Reality Commons

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Social Evolution Dataset

This dataset was collected in 2008 by Anmol Madan, Iolanthe Chronis, and Alex Pentland. The citation for this data set is:

We conducted the Social Evolution experiment to closely track the everyday life of a whole undergraduate dormitory with mobile phones, so that social scientists can validate their models against the spatio-temporal patterns and behavior-network co-evolution as contained in this data. The Social Evolution experiment covered the locations, proximities, and phone calls of more than 80% of residents who lived in the dormitory used in the Social Evolution experiment, as captured by their cell phones from October 2008 to May 2009. This dormitory has a population of approximately 30 freshmen, 20 sophomores, 10 juniors, 10 seniors and 10 graduate student tutors.

This experiment was designed to study the adoption of political opinions, diet, exercise, obesity, eating habits, epidemiological contagion, depression and stress, dorm political issues, interpersonal relationships, and privacy.

Data collection includes proximity, location, and call log, collected through a cell-phone application that scans nearby Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth devices every six minutes — referenced to the latitudes and longitudes of the Wi-Fi access points. Survey data includes Sociometric survey for relationships (choose from friend, acquaintance, or do not know), Political opinions (democratic vs. republican), Recent smoking behavior, Attitudes towards exercise and fitness, Attitudes towards diet, Attitudes towards academic performance, Current confidence and anxiety level, music sharing from 1500 independent music tracks from a wide assortment of genres. The data are protected by MIT COUHES and related laws.