Information Dynamics: Modeling and Analysis of Conflicting Information Propagation in a Finite Time Horizon

Information propagation is the driving force of mobile data dynamics. In this chapter, we study information dynamics, particularly the propagation process of conflicting information in networks, to provide in-depth understanding of how network topology determines the lifetime of mobile data dynamics. Through modeling, analysis, and simulation, we find that the lifetime of the undesired information can be upper and lower bounded by functions of the network size and topological properties. Specifically, when connections concentrate on a few individuals to create bottlenecks in networks, the lifetime of the undesired information can change from decreasing to increasing with the network size. Taking computation complexity into consideration, we obtain upper bounds with vertex eccentricities, that is, the largest distance between an individual and any other individuals in the network, from which we propose a ‘divide-and-conquer’ guideline to inject desired information, such that the undesired information can be eliminated in a short period of time. In addition, to observe the propagation process in a finer time resolution, we propose an inference algorithm to estimate the number of information adopters, which can foresee the instantaneous evolution of the dynamics before it fully unfolds, providing valuable information for the prevention and control of undesired information propagation.