Allen B. Downey
Computer Science Department
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA 02481
adowney@wellesley.edu

In a recent paper I proposed a user model that (I think) explains the
shape of the distribution of file sizes in local file systems and
on the World Wide Web.

If this model is correct, it implies that the sizes of files being
transferred in the Internet are not long-tailed in the mathematical
sense required to be the cause of self-similarity in Internet traffic.
I will discuss the implications of this result and some of the other
explanations that have been offered to explain self-similarity.

A fundamental problem with the work I have done so far is that we do
not have a good method of identifying long-tailed distributions based
on samples.  I have been working on this part of the problem and will
present some recent results.

I think it would also be interesting to discuss the role of this kind
of explanatory model in computer science, and possible practical
results that might follow.