Science AMA Series: We created a map of reddit to make it easier for you to discover new communities. We are Drs. Zachary Neal and Randy Olson from Michigan State University, Ask Us Anything!

Prof. Zachary Neal: I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Global Urban Studies at Michigan State University and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. My research uses networks to understand urban and community phenomena at multiple scales ranging from the micro (e.g. neighborhood social networks) to the macro (e.g. global transportation infrastructure), and involves the development of new network analysis methods with a particular focus on bipartite projections (e.g. viewing subreddits as linked by users co-posting behaviors). I also serve as editor of the Journal of Urban Affairs and Routledge’s Metropolis and Modern Life book series. Randy Olson: I run the popular data blog at RandalOlson.com/blog/, most recently known for creating the “Ultimate American Road Trip” and solving Where’s Waldo?. I tweet daily about data visualization and machine learning at @randal_olson, and moderate the largest online community dedicated to data analysis and visualization on reddit, /r/DataIsBeautiful. Aside from my hobbies, I am an AI and visualization researcher at the University of Pennsylvania (previously Michigan State University) working to usher in the next era of Artificial Intelligence. I do my best to ensure that AI will end up friendly and useful rather than a malevolent Skynet. We’re here to answer all of your questions about our recent work on creating visual, interactive maps of online communities such as reddit to make it easier for you to discover new communities. You can find the reddit map we published here (from mid-2013), along with a writeup on the history and motivation of the project here. Feel free to hit us with any non-research related questions too. We’re here for you to Ask Us Anything! Update: Thank you all for your questions and comments over the past several hours. We had a blast! We will check back in on this thread over the next few days, but it’s time to head back to work. We hope you like our Reddit mapping method, and if you’d like to join the effort to keep the Reddit map updated, we posted a list of our open-source mapping tools and encourage you to get in touch with us. If you have more you’d like to ask, you can follow up with us on Twitter or email: Prof. Zachary Neal: @zpneal / zpneal AT msu DOT edu Dr. Randy Olson: @randal_olson / email