Social Networks (History)

Fuzzy Set Theory (or Fuzzy Logic) to Represent the Messy Data of Complex Human (and other) Systems

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

Co-authored with Emery A. Coppola, Jr.

Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation... more Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation presents a dilemma to those who use computational technologies, which demand a high level of precision to organize, analyze, and visualize information: the more complex the system is, the greater the imprecision of the available data. Historians and geographers often feel that their imprecise, ambiguous, contradictory, messy, largely qualitative information does not “fit” well in the available software categories, and they have trouble discussing the results produced when they work within computational environments because category assignment seems so arbitrary. This dilemma appears dramatically with the use of Geographically-Integrated History (GIH) as a research strategy. In this paper, we introduce fuzzy set theory (or fuzzy logic) as a proven solution for dealing with imprecision in complex systems.

Karlshamn-Wislanda Jernväg: maktelit och nätverk i Karlshamns stad vid banans tillblivelse 1855-1874 (Swe)

by Ingemar Gunnarsson

Abstract in English.

The aim of this essay was to describe the power elite of the Swedish town Karlshamn, and its influences on the local... more The aim of this essay was to describe the power elite of the Swedish town Karlshamn, and its influences on the local political process before the realization of the narrow-gauge railway
Karlshamn-Wislanda-Jernväg. During the mid 19th century, a revolutionary period began in the Swedish pre-industrial epoch. The political and institutional regulatory frameworks were
disassembled and restructured, away from protectionism and centrally controlled administration, for the benefit of free trade, local self-government and liberalism. The changes were carried through during times marked by a drastic increasing native population and upcoming demands for adjustments to meet the growth of the industrial-, trade- and labour markets. An essential industrial development factor was the building of the national railway network, which started after some important decisions in the Swedish Riksdag during the 1850´s. In close connection with governmental initiatives to build national trunk lines, processes on the local political arenas were initiated to rapidly obtain connections to these planned main lines.

Focus in this study was put on the town Karlshamn 1855-1874 and the main document sources that were examined consisted of protocols and petitions from errands on the local political arenas, f.e. the town council. The material was methodically revised by means of a network- and field analysis. Through this analytical method it was possible to confirm the power elite actors, their potential networks and reproduced groups. The results point to the importance of the formal networks an their contributions to the accumulation of social capital. Above all, this was significant for the most important individuals in the process, the local wholesale dealers Edvard Ferdinand Meyer and Carl Gustaf Berg.

The process also resulted in a reproduction of local political power, and the dominance on the political field was continued. All through the twenty-year lasting process, the railway issue became a possibility for the local elite, with representatives from the trading companies, to mobilize the political decisions in the direction of continuous economic development, and enlargement of the town´s commercial area. In the town of Karlshamn, with a stagnating economy, the new infrastructure, beside the connection to the main national lines, constituted a lifeline towards continuous financial expansion and competitiveness.

Karlshamn-Wislanda Jernväg: intentioner hos lokala aktörer i Allbo härad vid banans tillblivelse (Swe)

by Ingemar Gunnarsson

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att analysera en lokal järnvägs, K.W.J.s, framväxt ur ett aktörsperspektiv.... more Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att analysera en lokal järnvägs, K.W.J.s, framväxt ur ett aktörsperspektiv. Utgångspunkten har varit de i tidigare historiker och essäer omtalade lokala aktörerna och deras roll vid K.W.J.s etablering i Allbo härad. Den tidigare framställda och spridda berättelsen om hur järnvägen mellan Blekingekusten och Värend
tillkom har jämförts mot tillgängliga primärkällor.

Syftet har också varit ett försök till komplettering och belysning av den tidigare framställda bilden. Fokus har varit på identifiering av intentioner bakom de enskilda personernas engagemang i järnvägen, där även nya tidigare okända aktörer har tillförts.
Studien har även identifierat nätverk, förtätningar av aktörer, och nya beslutsarenor som bidragit till kommunikation mellan olika intressenter i järnvägbyggandet i Allbo. Aktörerna har studerats utifrån det strukturmönster som växte fram under en tumultartad
samhällspolitisk tidsperiod i Sverige. Aktörernas möjligheter att agera i nätverken och utnyttja befintliga och nya strukturer har undersökts. Järnvägsutvecklingen i Allbo under 1860-70-
talen har teoretiskt härletts till det nationella projekt som inleddes under första hälften av 1800-talet.

Studien har slutligen bidragit till en dekonstruktion och rekonstruktion av den tidigare framställda berättelsen om K.W.J.s framväxt. Erik Danielsson som hittills framställts som
den rådige ingriparen blir i uppsatsen till ombud för en inofficiell krets av aktörer som finansierar ett alternativt sträckningsförslag i Allbo.

Understanding the impact of nonlinear dynamics on the processes of human systems

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

Submitted: 20 September 2010
Published: January 2011
This paper was written as a response to the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “SBE 2020: Future Research in the Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences” program. All of the abstracts and most of the papers, including this one, are available for download. There is also a full explanation of the program and the way that the SBE Directorate hopes to shape future research in these fields.
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_2020/index.cfm

The global economic collapse of the fall of 2008 underlined in a powerful way the degree to which nonlinear dynamics... more The global economic collapse of the fall of 2008 underlined in a powerful way the degree to which nonlinear dynamics influence processes in human systems. As a way of understanding these influences, this paper proposes Geographically-Integrated History (GIH) as an interdisciplinary research strategy. GIH asserts that (1) the understanding of historical processes requires an integration of the natural, social, and cultural environments on the basis of place, space, and time and (2) accomplishing this integration poses a challenge that can be met with modern computational tools, especially dynamic forms of geographic information systems and social network analysis, and visualization techniques. The paper explains how GIH demands the integration of a broad range of disciplinary approaches and provides opportunities for generating truly new, transformative scientific ideas.

Abstract, NSF-funded: Understanding social networks within complex, nonlinear systems: geographically-integrated history and dynamics GIS [acronym: SOCNET]

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

Co-authored with May Yuan, University of Oklahoma

Networks of Power in Anglo-Norman England

by Stephanie Christelow

by Stephanie Mooers (Christelow), published in Medieval Prosopography, vol. 7 no. 2 (Autumn, 1986), 25-54.

Social Partnerships: Practices, Paradoxes and Prospects of Local Learning Networks

by Terri Seddon