Social Network Visualization 101

Contact InformationRafia Mirza | Digital Humanities Librarian@LibrarianRafia | rafia@uta.edu

Peace Ossom Williamson | Director for Research Data Services@123POW | peace@uta.edu

How to viz

1. Determine what to say 2. Find/collect the data you need 3. Wrangle!4. Clean!

(Repeat 3 & 4 many more times)5. Come to a final product/conclusion

What is Data Viz?

Data Visualization

The graphical display of abstract information for two purposes:• sense-making • communication

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/data-visualization-for-human-perception

Others52%

Heather 1%Lydia 6%

Peace13%

Kaeli 28%

Answering Nursing QuestionsMost nursing questions are not reaching the

nursing team, as we are answering fewer than 50% recorded.

12 am

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 pm

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 pm

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Hourly Question Frequency

Chat Questions Total Questions

Data Visualization

The graphical display of abstract information for two purposes:• sense-making • communication

In-Person

Ask a Librarian

Blank

Phone

Appointment

Drop-In

Email

Chat

0 100 200 300 400 500

5

11

36

58

61

102

202

409

How Nursing Questions are ReceivedChat is the primary method, followed by emails. To-

gether, they make up 70% of incoming nursing questions.

Number of questions per semester

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/data-visualization-for-human-perception

Data Visualization

The graphical display of abstract information for two purposes:• sense-making • communication

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/data-visualization-for-human-perception

Potential Actions:

• Put nursing librarians on chat• Inform staff on chat how to answer

common questions• Make contact methods clear to nursing

students• Be available during hours questions are

most often asked

What is Network Viz?

Network Visualization

http://www.markowetzlab.org/pics/dyNet_fig2.jpg

Data visualization involving the visual display of networks via nodes and edges. node

edge

Network Visualization

http://www.markowetzlab.org/pics/dyNet_fig2.jpg

Specifying relationships through nodes and edges.

node

edge

http://www.pfeffer.at/data/visposter/

Types of Network Visualizations• Bibliographic networks (co-

authoring, citation network)• Social networks• Biological networks• Political relationships• Sports (passing, setting up plays)• Power distributions

What is SNA? How does it relate to the discipline of History?

http://www.themacroscope.org/?page_id=308

Social network analysis (SNA)

• “Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of network and graph theories. It characterizes networked structures in terms of nodes (individual actors, people, or things within the network) and the ties, edges, or links (relationships or interactions) that connect them.”• via Wikipedia

• History of Network Analysis (link to ppt)

Social network analysis in History• Networks in Historical Research• “The use of formal network methods for historical research is much more

recent, with only a few exceptions dating back beyond thirty years.”

• Historical Network Research: Network analysis in the historical disciplines• “Among historians, the term network has been used in a metaphorical sense

alone for a long time. It was only recently that this has changed.”

Social network analysis in History• Visualizing Historical Networks Website

• “Kindred Britain is a network of nearly 30,000 individuals — many of them iconic figures in British culture — connected through family relationships of blood, marriage, or affiliation. It is a vision of the nation’s history as a giant family affair.”

International Review of Social History

What types of networks are there?

Types of NetworksExamples

• Undirected• Directed• Weighted

Types of NetworksExamples

• Undirected• Directed• Weighted

Types of NetworksExamples

• Undirected• Directed• Weighted

Types of Networks

How do you structure your data to do network viz?

Setting Up the FileNode 1 Node 2

Peace Rafia

Peace David

Rafia Peace

Peace

Rafia David

Setting Up the FileSource Destination Weight

B A 1

B E 1

C A 1

C E 1

C D 1

A

B C D

E

Setting Up the FileA B C D E

A 0 0 0 0 0

B 1 0 0 0 1

C 1 0 0 1 1

D 0 0 0 0 0

E 0 0 0 0 0

A

B C D

E

Setting Up the FileSource Destinations

B A E

C A D E

A

B C D

E

Setting Up the FileNodeID Attr1 Attr2

A yellow 1

B green 3

C orange 5

D yellow 3

E blue 1

A

B C D

E

AttractivenessEnsure the following:• Related nodes are close• Groups of related nodes are

clustered together• Sufficient empty space between

nodes, minimal overlapping

http://www.markowetzlab.org/pics/dyNet_fig2.jpg

Attractiveness

Measures of centrality•Degree•Betweeness•Closeness•Eigenvector

Features

2012

Star Wars social networks: The Force Awakens

Evelina Gabasova

Quality function to be minimized:

•xi – location of node i•aij – weight of edge between notes i and j•α and β – attraction and repulsion parameters

Statistics

β = -7 β = -6 β = -5 β = -4 β = -3

Attraction = 2Repulsion = -1

Attraction = 2Repulsion = 0

Attraction = 2Repulsion = 1

 A Co-Citation Network for Philosophy

Kieran Healy

ApplicationsFun

• Truthy & Hoaxy• Moviegalaxies• LinkedIn InMaps Socilab

ApplicationsCreating

• Gephi• Cytoscape• NodeXL• Sci2• igraph

FILE TYPE Edge List/ Matrix

XML Edge Weight

Attributes Viz Attributes

Hierarchal Graphs

CSV

DL Ucinet

DOT Graphviz

GDF

GEXF

GML

GraphML

NET Pajek

Gephi: The Open Graph Viz Platform

Gephi is the leading visualization and exploration software for all kinds of graphs and networks. Gephi is open-source and free.

Introduction to Network Analysis

Thomas Padilla & Brandon Locke

Examples• Sample data sets• snap.stanford.edu/data• www-personal.umich.edu/~

mejn/netdata• wiki.gephi.org/index.php

/datasets

Visual complexity

Questions?