Link prediction and threads in email networks

Qinna Wang (1)

1 ComplexNetworks

We tackle the problem of predicting future links in dynamic networks. For this, we work with the Debian Mailing Lists. In this dataset, a user can post a question to the debian list and other users can reply it by email forming a thread. We show that the number of threads shared in the past between users is a better feature to predict future email exchanges than classical features, like the number of common neighbors. We also show that the structure of a thread do not match the traditional definition of a community, particularly a thread does not have many triangles and has many outgoing connections. While the number of shared (detected) communities is also a better feature to predict future email exchanges than traditional features, is not as good as the number of shared threads. We believe our work should raise interests in characterizing and detecting thread-like structures in dynamic networks.

Domaines: Informatique [cs]; Réseaux sociaux et d'information [cs.SI]; Réseaux et télécommunications [cs.NI]

Qinna Wang. Link prediction and threads in email networks. 2014 International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA2014), Oct 2014, Shanghai, China. pp.470-476, ⟨10.1109/DSAA.2014.7058114⟩. ⟨hal-01208516⟩