Experimental configuration

RELISON provides a program for executing information diffusion simulations.

java -jar RELISON.jar diffusion configuration output numreps network multigraph directed weighted selfloops readtypes user-index info-index info (-rec rec-file -n n -test-graph test -userfeats file1,file2,...,fileN -infofeats file1,...,fileN -realprop file -previous file)

where:

• configuration: a YAML file containing the simulation parameters (See Configuration file below).

• output: the directory for storing the outcomes of the simulation.

• numreps: the number of executions of each simulation.

• network: path to a file containing the graph.

• multigraph: true if the network allows multiple edges between each pair of users, false otherwise.

• directed: true if the network is directed, false otherwise.

• weighted: true if we want to use the weights of the links, false otherwise (weights will be binary).

• selfloops: true if we allow links between a node and itself, false otherwise.

• readtypes: true if we want to read the types of the edges, false otherwise.

• user-index: a path containing the identifiers of the users (one on each line).

• info-index: a path containing the identifiers of the information pieces / user-generated contents (one on each line)

• info: a path containing the user-generated contents.

• Optional arguments:

  • -rec rec-file: path to a recommendation file, whose edges will be added to the network.

  • -n n: the number of links (per user) to add from the recommendation (if any). By default: 10.

  • -test-graph file: route to a network file containing additional edges (and shall be used for filtering the recommended edges to add).

  • -userfeats file1,file2,...,fileN: a comma-separated list of files containing the features for the users in the network (e.g. communities).

  • -infofeats file1,file2,...,fileN: a comma-separated list of files containing the features for the information pieces (e.g. hashtags).

  • -realprop file: a file indicating which information pieces have been repropagated by users in another information diffusion process.

  • -previous file: file containing the result of a previous diffusion procedure.

Configuration file

The configuration file has the following format:

simulations:
- protocol:
    name: protocol_name
    type: preconfigured
    params:
      param_name1:
        type: int/double/boolean/string/long/orientation/object
        value: value
        object:
          name: object_name
          params:
            param_name1: <...>
      param_name2:
      <...>
  stop:
    name: stop_condition_name
    params:
      param_name1:
      <...>
  filters:
    filter_name:
      param_name1:
      <...>
- protocol:
    name: protocol_name
    type: custom
    selection:
      name: selection_name
      params:
        param_name1:
          type: <...>
    expiration:
      name: selection_name
      params:
        param_name1:
          type: <...>
    update:
      name: update_name
      params:
        param_name1:
          type: <...>
    propagation:
      name: propagation_name
      params:
        param_name1:
          type: <...>
    sight:
      name: sight_name
      params:
        param_name1:
          type: <...>
- protocol:  <...>

As we can see in the previous code, each element in the list corresponds to a different simulation. Each simulation consists on three different elements:

• filter: modifies the input data. For instance, it just considers information pieces created before a given timestamp.

• stop: the stop condition of the simulation (after no information is propagated, after a given timestamp is reached…)

• protocol: the simulation protocol. Indicates how the information travels through the network. We differentiate two types of protocol:

  • preconfigured: the protocol is fully implemented in the library

  • custom: we build a new protocol by combining its different elements.

Input files

Information pieces file

The information pieces (individual user-generated contents) file needs to have the following format (CSV divided by tabs):

infoId  userId  text  reprCount  likeCount  created  truncated

where

• infoId: identifier of the information piece.

• userId: identifier of the creator.

• text: the content of the information piece.

• reprCount: number of times the piece has been repropagated.

• likeCount: number of likes the piece has been received.

• created: UNIX timestamp indicating the date of creation.

• truncated: whether we are taking the complete text, or just a small part.

The text must be in UTF-8 format, and user-generated contents are separated by line skips. Fields (like text) which might have tabs or line skips inside must be properly escaped, and surrounded by “”.

Real propagated information file

The file indicating which information pieces where repropagated in another diffusion procedure has the following format (divided by tabs)

userId  infoId  timestamp

where

• userId: identifier of the user who repropagated a piece.

• infoId: identifier of the repropagated content.

• timestamp: UNIX timestamp of the propagation.

Feature files

The files containing information about user / information features have the following format. Each line, they include one user/piece - feature pair, separated by tab.

userId/infoId  featureId

Output files

For each simulation, this program generates an output file. However, this output file is binary (and therefore, it cannot be easily read with a text editor). However, it can be read using the provided code.