[ih] POLIS Simulations on ARPANET?

[Fenwick Mckelvey]

Hi all,

I came across a reference to the POLIS simulations conducted at UCSB by a Robert C. Noel. I've only been able to find a paper, but little else about this project. Is anyone familar with POLIS and point me in the right direction?


More broadly, please mention if you know any other early computer experiments in social or political simulations running on ARPANET. Any help is appreciated.


"The earliest trials of this type of simulation exercise were performed by Robert C. Noel of the University of California at Santa Barbara beginning in the early 1970s. His aim in the early POLIS simulations was to see if the game would retain its essential elements if the participants were physically removed from one another. Early POLIS exercises involved students at various campuses of the University of California system, linked by virtue of their access to ARPANET. Later in the 1970s, universities in other parts of the country with access to ARPANET joined the simulation exercises."


Source: Wilkenfeld, J., & Kaufman, J. (1993). Political Science: Network Simulation in International Politics. Social Science Computer Review, 11(4), 464-476. https://doi.org/10.1177/089443939301100405


Take care in these times! Hope you're all healthy and well.

Be good,
Fenwick McKelvey
http://www.fenwickmckelvey.com

Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Concordia University

Director of the Algorithmic Media Observatory
http://www.amo-oma.ca/en/

Member of the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship
http://csdc-cecd.ca/