad-Hoc
Already
Implemented
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Partially
Implemented
Data
Collection
Engine
File System
Interface
TCP
Unicast
Ethernet
Will
Implement
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
Comm.unity Component Stack
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
Relationship
Engine
Identity Tools
Security Tools
Context/State
Manager
“Multiple Identity”
Engine
Encrypted
Control
Transport
Protocols
UDP
Transmission
Modes
Broadcast
Physical
Interface API
802.11
Ad-Hoc
Already
Implemented
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
File System
Interface
Partially
Implemented
Gossip
Engine
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
Encrypted
Data
TCP
Unicast Multicast
Ethernet Bluetooth IR
Will
Implement
Want to
Implement
Data
Collection
Engine
Comm.unity Component Stack
Socially
Aware,
Context
Aware,
Cross-Layer
Networking
Engine
Relationship
Engine
Identity Tools
Security Tools
Context/State
Manager
Encrypted
Control
UDP
Transmission
Modes
Broadcast
Physical
Interface API
802.11
Ad-Hoc
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Gossip
Engine
“Multiple Identity”
Engine
Transport
Protocols
Already
Implemented
File System
Interface
Partially
Implemented
“Anonimizer”
Mode
Network-Coded
Transport
Pseudo
Unicast Multicast Broadcast
Ethernet Bluetooth IR ZigBee
Will
Implement
Data
Collection
Engine
Groups/Tags
Mechanism
Encrypted
Data
TCP
GPS
Interface
Want to
Implement
…
…
…
Considering
Learning Social Context
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Related Work: Reality Mining
[Eagle &
Pentland]
Sociometric
Badge [Olguin]
Reality Mining
Networking
Social
Interaction
Design
Reality
Mining
Comm.unity Platform
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Privacy,
Sharing,
Interest (PSI)
Social Firewal
[Miklas]
Comm.unity: Device Intelligence


Need: Populate device with user relationship /
social data.
Use devices as sensors for learning the user.
(We already carry them with us)



Network layer data (e.g. wireless radio scan)
Application usage (we own the app!)
Additional sensors (e.g. accelerometer)
Reality Mining - Learn social relationships.
 Not totally automatic: Keep user in the loop.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
On-Device Reality Mining

Hypotheses:


A single user’s perspective is enough for us.
We CAN do it on the device.

Privacy advantage: Data stays in user domain

Methodology:



Reality mining methods (e.g. “Eigenbehaviors”)
Hidden Markov Models, standard clustering algs.
Start small: Co-workers vs. family & close friends.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
User Interaction
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social Dashboard” GUI
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
“Social Dashboard” GUI
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony

http://community.mit.edu/misc/demo.swf
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Interaction Design Aspects


Mix of online and physical presence
Privacy concerns






Controlling Identity
Impression management
Not exposing private relationship information
Interaction with one/many peers
Understanding and controlling the AI
Notifications/Interruptions from the device
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Communications Unity
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Generalizing:
Social Applications On
The Go
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
The Inevitable
Online presence and social networks applications are
going to merge with our real-world presence and
relationships.

Location, Location, Location





Manual entry (Facebook, Jaiku, Twitter)
Base station / Accesspoint calculations (Google “My Location”)
GPS (Loopt)
Device-to-device sensing (Reality Mining, I’m also dabbling in this area)
Many initiatives are already underway:

Dating applications
Connecting to online content sharing sites (e.g. Flikr)
Connecting to online social network sites (Facebook, MySpace)

New social networks (Dodgeball)

Many more coming…


©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Sample Challenge: Cost of Participation

Risk of exposing identity and other
information to undesired parties.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Sgt. Slaugter
Sample Challenge: Cost of Participation

Risk of exposing identity and other
information to undesired parties.
Army Buddies
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Sgt. Slaugter
Sample Challenge: Cost of Participation

Risk of exposing identity and other
information to undesired parties.
Gay Dating
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Army Buddies
Sgt. Slaugter
Cost of Participation(cont.)


Physicality aspect increases risk.
Careless design may lead to exposure of
undesired relationship and trust
information.


“On my client you are marked as offline but I see
you here chatting with other people!”
Things one can get away with in the online
world or direct physical interactions.
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Great Power, Great Responsibility

These technologies have potential to be very
useful:





Meeting new people with shared interests
Knowing that our acquaintances are around
Access to desired information and content
Local context is very powerful in many domains
However, hasty design and implementation
could damage trust and privacy, and even
expose users to physical dangers.
(Or greatly limit the usage scenarios, like what
happened to video-conferncing)
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Initial Design Thoughts



Allow users to create multiple identities and choose how
to expose them.
Defined levels of trust – Granular exposure of profile
details.
Different types of user groups:




Correlate between trust levels and presence information


Public: all can see group content and members
Private: Invite only. Even group name is not exposed.
Open Sign-up: Group name is visible, but sign-up for details.
E.g. “invisible” to strangers, “busy” for distant acquaintances,
etc
Default: Symmetry in information exchange

Users can opt-out (expose information to the public, or
expose more than their peers)
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony
Project Website:
http://community.mit.edu
Contact: nadav@media.mit.edu
©Copyright 2008 Nadav Aharony