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Virtual social network is a kind of social network established through indirect interactions between individuals, especially through online interactions. Virtual social network has significant implications on business operations, governing, scientific research, and social relations. This paper describes several virtual social networks and studies their properties and effects using empirical approach and computer simulations. Furthermore, the authors find that these virtual social networks have similar distributions with respect to the frequency of nodes and different edges. These distributions are similar between directed networks and undirected networks. In addition, through simulations they demonstrate that the roles played by different nodes in a virtual social network are unequal. Limitations of this study and future research directions are also presented.

This chapter describes a new interdisciplinary course introduced at Indiana University South Bend. The course is designed for students of any majors to meet their general education requirement on ‘the natural world' subject. The course topics are divided into three parts. First, using ‘information' as the main thread, this course connects physical information, chemical information, biological information, and social information. Second, using basic computing model and information entropy, this course generalizes information and information theory. Third, information is correlated to cutting-edge computing topics such as quantum computing, complexity, and uncertainty. The main objective of this course is to provide an outline of information theory to students using an interdisciplinary approach.