Simulating human mobility and information diffusion

Abstract

Human spatial motions determine geographic social contacts that influence the way an information is spread on a population or a community. As mobility is a transverse dimension to social practices it is important to better understand its role. With the Eternal-Return model we propose, we simulate an artificial world populated by heterogeneous agents who differ in their mobility. We have chosen a multi-agent framework perspective for this simulation. We endow the agents with simple rules on how to move around the space and how to establish proximity-contacts. This allows to distinguish different kinds of mobile agents, from sedentary ones to travelers. To summarize the dynamics induced by mobility over time, we define the mobility-based Social Proximity Network as being the network of all distinct contacts between agents. Its properties give insight in the process of information spreading. We conduct simulations to understand how an information can be broadcast when agent-nodes are in motion.