Jon Kleinberg (Cornell University):
The Structure of Information Networks

The information we deal with is taking on an increasingly networked character. In part, this is because we now have the resources to represent and analyze enormous link-structured datasets. But networked content is also being created at a phenomenal rate; although the World Wide Web as we know it is barely a decade old, it is already being hailed as a new medium.

These developments have led to an emerging study of complex networks, and a range of interesting research challenges. We are beginning to discover that large networks have a characteristic `geography'; they share a number of fundamental structural properties that presumably reflect the forces driving their growth and evolution. We are only beginning, however, to formulate models for the way in which such properties might arise. The interplay between structure and content in these networks adds a further dimension to this investigation, providing a means for understanding a large corpus like the Web through its underlying network topology.