Extracting Meaning From the Structure of Networks

Roland Piquepaille writes "Networks are used to represent the structure of complex systems, including the Internet or social networks, but often these descriptions are biased or incomplete. Now, researchers at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) have shown that it's possible to extract automatically the hierarchical structure of networks. The researchers say their results 'suggest that hierarchy is a central organizing principle of complex networks, capable of offering insight into many network phenomena.' They also think that their algorithms can be applied to almost every kind of networks, from biochemical networks (protein interaction networks, metabolic networks or genetic regulatory networks) to communities in social networks. But read more for additional references and some pictures about hierarchical networks and their applications."

Comments

Re:Can we get a Roland filter?

[mrbluze]

You know, like we used to have [a filter] for Jon Katz? So we don't have to even see anything he submits, since it's mostly old news or just recycled from a more credible source?

I was about to take offence at that statement, but then I realized I'm not Roland Pipe.. pip.. something.

But I had to laugh at the title. The meaning of the structure of networks is a stupid idea. The purpose maybe, the philosophy behind the structure maybe. But the meaning of? Go ask a Dadaist.