Class 17 (English 197 – Fall 2022)

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Class Business

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A look ahead to the end of the course (final project proposal presentation & assignment)

Practicum 7: Social Network Analysis Exercise (Part A)

Student outputs

  • [TBD]

  • XXX

1. Nodes

One of the most potent ideas in the social sciences is the notion that individuals are embedded in thick webs of social relations and interactions. Social network theory provides an answer to a question that has preoccupied social philosophy since the time of Plato, namely, the problem of social order: how autonomous individuals can combine to create enduring, functioning societies. (Borgatti, et al., 892)

A node
A node
Collage of social network analysis graphs

Figure 1 in Stephen P. Borgatti, et al., "Network Analysis in the Social Sciences" (2019)
Figure 1 in Stephen P. Borgatti, et al., “Network Analysis in the Social Sciences” (2019). (See Jacob L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive? A New Approach to the Problem of Human Interrelations (1934), e.g., pp. 78, 89)

Fleuron icon (small)

Agent Based Modeling

  • Cellular Automata
    • Conway’s Game of Life: 1 | 2 | 3 
    • Rules:
      1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies.
      2. Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
      3. Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies.
      4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell.
  • Agent-based modeling tools — e.g., Netlogo
  • Eric Bonabeau, “Agent-Based Modeling: Methods and Techniques for Simulating Human Systems” (2002)

2. Edges

An edge

"A typology of ties studied in social network analysis" (Figure 3 in Stephen P. Borgatti, et al., "Network Analysis in the Social Sciences," 2019)
“A typology of ties studied in social network analysis” (Figure 3 in Stephen P. Borgatti, et al., “Network Analysis in the Social Sciences,” 2019)

Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History, 2010 (cover)

The funniest thing that ever happened in the printing shop of Jacques Vincent, according to a worker who witnessed it, was a riotous massacre of cats….

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Actor-Network Theory

Diagram from Wikipedia article on Media Richness Theory
Diagram from Wikipedia article on “Media Richness Theory”

3. Imagined Networks

Franco Moretti, “Network Theory, Plot Analysis” (2011), Figure 28
Franco Moretti, “Network Theory, Plot Analysis” (2011), Figure 28.

William Shakepeare's social network (from Six Degrees of Francis Bacon)
William Shakepeare’s social network (from Six Degrees of Francis Bacon)

Figure 2. "Narrative structure of Nazi life history" (Peter S. Bearman and Katherine Stovel, “Becoming a Nazi: A Model for Narrative Networks," 2000)
Figure 2. “Narrative structure of Nazi life history” (Peter S. Bearman and Katherine Stovel, “Becoming a Nazi: A Model for Narrative Networks,” 2000)

“Network Graph for the Sphere of Action of Violence, 1921-1922” (Roberto Franzosi, Quantitative Narrative Analysis, figure 4.7)

4. Other Issues?

Comparison of article on using network analysis to study forest fires and software package based on network analysis theory based on analogy with forest fires

Comparison of article on using network analysis to study forest fires and software package based on network analysis theory based on analogy with forest fires (Lucia Russo, et al. “A Complex Network Theory Approach for the Spatial Distribution of Fire Breaks in Heterogeneous Forest Landscapes for the Control of Wildland Fires.” (2016) URL) (Gabor Csardi. “Igraph R Manual Pages,” n. d. URL)

 

Fleuron icon (small)

Vizualization styles of different historical periods preceding the era of social network graphs

Vizualization styles of different historical periods preceding the era of social network graphs.

 

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This is the main course website. There is also a course Canvas site for uploading assignments.
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