[Air-L] PostDoc Position, France Telecom R&D, Social Networks analysis

[Thomas Couronné]

Hello The List,

FranceTelecom R&D has a vacant postdoc position in social networks
analysis/quantitative sociology/cognitive sciences in its sociology
lab in Paris;

description below;
To apply, send CV+relevant paper+motivation letter to :
thomas.couronne at orange-ftgroup.com &
thomas.beauvisage at orange-ftgroup.com.


Bests,

Thomas

 --------> POST DOC POSITION <-------------

Mission



Research



The mission concerns the analysis of the dynamics of the social link
in the online communication.

The mission joins within the framework of works on the various forms
of sociability and their deployment on communication tools and online
auto publication. The modeling of social graph allows drawing and
analyzing large networks, to identify the communities which constitute
them, and to unfold properties of nodes. These tools were recently
applied successfully to the study of large social graphs, in
particular built from phone calls or from online social platforms. A
question still remains as for the qualification of the temporal
evolution of these networks and these communities, beyond the
comparison of snapshots of networks at the given time.



The expected research consists in establishing metrics for the
description of the evolution of the social networks, in particular the
communities and linkage dynamics, by using the classic tools of
networks analysis. The metrics eventually have to constitute a new
axis of the social graphs understanding relative to their temporal
dynamics.

Once established, theses metrics have to help to focus the question of
the nature of the links in the egocentered networks. They have to
allow establishing a comparison of the various platforms, but also,
within a platform data, to characterize the links according to the
usage dynamics.



Two axes will be processed by the candidate:

-       The temporal evolution of the social networks

-       The qualification and weightings of the links according to
their properties, and users commitment dynamics



Expected results

The postdoc will:

-       Realize a review of literature on the recent works in analysis
of social networks and on-line sociability (existing works, methods,
tools)

-       Appropriate existing data and collect corpuses of data from
Web (social networks platforms, user generated contents)

-       build relevant metrics & indicators for the analysis of the
temporal dynamics of the online social links

-       Apply these indicators to the analysis of the temporal
dynamics of egocentered networks, in a comparative approach

-       Apply these indicators to the various links between
individuals to qualify these links (robustness, volatility, underlying
dynamics of commitment)





Profile

The position is open to the PhD having defended their thesis for less
than two years.



Necessary skills

-          Phd in quantitative sociology, cognitive Sciences, complex systems

-          Experience in datamining and statistics

-          Experience in programming (python, matlab)

-          knowledge in social network analysis

-          Interest for telecoms

-          Multidisciplinary teamwork



Wished additional skills

-          Web 2.0 Technologies

-          Familiar with databases (in particular MySQL)



Modalities



The wished beginning of mission: November, 2010

Duration: 12 months

SALARY:

>33KE B/annual depending on profile+variable part+group dividends



Contact



Thomas COURONNE

E-mail:              thomas.couronne at orange-ftgroup.com

Thomas BEAUVISAGE

E-mail:              thomas.beauvisage at orange-ftgroup.com



R*D Orange Labs

TECH / SENSE laboratory

38-40 rue General Leclerc

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

FRANCE



Description of the company and the entity



Research and development Orange Labs of the France Télécom Group

The France Télécom Group has the ambition to supply to its customers
the best of the technology, as soon as it is available, while taking
into account the following technological generations. With more than
3700 researchers, scientists and engineers, the R*D of Orange Labs
develops every year approximately 500 inventions for more than 8 300
deposited patents. Thanks to its anticipation, the R*D detects very
early the evolutions and the major technological breaks, and the new
usages. So, it is at the origin of important headways in the field of
the services.



SENSe laboratory – Sociology and Economics of Networks and Services

Within the R*D, the SENSe laboratory conjugates the sociological and
economic approaches. From the point of view of the social sciences,
its missions are to map and to understand the manners usages and their
transformations, to support the technological innovations, and to help
the transformation of the relation of the company to its customers.
>From the point of view of the economics, the SENSe laboratory
enlightens strategically the Group on its options of investment and
the sector-based deformation, and enriches the arguments of the Group
and the academic debate on the statutory and institutional problems.

For that purpose, the SENSe laboratory conjugates various
methodologies: search of data and tracks of usages, ethnology,
observation and audio recording and video, socioeconomics of markets
and identification of the emergent tendencies.





Localization



R*D Orange Labs

TECH / SENSE laboratory

38-40 rue General Leclerc

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

FRANCE

--
Thomas Couronné




--
Thomas Couronné