Software for Social Networking Diagrams?

jonerik writes "A friend of mine who is attempting to create three-dimensional computer models of social networks is looking for software that can do the job; in her words, 'the computer version of a tinker toy set.' She'd prefer software for the Mac, however she has access to PCs so MS-based software would be okay, too. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?" Think about molecular modelling, where each "atom" is either an agency or an individual and the "bond" is the connection between the two.

"More specifically, here's what she'd like it to be:

• easy to learn for someone without graphics background- 'I can NOT make a career out of learning it.'
• something like a molecular model of social networks where each node represents an agency and can have many different types of connections. It should at least be able to handle something on the order of 250 interconnected nodes.
• able to edit the model on the fly - adding information as I learn about connections.
• able to rotate the model, enlarge sections to view detail, and maybe somehow attach descriptions to the nodes and connections (so one can identify a connection with a particular agency role or individual)."

Comments

Links

[Anonymous Coward]

Node Graphs? The answer is Graphviz. It is not oriented to 3D but handles the difficult layout problem well. Definitions are in a simple text format that I've found I can easily create from many datasets.

You mentioned molecular figures, so I assume you already looked at software for creating molecular stick figures. Not much, is there?

Gnuplot has amazing capabilities. It's not oriented to 3D realtime animation, but you can get 3D plots...and make animated PNGs to rotate around a plot. Ignore the function abilities, look at the point and line plotting.

Did you do a search for scientific visualization? If you had, one of the things you'd have found is Geomview from the U of MN Geometry Center. Don't know how easy you'd consider it.

Maybe Intermapper

[Evro]

I'm not totally clear on what she wants here, but check out Intermapper. It's sort of cool even if it's not what you're looking for.

Think RDF

[Bazzargh]

RDF - the XML format for metadata - essentially describes relationships between resources and is a superset of the problem area you describe. I had a cursory look to see if people had taken the obvious step of using diagram tools to edit rdf and yes they have:

Using DIA and GraMToR and GraphViz and IsaViz and lots lots more

You might also be interested in They Rule which draws some interesting social networks!

While this is all standard 2d editing (I think the 3d editing thing is nonsense btw, unless you actually have a 3d coordinate system then you are actually describing a 2d network diagram) there are other visualisation options which may be interesting. Mindmapping tools allow you to navigate the network of concepts may be interesting as are star trees. Both provide a focussed view on a small part of a much larger network with some context information to help you choose how to navigate. They are more useful for display than authoring.

Hope something in here is useful

-Baz

network mapping software

[orgnet]

3D molecules? Try Mage: http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/

Warning: these 3D diagrams lose their appeal when the network > 40 nodes. 2D still works the best for large networks.

A few real network maps...

• 9-11 Hijackers & associates [63 nodes]: http://www.orgnet.com/hijackers.html
• Internet industry partnerships [222 nodes]: http://www.orgnet.com/netindustry.html
• Interactive Java applet of Internet industry partnerships [try right-click options]: http://www.orgnet.com/inetindustry.html
• Advice network in I/T department[64 nodes]: http://www.orgnet.com/experts.html

And finally, a brief intro to Social Network Analysis: http://www.orgnet.com/sna.html

Enjoy!

Visualizing Social Networks

[nobodaddy]

Visualizing Social Networks
http://zeeb.library.cmu.edu:7850/JoSS/ar ticle.html

State of the Art of Computing in Social Science
http://www.cni.org/Hforums/gils/1999/0018 .html

Social Networks @ arizona.edu
http://w3fp.arizona.edu/soc/areaDetai ls.asp?tblTex t_category=networks

A Guide for the Visually Perplexed: Visually Representing Social Networks
http://www.stanford.edu/group/esrg/silic onvalley/d ocuments/networkmemo.doc

go wild.