[MNASIS-L] Social Web Headliner program - Nov. 2

[Janet Arth]

Social Web Headliner

Where and When
   Thursday, November 2 at 7 p.m., at the University of Minnesota 
Continuing Education and Conference Center on the St. Paul campus.
FFI:http://www.cce.umn.edu/enrichment/headliners/whowhatwhenwhere.html
Tickets are $10 for each Headliners.

What
   The Social Web
The national coverage of Google's acquisition of YouTube has focused on its 
three inventors and their remarkable $1.65 billion payday. Local media 
coverage focused specifically on Jawed Karim, a 27-year-old St. Paul native 
whose mother is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.

But what are the broader implications of this merger? Why would Google pay 
such a premium for a year-old fledgling Web site and why are YouTube's 
millions of users so concerned over the possibilities of a change of ownership?

No longer is the Internet merely for sharing facts and figures; 
increasingly it's for creating connections between people. Nor is the 
information on the Web mostly static. Anyone can create, share, and 
interact with its content. Hundreds of social networks are springing up all 
over the Internet changing the way people keep friends, find jobs, enjoy 
hobbies, and even choose life partners. What is the Social Web? How did it 
happen? And why is it so important?

Professor Riedl will present a selection of YouTube movies, political ads, 
and online games and show several social Web sites in action.


Who
   John T. Riedl, professor of computer science and engineering at the 
University of Minnesota, devised the algorithms behind software that is a 
standard feature of e-commerce Web sites.  The software, called 
"collaborative filtering," collects data on a consumer's preferences and 
calculates items they are likely to enjoy.  The winner of several awards 
for exceptional contributions to teaching, Professor Riedl took a leave 
from his teaching post in 1996 to form the business Net Perceptions where 
he serves as chief scientist and a member of the board. Riedl holds four 
U.S. Patents and in 2002 he co-authored the book Word of Mouse: The Hidden 
Marketing Power of Collaborative Filtering.  His research has been the 
subject of an article in The New Yorker, coverage on the NBC Nightly News 
with Tom Brokaw, and a half-hour profile on ABC's Nightline.