Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Organization Mining using Online Social Networks

by Michael Fire

Co-authored with Rami puzis and Yuval Elovici

Mature, developed social networking services is one of the greatest assets todays’ organization may have. However, it... more Mature, developed social networking services is one of the greatest assets todays’ organization may have. However, it is also a non-negligible threat to the organization confidentiality. Many details on organizations are exposed on social networking websites by their members along with personal information. In this paper we analyze several commercial organizations by mining data their employees exposed on Facebook, LinkeIn, and other publicly available sources. Using a web crawler designed for this purpose we extract a network of informal social relationships of employees of a given target organization. Our results show that, using centrality analysis and machine learning techniques applied on the structure of the informal relationships network, it is possible to identify leadership roles within the organization. It is also possible to get valuable non trivial insights on the organization structure by clustering this network and gathering publicly available information on the employees within eac h cluster. Organizations willing to conceal, their structure, location and specialization of branches, the identity of leaders, etc. must enforce strict policies controlling the use of social media by their employees

Complexities of Collapse: Maya Obsidian as Revealed by Social Network Graphical Analysis (Mark Golitko, James Meierhoff, Gary M. Feinman, and Ryan Williams, 2012)

by Gary Feinman

Antiquity 86:507-523

Complexities of Collapse: the evidence of Maya obsidian as revealed by social network graphical analysis

by Mark Golitko

Antiquity, June 2012, with James Meierhoff, Gary M. Feinman, and Patrick Ryan Williams

Visualising Communities. Possibilities of Network Analysis and Relational Sociology for the Survey and Analysis of Medieval Communities (in German)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working Paper for a presentation for the SGB "Visions of Community" (http://www.univie.ac.at/viscom/index_viscom.php?seite=events) and the FSP "Gemeinschaftskonzepte, Identitäten und politische Integration", University of Vienna; slides online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks

Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook... more Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook einen fast inflationären Gebrauch in der öffentlichen Diskussion,
aber auch in verschiedenen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen, darunter der Geschichtsforschung.
Dabei ist es oft schwer zu entscheiden, wo dem Netzwerk-Begriff auch eine analytische
Aussagekraft zugrunde liegt und wo es sich nur um eine „Metapher“ oder ein „Schlagwort“
handelt, das Vergleichbarkeit mit Phänomenen der Gegenwart suggeriert, ohne
Wesentliches für den historischen Erkenntnisgewinn zu leisten.
Ein Ziel der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse ist es, Geflechte von Akteuren und Beziehungen in
strukturell und quantitativ fassbarer Form darzustellen. Darüber hinaus betrachtet aber die
„relationale Soziologie“ Akteure nicht nur als in soziale Netzwerke eingebettet; vielmehr
werden ihre Verhaltensweisen und Identitäten durch Interaktionen und Kommunikationsakte
im Netzwerk geprägt, ja überhaupt definiert. Die strukturell-quantitative Perspektive wird
damit wesentlich um qualitative Aspekte ergänzt; sowohl die Verknüpfungen zwischen
Akteuren als auch deren Rollen und Identitäten werden als Ergebnisse dynamischer
Prozesse verstanden.
In den letzten Jahren wurden diese Ansätze auch mit Konzepten der Systemtheorie (Niklas
Luhmann) und der Komplexitätsforschung verknüpft, um die Emergenz und Dynamik von
Gemeinschafts- und Identitätsbildungen von der individuellen Ebene über Gruppen bis hin zu
großen sozialen Formationen besser erfassen zu können. Diese Konzepte werden im
Vortrag präsentiert, diskutiert und durch auf der Grundlage mittelalterlicher Quellen erstellte
Fallbeispiele illustriert. Einige Ansätze und Beispiele wurden bereits in diversen Beiträgen
und Working Papers näher ausgeführt, die unter
http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller auch im Internet frei zugänglich sind.

Topical semantics of twitter links

by Mike Welch

Diss_withoutarticles_KVC

by Katrien Van Cleemput

Re-thinking Jewish ethnicity through social network analysis

by Anna Collar

to be published in 2013 in Network Analysis in Archaeology, (OUP) edited by C J Knappett.

As a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the subsequent cataclysms in Judaea and elsewhere in... more As a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the subsequent cataclysms in Judaea and elsewhere in the Jewish Diaspora, Judaism itself underwent a series of reforms. This paper argues that these reforms (Rabbinic halakhah, standardised laws of moral behaviour) spread through the renewed strong-tie ethnic network of the Diaspora and can be seen epigraphically in the use of Hebrew names, references to the laws, and in the use of the Hebrew language itself. Visualising this process through the use of networks allows us to consider possible routes and mechanisms of information transmission.

Crítica genética y sociología de redes: relaciones entre producción y reconocimiento en un caso de discurso político-religioso

by Juan Eduardo Bonnin

IV Coloquio de Investigadores en Estudios del Discurso. I Jornadas Internacionales sobre Discurso e Interdisciplina, Córdoba, 16 al 18 de abril de 2009

En este trabajo presentamos algunos resultados de nuestra investigación doctoral, dedicada al análisis de los procesos... more En este trabajo presentamos algunos resultados de nuestra investigación doctoral, dedicada al análisis de los procesos de génesis, circulación y recepción del documento del episcopado católico argentino Iglesia y comunidad nacional (1981). Para ello hemos articulado los aportes de dos campos disciplinares: a) la sociología de redes: que nos permitió explorar los actores, grupos e instituciones que participaron tanto en la producción como en la recepción del texto; b) la crítica genética: que nos proveyó de herramientas para dar cuenta del proceso de redacción a partir de la evidencia textual de cinco etapas redaccionales. El problema teórico que abordamos es el de las relaciones entre génesis textual y recepción discursiva. Para ello formulamos un interrogante de tipo práctico: ¿Qué continuidades se puede establecer entre las opciones descartadas durante el proceso de redacción de Iglesia y comunidad nacional y los efectos de reconocimiento producidos en diferentes actores provenientes de redes diversas?

THE BROKERAGE ROLES IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS AND MANIPULATION OF INFORMATION FLOW

by Mustafa Sagsan

Design-led strategies for bushfire preparedness

by Yoko Akama

Co-authored by Yoko Akama, Susan Chaplin, Richard Philips, Keith Toh

Bushfire CRC research team: ‘Effective Communication: Communities and Bushfire’. RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Paper presented at EARTH: FIRE AND RAIN
Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, Brisbane, 16 – 18, April 2012

To date, both government and fire authorities in Victoria have deployed a variety of communication messages on... more To date, both government and fire authorities in Victoria have deployed a variety of communication messages on bushfire awareness. Yet, distributing information to a wide audience is not enough to increase people’s preparedness for bushfire. These forms of communication sustain a transmission process that reinforces the power-dynamics of control, making audiences passive. It perpetuates the disempowerment felt by communities who are not engaged in a dialogic process, further broadening the gap between ‘expert’ fire authorities and ‘non-expert’ community. This paper presents co-design methods that were used to facilitate a dialogic form of communication on bushfire preparedness with community members in the Southern Otways, Victoria. The research engaged a group of 20 residents to facilitate co-creation and communication of local knowledge of the geographical environment through visualisation. These methods show potential of bridging relationships between neighbours and the importance of social interactions that can lead to better fire preparation.

An overview study of Twitter in the UK local government

by Panos Panagiotopoulos

Transforming Government workshop, Brunel University, London May 2012

SAFETY CULTURE AND NETWORKS OF INFLUENCE

by Antonio Barroso

The role of Emotional Stability in Twitter Conversations

by Fabio Celli

Celli, F., Rossi, L. (2012) The role of Emotional Stability in Twitter Conversations. In Proceedings of Workshop on Semantic Analysis in Social Media, in conjunction with EACL 2012, Avignon.

Computationally Efficient Link Prediction in Variety of Social Networks

by Michael Fire

co-authored with Lena Tenenboim, Rami Puzis, Ofrit Lesser, Lior Rokach, Yuval Elovici

Online social networking sites have become increasingly popular over the last few years. As a result, new... more Online social networking sites have become increasingly popular over the last few years. As a result, new interdisciplinary research directions have emerged in which social network analysis methods are applied to networks containing hundreds of millions of users. Unfortunately, links between individuals may be missing either due to an imperfect acquirement processes or because they are not yet reflected in the online network
(i.e., friends in real-world did not form a virtual connection.) The primary bottleneck in link prediction techniques is extracting the structural features required for classifying links. In this paper, we propose a set of simple, easy-to-compute structural features, that can be analyzed to identify missing links. We show that by using simple structural features, a machine learning classifier can successfully identify missing links, even when applied to a hard predicament of classifying links between individuals with at least one common friend. We also present a method for calculating the amount of data needed in order to build more accurate classifiers. The new Friends-measure and Same-community features we developed are shown to be good predictors for missing links. An evaluation experiment was performed on ten large Social Networks datasets: Academia.edu, DBLP, Facebook, Flickr, Flixster, Google+, Gowalla, TheMarker, Twitter, and YouTube. Our methods can provide social network site operators with the capability of helping users to find known, offline contacts and to discover new friends online. They may also be used for exposing hidden links in an online social networks.

The effects of Facebook use on civic participation attitudes and behaviour: A social network study (DPhil research proposal)

by Mark Dix

Unpublished DPhil research proposal

This research proposal suggests a network analysis approach to study the effects of web communication on civic... more This research proposal suggests a network analysis approach to study the effects of web communication on civic participation.

A three-phase mixed methods research design is proposed to examine the effect of supplementary communication via the social networking site Facebook, on the structure (quantity) and content (quality) of social ties within a network of citizens engaged in health and social care policymaking.

Subsequently, it is proposed that the network variables of tie structure and content are tested in an affective capacity against the participatory attitudes and behaviour of networked individuals.

By reframing the study of web use and civic participation under a network theoretical framework, when executed, the proposed study will add to the existing literature in the field through recognition of the mediative capacity of relational ties in the formation of participatory capital.

It is suggested that it is through their effect on relational tie structure and content within citizen participation networks, that social networking sites such as Facebook affect participatory attitudes and behaviour.

To set a critical context for the proposed study, a final qualitative phase of research is suggested to examine the professional power structures impacting upon participatory agency.

Academic Contagion: Social Network Analysis of the evolvement of Social Network Analysis as an Academic Discipline

by Saransh Sharma

The Evolution of the Commuting Network in Germany: Spatial and Connectivity Patterns

by Roberto Patuelli

Co-authored with A. Reggiani, P. Nijkamp and F.-J. Bade, published in the 'Journal of Transport and Land Use', 2010

The analysis of the structure and evolution of (complex) networks has recently received considerable attention.... more The analysis of the structure and evolution of (complex) networks has recently received considerable attention. Although research on networks originated in mathematics studies dating back to the 19th century (or earlier), and developed further in the mid-1900s with contributions to graph theory, there is nowadays growing interest in its application to the social sciences, particularly in regional science and transportation, because of the spatial relevance of networks.
This paper presents a dynamic outlook for the German commuting network from the perspective of the German labour market districts. The focus of this paper is to explore how the German commuting network evolves, from two perspectives: space and connectivity. We consider home-to-work commuters moving between 439 German districts for the years 1995 and 2005. The results of the present analysis allow us to identify, amongst the main German districts, the most ‘open’ and connected ones. These emerging districts can be considered as candidates for a position as ‘hubs’ in the German commuting system, that is, attractors in the spatial economic perspective, as well as interconnectors in a network perspective.

Spatial and Commuting Networks: A Unifying Perspective

by Roberto Patuelli

Co-authored with A. Reggiani, P. Nijkamp and F.-J. Bade, published in A. Reggiani and P. Nijkamp (eds) 'Complexity, Evolution and Learning: In Search of Simplicity', Springer, 2009

An Application of Complex Network Theory to German Commuting Patterns

by Roberto Patuelli

Co-authored with S.P. Gorman, A. Reggiani, P. Nijkamp, R. Kulkarni and F.-J. Bade, published in T. Friesz (ed.), 'Network Science, Nonlinear Science and Infrastructure Systems', Springer, 2007

Simulating the structure and evolution of complex networks is an area that has recently received considerable... more Simulating the structure and evolution of complex networks is an area that has recently received considerable attention. Most of this research has grown out of the physical sciences, but there is growing interest in their application to the social sciences, especially regional science and transportation. This paper presents a network structure simulation experiment utilizing a gravity model to identify interactions embodied in socio-economic processes. In our empirical case, we consider home-to-work commuting patterns among 439 German labour market districts. Specifically, the paper examines first the connectivity distribution of the German commuting network. The paper next develops a spatial interaction model to estimate the structure and flows in the network concerned. The focus of this paper is to examine how well the spatial interaction model replicates the structure of the German commuting network as compared to complex network models. Finally, the structure of the physical German road network is compared to the spatial flows of commuters across it for a tentative supply-demand comparison.

Network Analysis of Commuting Flows: A Comparative Static Approach to German Data

by Roberto Patuelli

Co-authored with A. Reggiani, S.P. Gorman, P. Nijkamp and F.-J. Bade, published in 'Networks and Spatial Economics', 2007. ISI impact factor (2010): 0.940

The analysis of complex networks has recently received considerable attention. The work by Albert and Barabási... more The analysis of complex networks has recently received considerable attention. The work by Albert and Barabási presented a research challenge to network analysis, that is, growth of the network. The present paper offers a network analysis of the spatial commuting network in Germany. First, we study the spatial evolution of the commuting network over time. Secondly, we compare two spatial interaction model (SIM) specifications, in order to replicate the actual network structure. Our findings suggest that the commuting network appeared to become more dense and clustered, while the SIMs seem to require more sophisticated specifications, in order to replicate such a connectivity structure.