Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

The primary goal of any alumni association is to maintain and strengthen the ties between its alumni, the community, and the mission of the university. With social media, it's easier than ever to connect with current and former graduates on Facebook , Instagram or Twitter with a simple invitation to "like us" or "follow me." Considering just one of these social platforms, we recently analyzed the Twitter networks of twenty-three (23) Virginia colleges and universities to determine what, if any, social characteristics were shared among the institutions and whether we could gain any insight by examining the public profiles of their respective followers. The colleges of interest, ranked by number of followers in Table 1, vary in size, mission, type of institution, admissions selectivity and perceived prestige. Each of the alumni associations has maintained a Twitter presence for an average of six (6) years. The oldest Twitter account belongs to Roanoke C

The Web Science and Digital Libraries Group is offering three classes this fall.  Unfortunately there are no undergraduate offerings this semester, but there are three graduate classes covering the full WS-DL spectrum: CS 695 - NoSQL Databases (CRN 21159 ) will be offered by Dr. Cartledge .  While we've used NoSQL databases in a variety of classes in the past, this is the first time we've offered a class entirely on this topic.  This is a good complement to the CS 495/595 Big Data class he offered last spring.    CS 734/834 - Introduction to Information Retrieval (CRNs 19986 & 20004 ) will be offered by Dr. Nelson .  Although the number and name have slightly changed, this will be similar to previous offerings of this class (e.g., see CS 895 spring 2014 ).   This class will broadly cover the foundations of information retrieval .   CS 791/891 - Visualization Seminar (CRNs 12619 & 12620 )will be taught by Dr. Weigle .  This P/F course will cover the fund