Class was ok. This class is on virology and contagion, then tied into social networking. For example, you'll learn math formulas and topics surrounding the concept of contagion, then it's applied to social networks. Topics are interesting but quizzes will be very random and on the smallest things (in a three hours class the entire quiz we had was on a chart that was only shown and not discussed) Midterm was difficult but final was a little easier. All exams and quizzes are intentionally wordy and confusing to help you learn, but it is ineffective and leaves you feeling unprepared for the final. Homework assignments are cool but take many hours to complete. I wouldn't really recommend this class because it can be frustrating. Being asked questions on exams that are so left field is disappointing, coming from someone that studied rigorously. Utilize the TA cause Professor doesn't show up for most office hours without notice. Do any extra credit if offered. Do the homework early, it takes hours, literally 15 hours per assignment for me. Buggy software and complex structure makes the assignments long. This class has so much potential, but fails to meet the mark. Spent all quarter overwhelmingly stressed about my grade.

things i liked:
-the professor seemed likable, and seemed to do his best to make lectures engaging

things i didn't like:
-the lectures were not engaging and lasted for three hours (which is fine normally, but he didn't give us any kinds of breaks and the content was extremely tedious so it made it very difficult to pay attention for the duration of the lecture)
-the professor canceled his office hours the day of the midterm because he was "going on vacation." he 'resolved' this by posting a group discussion where we could ask questions. however, he failed to answer many important questions students had posted.
-the ta was an extremely harsh, unreasonable grader. example: a quiz question asked for an equation we had learned in class. i provided the original equation and showed the steps to simplify it down to the one we were most commonly using. i got a zero on that question because i "provided multiple answers and how could she know which one was correct". when i tried to explain my reasoning, i was immediately shut down. furthermore, several questions on our midterm were graded incorrectly and had to be fixed.
-like others have said, the professor failed to provide any sort of study material for both tests and we were left floundering and unsure of what material we would be tested on.
-you must write down every single thing he says during lecture, because while the slides are posted, they make no sense on their own - this would be fine and makes sense, however his lectures were all over the place and we would be tested on concepts that had only been briefly mentioned
-the class uses an extremely frustrating, very buggy software called Gephi that is very unintuitive. making a simple graph would take hours and hours because, having never used the software before, if i made even a tiny mistake, the entire graph would get messed up and i would have to start completely over from scratch because there was no back/undo button.
-the class uses many math concepts that are poorly explained and at the end of the course i still didn't understand a great deal

as a sociology major who was taking this class as an elective because i thought it would be about how people form social networks and interact with each other, i urge you to NOT TAKE THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO.

Professor Lamberson is a funny guy and a nice person, however his lectures are painfully boring, lacking in clarity and very difficult to get through, especially a class like this that is nearly 3 hours. The subject matter at first glance seems very interesting, and to each their own, but a lot of the content was very tedious and did equations and learning complicated software. He does not record his lectures, nor does he offer a study guide for either the midterm or the final so it is all up to you to go over every single topic just incase it ends up on the exam. This proved to be a terrible method, as the midterm average was a C-. Additionally, the TA is an extremely harsh grader, for example will give you a grade of 7.5/8 on a virtual graph and leave a comment like "could be slightly more organized". She also clearly rushed when grading things, as she marked several people wrong on a few questions on the midterm that were actually right. This was later resolved, but was just another headache. Truthfully, I would recommend taking this course with a different professor, or taking a different course to fulfill the requirement.

Class should be called "Science of Social Networks" to avoid sounding misleading. It is a highly intersectional and involves concepts covered in statistics, mathematics, and economics. The science is of networks is actually quite fascinating (even for someone not interested in COMM but that has a background in or appreciation for one of the aforementioned subjects). You must attend lecture because he publishes slides but you will gain absolutely no meaning from them without context. Huge emphasis on understanding concepts to do well on midterm and final. There are only 3 assignments over the quarter involving a software called Gephi that helps you construct and make sense of social networks. You can gain 1% extra credit by completing course evaluation at the end of the quarter. Very reasonable professor and I recommend engaging with him during office hours.

I liked Professor Lamberson. Very interesting course material. Some of the slides were outdated and ocassionally class would drag on but I think this had more to do with the 3 hours once a week meeting time. I thought he did a good job of relating real life examples to the course material which kept it engaging.

Lamberson is probably my favorite Comm professor I've had at UCLA so far! I appreciate his humor and his little tangents that still circle back to content. I'm also a nerd for communication statistics and relationship networks, so this was a perfect class for me to take. I really appreciated the readings being optional but having them there as a resource, but I also really enjoyed using the gephi software to build networks - it really is a class where I can use these tools in the real world. I hope to take Lamberson for comm 150 when he teaches it :)

This class was pretty interesting and low stress. Not much workload besides a few homework assignments, which I found fairly fun ways to apply the tools that we learn about in class. Some people in the class were surprised by the amount of math needed in the class, but I think if you remember a bare minimum amount of algebra you should be fine. The tests weren't too hard and only covered lecture material. Lamberson is a fairly clear professor and our classes sometimes ended early.

This class was great, and definitely the best way to knock out the "Tech and Digital Systems" requirement for the Comm major! The professor was very nice and accommodating, always offering a Zoom option for the class. The content was very interesting, and the grading structure was fairly generous. There were easy weekly quizzes, a midterm and final that weren't too bad, and 3 assignments that required building networks with software that were super enjoyable for me, even though I have no experience with software! Overall, I highly recommend for Comm majors for this core category.

This is probably one of the most interesting classes I've taken so far at UCLA. Lamberson is an amazing professor and takes time at the beginning of each class to answer questions and engage with students. He says he teaches the course as a modified MBA class so there's a heavy focus on marketing and how social network structures can inform marketing strategies, which was really cool. There's a midterm, final, and three homework assignments (no required readings). The software you have to use for the homeworks can be buggy and difficult, but is overall interesting to use. Would definitely recommend taking this class as the technology and digital systems core requirement!

8 in class quizzes, during the first minutes of class. they're pretty easy to nail, although wording can be a bit confusing. midterm is harder than final. try to memorise or write down quizzes as he tends to reuse questions for the tests. 3 assignments in total, using a program called gephi. overall, this is one of the easiest classes i've ever taken. just be sure to take good notes!