Learning How To Read The Riot Act

The Age

Tuesday November 29, 2005

BEVERLEY HEAD

TO UNDERSTAND how riots spawn and breed, or terrorist networks seed and expand, computer scientists are turning to experimental techniques to develop tools that analyse and predict social patterns and behaviour.

Professor of IT research at Monash University David Green and his colleague Tania Bransden have used swarm analysis techniques to predict social outcomes.

What they uncovered and reported at a conference in Japan this month was that in groups where there were strong social interactions, the effect on social order polarised - either the group tended to be much more law-abiding or much less law-abiding, given equivalent amounts of law enforcement.

Such analysis should eventually help authorities identify potential trouble spots, advises Professor Green, who is also a member of the Research Network for a Secure Australia, a multidisciplinary collaboration geared to strengthen research capacity for protecting the nation's critical infrastructure from natural or terrorist disasters. It's one of a series of initiatives being undertaken by the complex computing team at Monash when tackling complex problems. The group has set up an online Artificial Life Virtual Laboratory, which has computer models to perform experiments with real or artificial life.

LINK

complexity.org.au/viab

© 2005 The Age

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