network analysis

Social Network Analysis and the Dynamic Spread of Happiness

graham durant-law — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:43:44 -0500

Sometime ago I posted some commentary about this study by Doctor Nicholas Christakis and Doctor James Fowler, who used network analysis to aid understanding of obesity. I also posted some commentary on this study on using network analysis to aid the understanding smoking behaviour. Both studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This time Doctors Christakis and Fowler have published a study on happiness in the January 2009 edition of the British Medical Journal, or BMJ for short.

The study design is a longitudinal social network analysis of 4,739 individuals followed from 1983 to 2003. Interestingly happiness, or unhappiness, extends to three degrees. That is to say if you are happy your friend’s friends are also likely to be happy. Unfortunately the reverse also applies! I found this finding of most interest: ...

Working Wikily

graham durant-law — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:22:53 -0500

Every now and again I come across a website or blog that grabs my attention. Working Wikily is one such site. It is the site of the Monitor Institute and is dedicated to network analysis. Specifically their objective is:

"to describe the new ways that people are applying network theory and networked technology to do the work they've always done in a more collaborative form and also to begin working in new ways altogether". ...

Microsoft Excel Network Analysis Add-In

graham durant-law — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:56:43 -0400

Two weeks ago I purchased a new computer, which came with Microsoft® Vista Business loaded. I haven't gotten used to Vista yet and I am not sure I really like it. That said I've always liked Excel, and Excel 2007 seems better than ever. One of the really nice add-ons is Microsoft .NetMap , which installs a template capable of doing some rudimentary network analysis. Consider the diagram below, which is my email traffic, displayed using a Fruchterman-Reingold force-directed spring algorithm.

The add-in analysed Outlook 2007 and identified all 532 unique vertices and the corresponding 994 unique edges that make up my e-mail network. It also identified the density of the network as 0.004, which is quite sparse given 1.000 is the possible score. Consider now the same network displayed in a spiral format. ...

Methodological Pitfalls in Social Network Analysis

graham durant-law — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:18:35 -0400

I've just finished reading Methodological Pitfalls in Social Network Analysis by Nicholas Marschall. The central theme is that current methods produce questionable results, which is precisely why I read the book.

Running to 86 pages the book is an easy one-sitting read. For what it is it's also expensive. The book is a translation from German so in some places the English is - well unusual. Looking beyond this small problem, it appears to be a student or scientist research justification, or perhaps a short synopsis of a PhD, which means the style is very academic, but it is interesting!

Marschall quite rightly says data collection approaches colour results, and are full of implicit assumptions. He comes to the conclusion that size reduction and transformation processes, which are quite common in published studies, can significantly change the results of an analysis. ...

TNT Connectedness

graham durant-law — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:52:42 -0400

This isn't a blog-post about explosives, although that might be interesting; rather it is a plug for the blogs of two people whose work I admire. It's no secret I am interested in network analysis and both these blogs have almost exclusive network analysis themes. The TNT bit stands for "The Network Thinker ", which is the blog of Dr Valdis Krebs - I wish I could be as creative with names. Connectedness is the blog of Dr Bruce Hoppe.

I particularly like Connectedness because of its exclusive network analysis theme. I just wish Bruce would blog a bit more. He's had a few interesting posts of late. Take a look at this post on centrality . Bruce correctly identifies centrality is important in every network; and lets be honest it's the property we are most fascinated with! I would caveat Bruce's observation by saying be careful with what type of centrality you are talking about. For example, in-degree centrality is about popularity and out-degree centrality is about activity - two very different things I suggest!

An Introduction to Network Analysis as a Research Technique

graham durant-law — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:42:20 -0400

From time to time I run a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”, followed by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

Here are the seminar slides . The seminar is aimed at new researchers. Typically the seminar occurs in the morning and is organised into three sessions.

Here are the workshop slides . The workshop is aimed at absolute beginners, and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw . It builds on the seminar, although attendance at the seminar is not a prerequisite.

Network Analysis Seminar and Workshop

graham durant-law — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:53:37 -0400

On Friday the 4th of July 2008 I am once again running a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”. This time the seminar will be followed in the afternoon by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

The seminar and workshop are part of Canberra University’s Inter-University Research Workshop Program , and are aimed at new researchers. The workshop is also of use to anyone interested in network analysis, but is aimed at absolute beginners. Both the seminar and workshop are offered free of charge to research students and researchers from all institutions, but priority access will be given to students and staff from participating universities. Costs may apply to other participants. If you are interested and you are in Canberra on Friday the 4th of July 2008 you can register here . Further details about the seminar and workshop are below. ...

Catnets

graham durant-law — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 03:14:18 -0400

Every now and then I come across an intriguing article that is also seminal to my interests and doctorate. Sociologica , which is the Italian Journal of Sociology, has just republished Harrison White's "Notes on the Constituents of Social Structure ". Harrison White is the Giddings Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, however his doctorate is in theoretical physics. White is very influential in network analysis and is sometimes credited with developing block-models - but I digress.

In this article White introduces the notion of a "catnet", where he brings together the ideas of categories and networks - hence catnet. The idea at the time was quite novel, yet now it seems obvious - people who are alike in some way will form networks (birds of a feather flock together). White's contribution was how to represent the various categories that might be found in a network. Further by bringing together network analysis and categories like race, gender, or education, he was able to show that categories are an artificial construct that aid understanding but of themselves are not sufficient. ...

The Shadow Organisation and Network Analysis

graham durant-law — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:56:34 -0400

I recently came across this blog-post by Marc Aafjes on what he calls the Shadow Organisation. Marc says:

"By connecting various participants across the company around the execution of our knowledge strategy we're cultivating a meta network - the shadow organisation - that enables the company to enhance the value we derive from the knowledge we have. Framing knowledge management in economic terms, the shadow organisation in effect is ‘making the market for knowledge' by connecting otherwise disparate parts of the company around knowledge needs. This shadow organisation consists of the change agents that help us execute the knowledge strategy and embed sustainable change in all parts of the company".

Now what Marc is doing is by no means new - he's weaving a network to build a community of practice! What he has done is come up with a clever name that markets his network weaving initiative. ...

Theories of Communication Networks

graham durant-law — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:25:32 -0400

I purchased this book on the recommendation of a colleague. Unusually for me it has taken many months to read, and I have found it a hard slog - I simply could not maintain my interest. The content is dense and at times challenging.

The authors bring together several theories to come up with an integrative framework to research communication networks. By combining several approaches they seek to move from descriptive and exploratory techniques to inferential and confirmatory models - this was the attraction of the book for me; unfortunately in the end I wasn't completely convinced. That said I do agree that networks should be examined on multiple levels and that a multi-theoretical approach has considerable merit.