Synchrony in Social Groups and Its Benefits - By Qi Xuan and Vladimir Filkov Prem Nath Bharti IIT Kanpur 2th November 2014 Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Summary 1 Abstract Introduction 2 Highlights and motives Inside the paper Benefits of Social Synchrony : Synergy Case study 3 Conclusion 4 Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Abstract Social synchrony plays a very important role in solving a complex problem and giving much efficient and productive solution. In this paper, a case study is done among software developers in Apache project to quantitatively study aspects of social synchrony. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Introduction So what is synchrony and why is it important? It is defined as a phenomenon arising when a group of people perform similar actions in a short period of time, actions which, over time,lead to the accomplishment of tasks of significant complexity. Self-organized synchrony is a group behavior which commonly occurs in nature. It may be surprising that such synchronized behavior arises spontaneously without overall coordination and centralized authority. In fact, in all those groups synchronization emerges spontaneously, driven by simple decisions made by individuals in the group. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Introduction A typical property of social synchrony is that individuals can obtain some information of others’ behavior, followed by a simple modification of one’s own behavior. Example:1 For example, groups of insects, birds, and fish can coordinate their moves and speeds with their neighbors so that they can all move together, behavior called swarming, flocking or herding. It not only improve their performance but it also increase their chances of survival during attack of predator. Example:2 Another example, a group of people is sitting, observing each other. When one person yawns, a sequence of yawning begins, yet it’s not beneficial but we can see that peopple in group, when performing similar tasks like above can lead to accomplishment of complex tasks. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Highlights and motives The main questions which are raised on quatifications of synchrony can be answered more or less by the mathmatical model described in paper. E.g. Synchrony is easy to describe and observe, but how can synchrony be measured and modeled in social groups or Why do individuals synchronize their activities with each other, i.e., what is the benefit of synchronization? Does it lead to synergy? Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Benefits: Towards synergy One of the reasons that a group of individuals prefer to take similar actions in certain time is that they want to deal with complex tasks more efficiently, in other words, they see synchrony as a way to synergy. Example:1 Ants are more likely to follow others in the same colony in order to perform better when they search and carry food as a group. Example:2 Formation of flight can also reduce the flying cost on aerodynamics aspect, which can explain why groups of birds always present special shapes when they migrate over a long distance. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Case study on Open Source Software Systems (OSS) In OSS, groups of volunteer software developers create a software artifact by sharing programming experiences, finding bugs, or committing to files directly. OSS resemble ecological systems in that in addition to the actual developers, they attract thousands of users and other contributors looking to gain knowledge. These human resources, in turn, make the software grow faster and become better by providing feedbacks and joining the ranks of developers occasionally. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9

Conclusions Although the metrics and models in this paper is quantitavily good estimation, but it can be estimated better using future technologies. Whole theory is based on observation, so we can’t say it is 100% accurate. We can argue that it may be incorrect and we may be needing a lot more of data to verify the correctness. Overall there is good future scope in the area which can be harvested in near future usimg future unknown technologies. Prem Nath Bharti (IIT Kanpur)Synchrony in Social Groups2th November / 9