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Seeing and Tuning Social Networks

Posted by michael on from the if-a-blog-falls-in-the-forest-does-it-make-a-sound dept.

Lisam writes "Jon Udell, in a fascinating column titled "Seeing and Tuning Social Networks", writes: "New forms of social software are one of the most hopeful green shoots erupting from a still-bleak technology landscape." Software is catching up with what we know about social networks: the greater the reach of your array, the more effective an actor you can be within an organization.In this column, Jon talks with two observers about software that maps social networks and their patterns..."

4 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. He didn't look very hard before calling it new... by tlambert · · Score: 3, Informative

    This whole realm is already at least partially mapped out by a number of researchers. The ones referenced in the article are actually the least impressive of the lot, in my experience.

    My personal pick for most notable researcher in this area is Joshua Epstein. He's with the Sante Fe Institute. The best book of the several he's written is:

    Nonlinear Dynamics, Mathematical Biology
    and Social Science (Santa Fe Institute
    Series, Lecture Notes, Vol 4)
    Joshua M. Epstein
    Perseus Publishing
    ISBN: 0201419882

    It presents a number of mathematical models (games theory), including a variant of a Non-linear Richardson called "GloboCop", which does a fairly good job of modelling "core team" based Open Source software projects (IMO).

    There has actually been a lot of work along these lines; the first I ever heard of it was an article in Analog Magazine's "Science Fact" column, entitled "Toward a Science of Psychohistory".

    -- Terry

  2. Re:He didn't look very hard before calling it new. by mippet · · Score: 2, Informative

    My personal pick for most notable researcher in this area is Joshua Epstein. He's with the Sante Fe Institute.

    He's with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. ...

    --
    MEEP! MEEP!
  3. Social Networks progress in the open source world by Avumede · · Score: 2, Informative

    Social Networks has been pretty slow to come to open source world. One of the few pieces of software I know that uses them is the R project, which now has some social network analysis tools.

    For visualization, though, I'm currently unaware of any open-source tools. Krackplot has a free web interface, and there is a simple Java program that uses spring-based algorithms for node positioning, but I know of nothing open-source that uses Krackplot's simulated annealing algorithm.

    In general, social network analysis can be very useful, but it's results are often subject to misinterpretation. For example, a social isolate in a business might be isolated for a good reason (they are doing research, for example), so you wouldn't want to tell them to integrate themselves more. But in general, it's a great tool to get another look at data you would not normally find out about.

  4. Re:it's been done before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    yes, it has been done since 1934 when the first 'sociogram' was drawn by hand. the field grew in the 60s and 70s when mainframes began to crunch matrices to figure out who was best connected. with a pc you can now do this in your bedroom using data from the web: First Monday for academic readings on this topic see: Connections