ANALYZING SOCIAL BIG DATA TO STUDY ONLINE DISCOURSE AND ITS MANIPULATION

Onur Varol, Filippo Menczer, Flammini, Yong-Yeol, Ahn, L Christine, Weihua Ogan, An
2017 unpublished
" Tiger got to hunt, Bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, "Why, why, why?" Tiger got to sleep, Bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand. " Cat's Cradle , Kurt Vonnegut iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to start with a statement: I have never been in a good relationship with words. Using language appropriately to reflect how I feel and think is always a challenge for me even in my native language. Please bear with me and read with your own inner voice and imagine how I might
more » ... eel while writing these pages. I owe the greatest gratitude to my advisor, Filippo Menczer. I am very lucky to know him and to feel his endless support during all the stages of my academic career. None of these would be possible without his support and great mentorship. Here I would like to share my perspective as one of his graduate students because everyone I met already knows how great he is as an advisor and as a colleague. He is always patient with me even at 2 AM when fixing the smallest grammar mistakes I made like a father teaching a toddler how to walk. He is the most open-minded person, who believed in me and supported my dreams. I remember days when he boosted our motivation by inviting us for a quick foosball game. It was an honor to work with him. He set the bar really high and I feel responsible for being as good an advisor as he. I should also thank Colleen Menczer for her hospitality in the NaN Labor day parties. Without her understanding and support for Fil, some of our papers that required working late at night just before the deadline wouldn't have been submitted in their best shape. All Ph.D. students wish to have a good advisor and I am exceptionally lucky to have two. Alessandro Flammini is a great mentor. His critical thinking and suggestions always improved our work and papers. Our motto is "Today is the day!" and by repeating this v every day we collected precious memories indicated as |ℵ|. His encouragement always keeps my excitement alive. Emilio Ferrara was one of the first people with whom I interacted in our research group. I remember the day when he left Granovetter's paper on my desk like yesterday. We have been collaborating on several projects, many of these are part of this thesis. He is a great role model and his ambition for doing research provided me with an early momentum. Since our first paper together I have been following his never-ending enthusiasm.
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