I am Research Fellow at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, working with Lada Adamic.  We are examining economic activity, social networks and diffusion in virtual worlds such as Second Life. I am also a researcher with the Virtual Worlds Observatory, examining network churn and mentoring in MMORPGs such as Everquest II.

I received my Ph.D. in Media, Technology and Society in the School of Communication at Northwestern University, where I was advised by Noshir Contractor and Daniel Diermeier.  My dissertation examines the language and social networks of online leaders, or those who trigger message replies, spark conversations and spread word choices, in online discussion groups.

Generally, my research focuses on social behavior in a variety of online communities.  The internet has made it possible to investigate complex communication behaviors in light of previous social science theories. It also provides new computational and methodological challenges as the sheer size of data collected from various social media contexts becomes overwhelming.  My research contributes to both theory-building and statistical modeling of large-scale social networks and data sets.

My work is interdisciplinary, and I’ve published in journals such as the Journal of Computer-mediated Communication and Developmental Psychology as well as computer science conferences such as IEEE Social Computing and IEEE Advanced Learning Technologies.  My research has been highlighted on New Scientist, Science News, CBS, NBC and BBC among others.

Contact me at davidhuf at umich dot edu.