Online traces of human activity offer novel opportunities to study the dynamics of complex knowledge exchange networks, and in particular how the relationship between demand and supply of information is mediated by competition for our limited individual attention. The emergent patterns of collective attention determine what new information is generated and consumed. Can we measure the relationship between demand and supply for new information about a topic? Here we propose a normalization method to compare attention bursts statistics across topics that have an heterogeneous distribution of attention. Through analysis of a massive dataset on traffic to Wikipedia, we find that the production of new knowledge is associated to significant shifts of collective attention, which we take as a proxy for its demand. What we observe is consistent with a scenario in which the allocation of attention toward a topic stimulates the demand for information about it, and in turn the supply of further novel information. Our attempt to quantify demand and supply of information, and our finding about their temporal ordering, may lead to the development of the fundamental laws of the attention economy, and a better understanding of the social exchange of knowledge in online and offline information networks.
Evolution and determinants of firm-level systemic risk in local production networks
University of Rome Tor Vergata（罗马托尔维加塔大学）；INFN（意大利国家核物理研究所）；Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi（恩里科·费米研究中心）；HUN-REN Centre for Economic and Regional Studies（匈牙利研究与教育网络经济与区域研究中心）；Corvinus University of Budapest（布达佩斯考文纽斯大学）；Northeastern University（东北大学）；ISI Foundation（ISI基金会）；Institute for Complex Systems, National Research Council（国家研究委员会复杂系统研究所）
