An introduction to models of online peer-to-peer social networking
By: George Kesidis
Series: Synthesis lectures on communication networks -- # 8
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool
Published: 2011
Place of publication: San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA)
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
ISBN-13: 9781608450800; 9781608450794
Subjects: Peer-to-peer architecture (Computer networks); Mathematical models; Online social networks
Other titles: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.
Description: This book concerns peer-to-peer applications and mechanisms operating on the Internet, particularly those that are not fully automated and involve significant human interaction. So, the realm of interest is the intersection of distributed systems and online social networking. Generally, simple models are described to clarify the ideas. Beginning with short overviews of caching, graph theory and game theory, we cover the basic ideas of structured and unstructured search.We then describe a simple framework for reputations and for iterated referrals and consensus. This framework is applied to a problem of sybil identity management. The fundamental result for iterated Byzantine consensus for a relatively important issue is also given. Finally, a straight-forward epidemic model is used to describe the propagation of malware on-line and for BitTorrent-style file-sharing. This short book can be used as a preliminary orientation to this subject matter. References are given for the interested student to papers with good survey and tutorial content and to those with more advanced treatments of specific topics. For an instructor, this book is suitable for a one-semester seminar course. Alternatively, it could be the framework for a semester's worth of lectures where the instructor would supplement each chapter with additional lectures on related or more advanced subject matter. A basic background is required in the areas of computer networking, probability theory, stochastic processes, and queueing.
Notes: Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.

Series from website.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-109).

Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to subscribers or individual document purchasers.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Background; title: 1. Networking overview; title: The internet; title: The client-server world-wide web (WWW); title: Adaptive and distributed caching; title: Identity authentication; title: Peer-to-peer (p2p) social applications online; title: 2. Graphs; title: Basic graphical terms; title: Social graph models and attributes; title: Discussion: edge and vertex churn; title: 3. Games; title: Set-up for non-cooperative games; title: Symmetric altruism; title: Games with collective outcomes; title: Summary; title: Part II. Peer-to-peer search; title: 4. Search in structured networks; title: Distributed hash tables (DHTs); title: A small worlds case; title: Load balancing; title: Discussion; title: Forwarding with privacy; title: 5. Search in unstructured networks; title: Single threaded search by random walk; title: Popularity biased random walks; title: Discussion; title: Part III. Reputations and referrals; title: 6. Transactions, reputations, and referrals; title: Accrued reputations; title: Referrals in distributed peer-to-peer systems; title: Discussion; title: 7. False referrals; title: Sybils; title: Sybil-resistant one-step referrals; title: Discussion; title: 8. Peer-to-peer file sharing; title: Overview of BitTorrent; title: File segmentation; title: Discussion; title: Part IV. Consensus; title: 9. Consensus in dynamical belief systems; title: Nearest neighbor averaging; title: Convergence of consensus; title: Gibbs invariant of a Markov random field; title: 10. Byzantine consensus; title: The tree data structure; title: Information gathering to determine input(v); title: Leaves-to-root majority voting; title: Fundamental consensus performance result; title: Discussion; title: 11. Epidemics; title: Models of disease spread in living populations; title: Epidemics spread by social engineering; title: Online disease; title: Summary: selecting potential victims; title: Bibliography; title: Author's biography.