Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) Hosts International Social Networking Roundtable

Doha, Qatar--3 April, 2011--A panel of 29 renowned scientists from 16 countries is meeting today and tomorrow in Doha to discuss how social networking can be improved for users in the Arab world at the "Research on Arabic Social Networks: The Spring of All Changes" roundtable sponsored by Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. One-fourth of all social networking is done in the Arab world. The visiting scientists are exchanging ideas on why social networking is prevalent in Arab culture and what can be done to improve it from a scientific point of view.

"With all the focus on the role social networking has played in the Spring revolutions, understanding social networking from a technological point of view raises new data management and social computing challenges," said Dr. Sihem Amer-Yahia, a senior research scientist at Yahoo! Research in Barcelona, Spain, and the chair of the social networking roundtable. "We are witnessing large data volumes produced at unprecedented rates and the need to analyze social media is growing."

Dr. Kareem Darwish of QCRI agreed: "Social networking, as embodied by Facebook and Twitter, played a vital role in the wave of change in the Middle East, where the ability to communicate, share, organize, publicize, and mobilize suddenly became possible." According to Darwish, recent events raise interesting questions about social networking that QCRI can explore, such as: How do people find each other, and how can computer science facilitate people discovery? Who has authority in the social network? How does the social networking word-of-mouth travel across the network? How much does social networking activity spill into real life?

"Information on the social Web is massive and is characterized by a combination of factual data, such as scientific publications, and opinion data in the form of user-generated tags, ratings, and reviews," added Amer-Yahia. "Users are both content providers and content consumers. Accounting for their preferences and biases is key to the effective exploration of social content and a building block for region-specific research."

The roundtable brings together renowned scientists from both academia and industry involved in research and development in the fields of social networking, social computing, and their applications. The panel's make-up reflects QCRI's interdisciplinary approach, applying computational thinking to scientific disciplines outside pure computing, such as linguistics, communications, biology, and engineering.

Conference attendees include representatives of University of California Santa Barbara, Yahoo! Research, Columbia University, ETH Zurich, Max-Planck Institute, Google, HP Social Computing Laboratory, Microsoft Research, IBM Almaden, Boston University, Telefonica, Aljazeera, and QCRI.

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About Qatar Foundation
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a private, non-profit organization that is supporting Qatar on its journey from carbon economy to knowledge economy by unlocking human potential for the benefit of not only Qatar, but the world.

Founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Amir of Qatar, QF is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned.

QF carries out its mission through three strategic pillars: education, science and research, and community development.  QF's education pillar brings world-class universities to Qatar to help create an education sector in which young people can develop the attitudes and skills required for a knowledge economy.  Meanwhile, its science and research pillar builds Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by developing and commercialising solutions through key sciences.  Finally, its community development pillar helps foster a progressive society while also enhancing cultural life, protecting Qatar's heritage and addressing immediate social needs in the community.

About QCRI
A member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Qatar Computing Research Institute conducts world-class multidisciplinary computing research that is relevant to the needs of Qatar, the wider Arab region, and the world, leveraging Qatar's unique historical, linguistic, and cultural heritage. QCRI disseminates the results of this research through community outreach and technology transfer activities.

For further information, please contact:
Bradley Steffens
Direct: +974 4454 40625
Fax: +974 4454 0630
Email: bsteffens@qf.org.qa
www.qcri.org

© Press Release 2011