Knowledge Matters™

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. ...

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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.

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If I follow the writing principle of bottom line and idea first then I would have to say Patrick Lambe’s “Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness” is a five-star publication. Using the four-point scale Study, Read, Skim, Bin as a guide to the effort that might be invested, this book definitely warrants a Study rating. So what’s so good about the book?

Well judging by my margin scribbles and underlining lots! First it is an entertaining, coherent and easy read. Patrick’s assertion that - “If taxonomies classify, describe and map knowledge domains, then taxonomy work is made up of the things we must do to achieve that outcome: listing, creating and modifying categories, standardising, mapping, representing, discovering native vocabularies and categories, negotiating common terms” (p. 11) – resonates with me and is an example of the practical flavour of the book. Similarly I found Patrick’s taxonomy forms - lists, trees, hierarchies, poly-hierarchies, matrices, facets, and system maps – to be a useful classification and a guide to why some taxonomies fail and others succeed. ...

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I bought “Social Network Analysis in Program Evaluation ” edited by Mary Durland and Kimberly Fredericks about two years ago. At the time it cost me about $90, but I note the cost is now $27 which is far more realistic. When the book arrived in the mail I was disappointed, partly because it wasn’t quite what I expected, and partly because it’s a little thin A6 publication comprising just 101 pages. All that said it is a book I often refer to, and carry around because of its size.

The book is interesting from a practitioner’s point of view because it applies, or tries to apply, network analysis techniques to program evaluation. In this sense the book is unique. The first three chapters provide a background to social network analysis, and introduce key concepts like dyads, cliques, centrality, and balance. These explanations are accurate and succinct. The discussion in Chapter One on how network analysis techniques might be used in program evaluation is particularly interesting. ...

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I’ve just re-read “Social Networks and Organizations” by Professors Martin Kilduff and Wenpin Tsai . I like this book because it is an easy read, with enough detail to whet the appetite but not so much detail as to become a laborious slog. With 150 pages of succinct text it is possible to read and digest in a couple of sittings. The authors provide many examples throughout the book and point the reader to more advanced reading, but for the beginner Appendix 1 on “Getting Started on Data Analysis and Interpretation” is a must read.

As a doctoral candidate I appreciated the opening chapters which position network analysis in the research traditions, and provide some discussion on the underlying theories. Some readers might find these chapters boring, but I think there is something there for everyone. Take for example the discussion on theoretical foundations. The authors discuss graph theory without blinding the lay-person with incomprehensible mathematical formulas. They also talk about balance theory and other borrowings from psychology in simple terms. This is a constant throughout the book – the reader is gently exposed to key network concepts, debates in the literature, and possible new research directions. ...

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It’s no secret that I am a fan of Professor Ronald Burt’s work. His book “Structural Holes: the Social Structure of Competition ”, is a seminal publication. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for “Brokerage and Closure ”, although I would still give it four stars. Read in sequence and in conjunction with each other they offer the knowledge management practitioner and network analyst some useful insights.

Once again Burt’s writing style is academic in flavour, with many examples. At times it is heavy going, but I still think well worth the effort. Burt remains interested in the structure of networks and particularly the links, or relationships, rather than node attributes. I think the focus on links rather than nodes is important. I just wish the software tools were better at showing link attributes, although I note NetMiner 3 is becoming more powerful in this area. One of the taken for granted but important assertions Burt makes is relationships amplify diversity and individual power, however in turn many diverse links enhance the power of relationships.

The central theme of this book is still around brokerage between structural holes ...

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As promised a while ago here is a review of Professor Ronald Burt’s book “Structural Holes: the Social Structure of Competition ”, which was written in 1992. This is a seminal publication and a must read for anyone interested in network theory. The book has an academic flavour but is well written, with many easy to understand examples.

Burt’s central thesis is that structural holes in business networks are very important. A structural hole is a gap between two individuals. When the two are connected through a third individual important advantages accrue for the third individual, who may employ a tertius strategy .

Burt ascribes four signature qualities of competition to his structural hole argument ...

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Pajek means spider in Slovenian. Pajek is also a software program for the analysis and visualisation of very large networks; networks with thousands if not millions of vertices. It is a program I use occasionally, however I prefer UCINET and NetMiner 3 , because I find these programs to be easier to use. It is precisely for this reason I bought and read “Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek ” by Wouter de Nooy, Andrej Mrvar, and Vladimir Batagelj.

The book is an easy read and nicely complements the manual – in fact I think it could easily replace the manual. I learnt that Pajek is actually quite a bite easier to use than I first thought. Having played around with Pajek after reading the book I found I could manipulate my datasets in new ways. That said I am not a convert to Pajek - it's still too clunky for my liking. ...

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About a month ago I read “Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another” by Doctor Philip Ball , who is a physicist by education and a science writer for Nature . I read it because of my interest in networks and complexity, and this book promised some insights. It was an entertaining read, but was hard going in a lot of places. Despite this the book was well written and flowed naturally.

I did enjoy the first chapter on Thomas Hobbes "Leviathan", probably because I like philosophy! The point of the chapter was that mankind has been trying to discover universal laws of society since at least 1651, and continues to do so. In subsequent chapters at times I was disappointed and found myself saying “So what!” or “Where is the evidence?” – cause and effect where not always clear to me. ...

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I’ve just finished reading “Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and Sustaining Networks at Work and in the World” by Patti Anklam , who is a recognised practitioner in network analysis circles. The central theme is we work through informal and formal networks, which may be tangible or intangible, but all have value. Her primary assumption is that all networks can be mapped. These maps serve to describe the network and provide a diagnosis of the health of the mapped entity, albeit the map is a snapshot in time. Patti’s premise is if the network can be mapped and described then the network can be managed and weaved – a premise I largely agree with, and which is an underlying assumption in my research .

"Net Work” has a five-star rating on the Amazon site and other book sites. Personally I would give it three and a half stars, as in some areas I think it a bit shallow. For example, it purports to be a practical guide but there are few examples of questions and even fewer how to examples. I also think the absence of a chapter on network measures and metrics is a major deficiency. ...

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