Network Creation Games: How Does the Internet Form?
Location: Building OCC, 1st Floor, Rooms A107-A109

Organizers: Erik D. Demaine and MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi

Abstract:
The exciting area of network creation games attempts to understand how real-world networks (such as the Internet) develop when multiple independent agents (e.g., ISPs) build pieces of the network to selfishly improve their own connectivity to each other. In general, network creation games attempt to unify the network design and network routing problems. Network design is a fundamental family of problems at the intersection between computer science and operations research, which has become increasingly important given the continued growth of computer networks such as the Internet. Traditionally, we want to find a minimum-cost (sub)network that satisfies some specified property such as k-connectivity or connectivity on terminals (as in the classic Steiner tree problem). This goal captures the (possibly incremental) creation cost of the network, but does not incorporate the cost of actually using the network. In contrast, network routing has the goal of optimizing the usage cost of the network, but assumes that the network has already been created. Network creation games incorporate these two concepts by modeling both creation and usage costs. In this tutorial, we introduce these class of games and state several important results and open problems in the field.

Vertical Ad Markets:
Location: Building OCC, 1st Floor, Rooms A107-A109

Organizer: S. Muthukrishnan

Abstract:
There has been considerable research on advertising (ad)  markets such as sponsored search and display ads. These are typically aggregated markets, catering to wide variety of users interests in search and browsing, respectively. In contrast, we focus on vertical ad markets where users’ interest is focused on specific needs (hotel and travel, product search, local business services) and the platforms (Expedia, Ebay/Amazon, Yelp respectively) provide suitable tailored experiences and also carry ads. In this tutorial, we will provide an overview of such vertical ad markets and show how they differ from horizontal ad markets like sponsored search and display advertising. Then we will focus on one example, Yelp, which is a platform that supports users’ need for local services from restaurants to others, and present issues related to the local business advertising ecosystem, distinctive ad products, as well as prediction, allocation, pricing and optimization problems that arise. 

Social Network Models and Data
Location: Building OCC, 1st Floor, Rooms C120-C122

Organizers: Johan Ugander and Jure Leskovec

Abstract:
Social networks underly a broad range of social and economic research questions that are increasingly being understood through large-scale computational analyses. In particular, the study of social influence and information diffusion on social networks have rich modeling histories. Meanwhile opportunities in online instrumentation and experimentations are now providing tremendous advances in our abilities for theory testing as well as theory development. This tutorial will provide a brief overview of models of social networks and social influence, and then focus on giving an overview of recent evidence for how these processes behave empirically in diverse online settings. A particular emphasis will be placed on  efforts to approach these problems through causal inference, moving beyond “big data” to “big experimentation".

Dynamic Pricing Under Model Uncertainty
Location: Building OCC, 1st Floor, Rooms C120-C122

Organizers: Aleksandrs Slivkins and Assaf Zeevi

Abstract: We consider sequential pricing problems when the underlying demand model is unknown and the market response to any given price is confounded by statistical noise. The basic version dates back at least 40 years, is relatively simple in structure, is widely considered fundamental, and (through generalizations) has numerous manifestations across multiple application domains and academic disciplines.  While significant progress has been made throughout the last several decades, including a flurry of recent work, many variants of this problem class remain essentially unsolved.

We cover in detail the basic version of the problem, and use this version to showcase some of the major themes and techniques in this problem space. We map out the problem space, outlining the various ``modeling dimensions" thereof, and highlight several key results. Along the way, we emphasize the contributions, influences and perspectives from different areas (economics, OR/MS and computer science), and hint at connections to other areas such as adaptive control and dynamical systems. We conclude with some open questions.