Modeling the information propagation in an email communication network using an agent-based approach

Development of Internet technology has made the use of email to be one of the predominant means of communication in the information society. Information exchange among people via email service has produced lots of communication data, which have been widely used in research about information propagation on virtual social networks. The focus of this paper is on the "Enron Email Dataset". The ideas discussed gave thorough consideration to the diversity of organizational positions' attributes, the dynamic behaviors of users to select information contents and communication partners via email service. We then established a quantitative analysis on the multiple interactive relationships of the email communication network. Further, an agent-based model for modeling the information diffusion in an organization via email communication network was proposed, by relating the microscopic individual behaviors and the macroscopic system evolution. Based on the simulation experiments, we analyzed and compared the topological characteristics and evaluative patterns of our model with the Enron Email Dataset. The experimental results proved that our model was beneficial to uncover the implicit communication mechanisms of a real organization.