Technical Tracks

Track 6: Social Networks, Extended Reality, and Metaverse
Track Co-Chairs:
Maria Gorlatova, Duke University, USA, maria.gorlatova@duke.edu
Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, University of New Mexico, USA, eirini@unm.edu
Bin Cao, University of Posts and Telecommunications, China, caobin@bupt.edu.cn

Description:
The Metaverse represents the convergence of physical and digital realities, creating a 3D virtual network through advanced hardware and interaction technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR), collectively known as extended reality (XR). This interconnected web fosters a dynamic social environment within an immersive Internet setting, transcending the temporal and spatial boundaries of traditional social media. It offers a virtual platform for real-time multi-user interactions, such as meetings, gaming, and remote collaboration. Viewed as an evolution of traditional social media, the integration of the Metaverse with social networks is poised to redefine future social interactions. This track invites original and unpublished research in the domains of social networks, extended reality, and the Metaverse. Topics of interest encompass, but are not limited to, the following.

Track Topics:
• 3D virtual social platforms
• Communications and networking support for social networks
• Contact tracing
• Crowdsourcing
• Edge computing, digital twins, and IoT for XR and metaverse
• Evolving social networks
• Generative AI for XR and metaverse
• Harassment detection and prevention in metaverse
• Machine learning, data science, and blockchains for XR and metaverse
• Mobile social networks
• Multi-user XR
• Network economics in social networks
• New social media
• Quality of service and quality of experience in social networks
• Public safety systems supported by social networks
• Security and privacy in XR and metaverse
• Sensing for metaverse
• Social media's influence on XR content creation
• Social networks' role in education and learning within XR environments
• Social network analysis and mining
• Social network-driven content moderation and governance
• Social network influence on wireless communications and networking design
• Social virtual reality
• User engagement and retention strategies in social networks
• User-generated content and social media dynamics
• XR and applications

TPC List:
• Marios Avgeris, Carleton University, Canada
• Suman Banerjee, IIT Kharagpur, India
• Suzan Bayhan, University of Twente, Netherlands
• Paolo Bellavista, University of Bologna, Italy
• Francesco Betti Sorbelli, University of Perugia, Italy
• Chiara Boldrini, IIT-CNR, Italy
• Eleonora Borgia, IIT-CNR, Italy
• Alexandros-Apostolos A Boulogeorgos, University of Western Macedonia, Greece
• Claudio E. Casetti, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• Dimitris Chatzopoulos, University College Dublin, Ireland
• Carla Fabiana Chiasserini, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• Claudio Cicconetti IIT-CNR, Italy
• Ángel Cuevas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
• Marilia Curado, University of Coimbra, Portugal
• Maria Diamanti, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• Luca Foschini, University of Bologna, Italy
• Pantelis A. Frangoudis, TU Wien, Austria
• Vasilis Friderikos , King's College London, U.K.
• Michele Girolami, ISTI-CNR, Italy
• Vasileios Karyotis, Ionian University, Greece
• Thomas Lagkas, International Hellenic University, Greece
• Aris Leivadeas, École de Technologie Supérieure, Canada
• Gang Li, Deakin University, Australia
• Victoria Ursula Manfredi, Wesleyan University, USA
• Claudio Marche, University of Cagliari, Italy
• Gaia Maselli, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
• Edmundo Monteiro, University of Coimbra, Portugal
• Amiya Nayak, University of Ottawa, Canada
• Symeon Papavassiliou, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• Cristina M. Pinotti, University of Perugia, Italy
• Theofanis P. Raptis, IIT-CNR, Italy
• Francesca Righetti, University of Pisa, Italy
• Nirmalya Roy, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
• Simone Silvestri, University of Kentucky, USA
• Jennifer Simonjan, Technology Innovation Institute, UAE
• Md Sadman Siraj, University of New Mexico, USA
• Petros Spachos, University of Guelph, Canada
• Eleni G Stai, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• Damla Turgut, University of Central Florida, USA
• Carlo Vallati, University of Pisa, Italy
• Anna Maria Vegni, Roma TRE University, Italy
• De-Nian Yang, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
• Hong-Zhang Zhang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China
• Dimitrios Zorbas, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan