The course aims to help students develop "networking thinking"€ that views people, organizations, events, and anything else around us as "network nodes"€ interconnected in some meaningful ways. The course covers a variety of networks in mass media, business, and technological contexts. Specific topics include human interactions over online social networking sites, spatial flow of media content, networking approach to the creation of artistic works, word of mouth and viral marketing, business networks, supplies chain management, the Internet of Things, networking traffic based on human behavioural dynamics, contagious models for prevention of human diseases and computer virus, and etc. Through individual exercises, group projects, class discussions, and other activities, the students will learn how to apply the networking perspectives to real life issues. The broad range of the practical issues makes the course relevant to students from almost all disciplines such as social sciences, business, humanities, arts, engineering, and sciences.

Course Aims

This course aims to introduce basic theoretical perspectives and research methods of social networks and their applications for a wide range of networking contexts such as media and communication networks (e.g., flows of news, entertainment, advertising, and public relations, online communities, etc.), business networks (e.g., viral marketing, business operations, etc.), and engineering networks (networking usage traffic, contagious human disease and computer virus, transportation systems, etc.). The students will be exposed to an interdisciplinary body of knowledge involving sciences, engineering, social sciences, and business studies. In addition, the students will carry out hands-on exercises, case studies, and group projects. At the end of the course, the students will gain not only intellectual knowledge, but also practical skills for scientific inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and professional presentation to address networking issues. The knowledge and skills will also enable the students to help enhance human experience and life quality in the contemporary networked society.