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New Social-Network Mapping Tools Compared

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the useful-in-high-school-sex-ed-class dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "There are many new visualization tools around us which try to map our social networks. In this column, I examined Inflow, a datamining tool digging through your email repository to discover and find trends to know more about your networks. Here is a quote: "Assuming you have a significant amount of e-mail traffic, the software will create a remarkably sophisticated assessment of your various social groups, showing you not only their relative size but also the interactions between different groups." I also peeked at TouchGraph GoogleBrowser, which uses Amazon or Google Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to visually describe how books and Web sites connect with one another. Finally, I took a look at a brand new way of visualizing Google search results, from anacubis. If you know about other similar new tools, please tell me and I'll gather your comments in a future story."

7 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Interestingly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Due to the high number of links to such sites within, Slashdot is incredibly close to sites such as goatse.cx and tubgirl.

  2. Spammers? by eric434 · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, so if I run that on my email inbox, I guess it'll tell me I have some long-running business relationships with penis enlargement companies, herbal viagra distributors, and various shady people in Nigeria...

    --
    This .sig temporary until a better .sig can be constructed.
  3. The most important questions... by Whatsthiswhatsthis · · Score: 4, Funny

    But here are the two most important questions:

    1) How will this prevent spam?

    and

    2) How will it stop terrorism?

    As soon as it stops spam and terrorism, I'm ready to invest.

    1. Re:The most important questions... by Whatsthiswhatsthis · · Score: 5, Funny

      I rest my case:

      "Intelligence analysts once assumed that terrorists organize in isolated cells. But social-network maps revealed that the 9/11 hijackers' cells morphed into a hub-and-spoke pattern with an obvious leader: Mohammed Atta. The active structure resembled that of an IBM project team." from discover.com

      This raises a serious question: What is this "IBM" and what kind of "project" are they planning?

    2. Re:The most important questions... by limekiller4 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Whatsthiswhatsthis writes:
      "As soon as it stops spam and terrorism, I'm ready to invest."

      I'm not buying it until it supports the Ogg format.

      --
      My .02,
      Limekiller
  4. Social Mapping for Geeks by wackybrit · · Score: 5, Funny

    New Social-Network Mapping Tools Compared

    Oh, come on. This is Slashdot!

    Some great technology and concepts exist within social-network mapping tools, but really it's totally useless to us geeks. Our social maps are built up like this:

    Computer <--(attachment)--> Geek

    Some of the slightly more warped geeks here have it like this:

    Wife <--(guardian/moderator)--> Computer
    |
    | (controlled via sex)
    |
    V
    Chump (a.k.a. geek)

    --
    mogorific carpentry experiments
  5. Re:Dr. Dobbs article about this by doormat · · Score: 4, Funny
    You sure? All I remember from those amazon.com "like this-like that" feature was


    People who buy this item also buy...
    • Clean Underwear
    • ...

    Really? I buy clean undewear??? And I always thought it was weird until I heard about this...
    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.