Matthew Brashears, University of South Carolina (Department of Sociology) Abstract: Humans make mistakes but diffusion through social networks is typically modeled as though they do not. We find in an experiment that high entropy message formats (text messaging pidgin) are more prone to error than lower entropy formats (standard English). We also find that efforts to correct mistakes are effective, but generate more mutant forms of the contagion than would result from a lack of correction. This indicates that the ability of messages to cross “small-world” human social networks may be overestimated and that failed error corrections create new versions of a contagion that diffuse in competition with the original. Bio: Matthew E. Brashears is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina. His current research focuses on linking cognition to social network structure, studying the effects of error and error correction on diffusion dynamics, and using ecological models to connect individual behavior to collective dynamics. His work has appeared in Nature Scientific Reports, the American Sociological Review, Social Networks, Sociological Science, and Social Psychology Quarterly, among others. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Army Research Office. He currently serves on the editorial board for Social Psychology Q This seminar is open to anyone who is interested, not just students enrolled in the CSCE 791 class. Please consider attending.