Social computing is concerned with the study of social behavior and social context based on computational systems. Behavioral modeling reproduces the social behavior, and allows for experimenting, scenario planning, and deep understanding of behavior, patterns, and potential outcomes. The pervasive use of computer and Internet technologies provides an unprecedented environment of various social activities. Social computing facilitates behavioral modeling in model building, analysis, pattern mining, and prediction. Numerous interdisciplinary and interdependent systems are created and used to represent the various social and physical systems for investigating the interactions between groups, communities, or nation-states. This requires joint efforts to take advantage of the state-of-the-art research from multiple disciplines, social computing, and behavioral modeling in order to document lessons learned and develop novel theories, experiments, and methodologies in terms of social, physical, psychological, and governmental mechanisms. The goal is to enable us to experiment, create, and recreate an operational environment with a better understanding of the contributions from each individual discipline, forging joint interdisciplinary efforts.

This workshop is interdisciplinary and provides a platform for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students from sociology, behavioral science, computer science, psychology, cultural study, information systems, operations research to share, exchange, learn, and develop preliminary results, new concepts, ideas, principles, and methodologies, aiming to bridge the gaps between paradigms, encourage interdisciplinary collaborations, advance and deepen our understanding of social and behavioral computing and evaluation in helping critical decision and policy making. The program will include invited speakers from government, industry, and academia, as well as research presentations and discussions. The first workshop (SBP’08) is a great success. The detailed information on SBP’08 proceedings, presentations and invited speakers can be found at http://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/sbp08

Papers or abstracts are solicited on research issues, theories, and applications. Topics of interests include, but are not limited to,

* Psycho-cultural situation awareness
* Group formation and evolution
* Cultural patterns and representation
* Social conventions and social contexts
* Causal and non-linear relationships
* Modeling, projection, and forecasting
* Social network analysis and mining
* Group interaction and collaboration
* Group representation and profiling
* Cultural modeling and dynamics
* Social dynamics and infectious disease modeling
* Influence process and recognition
* Public opinion representation
* Search, data, and inference
* Analytic approaches
* Simulation methodology
* Tools and case studies
* Metrics and evaluation
* Social behaviors (norms, self-organizing, cooperation)
* Viral marketing and information diffusion
* Data collection and benchmarks
* Model and analysis complexity


Paper Format and Submission
A paper or extended abstract (maximum 8 pages, shorter submissions are also welcome, in single column) should be submitted in PDF. Format instructions and a Word template from Springer can be found at the workshop website http://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/sbp09.

Papers should be submitted at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sbp09

Questions and inquiries are welcome. Please sent them to sbp2008@gmail.com

Important Dates
Paper Due: November 5, 2008
Notification: November 26, 2008
Camera-Ready: December 10, 2008

SBP'08 can be found at http://www.public.asu.edu/~huanliu/sbp08