Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread

Sana Asif; Byungjin Jun; Fabian E. Bustamante; John P. Rula

doi:10.1145/3487552.3487831

Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread

Sana Asif, Byungjin Jun, Fabian E. Bustamante, John P. Rula

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

While non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, and school closures are considered the most effective ways to limit the spread of infectious diseases, their use is generally controversial given the political, ethical, and socioeconomic issues they raise. Part of the challenge is the non-obvious link between the level of compliance with such measures and their effectiveness. In this paper, we argue that users' demand on networked services can act as a proxy for the social distancing behavior of communities, offering a new approach to evaluate these measures' effectiveness. We leverage the vantage point of one of the largest worldwide CDNs together with publicly available datasets of mobile users' behavior, to examine the relationship between changes in user demand on the CDN and different interventions including stay-at-home/shelter-in-place, mask mandates, and school closures. As networked systems become integral parts of our everyday lives, they can act as witnesses of our individual and collective actions. Our study illustrates the potential value of this new role.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	IMC 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Internet Measurement Conference
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	487-506
Number of pages	20
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450391290
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487831
State	Published - Nov 2 2021
Event	21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States Duration: Nov 2 2021 → Nov 4 2021

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC

Conference

Conference	21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021
Country/Territory	United States
City	Virtual, Online
Period	11/2/21 → 11/4/21

Funding

The authors thank the anonymous shepherds and reviewers for their detailed and helpful feedback. We are also grateful to Walter Willinger for fruitful discussions in the early stages of this work. This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award CNS-2027922. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any funding agencies.

Keywords

CDN
COVID-19
internet measurement
pandemic
user demand
user mobility

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Computer Networks and Communications

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3487552.3487831

Cite this

Asif, S., Jun, B., Bustamante, F. E., & Rula, J. P. (2021). Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread. In IMC 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Internet Measurement Conference (pp. 487-506). (Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487831

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abstract = "While non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, and school closures are considered the most effective ways to limit the spread of infectious diseases, their use is generally controversial given the political, ethical, and socioeconomic issues they raise. Part of the challenge is the non-obvious link between the level of compliance with such measures and their effectiveness. In this paper, we argue that users' demand on networked services can act as a proxy for the social distancing behavior of communities, offering a new approach to evaluate these measures' effectiveness. We leverage the vantage point of one of the largest worldwide CDNs together with publicly available datasets of mobile users' behavior, to examine the relationship between changes in user demand on the CDN and different interventions including stay-at-home/shelter-in-place, mask mandates, and school closures. As networked systems become integral parts of our everyday lives, they can act as witnesses of our individual and collective actions. Our study illustrates the potential value of this new role.",

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author = "Sana Asif and Byungjin Jun and Bustamante, {Fabian E.} and Rula, {John P.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the anonymous shepherds and reviewers for their detailed and helpful feedback. We are also grateful to Walter Willinger for fruitful discussions in the early stages of this work. This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award CNS-2027922. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any funding agencies. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ACM.; 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021 ; Conference date: 02-11-2021 Through 04-11-2021",

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Asif, S, Jun, B, Bustamante, FE & Rula, JP 2021, Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread. in IMC 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Internet Measurement Conference. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 487-506, 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021, Virtual, Online, United States, 11/2/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487831

Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread. / Asif, Sana; Jun, Byungjin; Bustamante, Fabian E. et al.
IMC 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Internet Measurement Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. p. 487-506 (Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank the anonymous shepherds and reviewers for their detailed and helpful feedback. We are also grateful to Walter Willinger for fruitful discussions in the early stages of this work. This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award CNS-2027922. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any funding agencies. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 ACM.

PY - 2021/11/2

Y1 - 2021/11/2

N2 - While non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, and school closures are considered the most effective ways to limit the spread of infectious diseases, their use is generally controversial given the political, ethical, and socioeconomic issues they raise. Part of the challenge is the non-obvious link between the level of compliance with such measures and their effectiveness. In this paper, we argue that users' demand on networked services can act as a proxy for the social distancing behavior of communities, offering a new approach to evaluate these measures' effectiveness. We leverage the vantage point of one of the largest worldwide CDNs together with publicly available datasets of mobile users' behavior, to examine the relationship between changes in user demand on the CDN and different interventions including stay-at-home/shelter-in-place, mask mandates, and school closures. As networked systems become integral parts of our everyday lives, they can act as witnesses of our individual and collective actions. Our study illustrates the potential value of this new role.

AB - While non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, and school closures are considered the most effective ways to limit the spread of infectious diseases, their use is generally controversial given the political, ethical, and socioeconomic issues they raise. Part of the challenge is the non-obvious link between the level of compliance with such measures and their effectiveness. In this paper, we argue that users' demand on networked services can act as a proxy for the social distancing behavior of communities, offering a new approach to evaluate these measures' effectiveness. We leverage the vantage point of one of the largest worldwide CDNs together with publicly available datasets of mobile users' behavior, to examine the relationship between changes in user demand on the CDN and different interventions including stay-at-home/shelter-in-place, mask mandates, and school closures. As networked systems become integral parts of our everyday lives, they can act as witnesses of our individual and collective actions. Our study illustrates the potential value of this new role.

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Asif S, Jun B, Bustamante FE, Rula JP. Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread. In IMC 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Internet Measurement Conference. Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. p. 487-506. (Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC). doi: 10.1145/3487552.3487831

Networked systems as witnesses: Association between content demand, human mobility and an infection spread

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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