Researching Social Media and the Digital Humanities

Analysing human networks:Part 1

Dr. Ali Fisher

SOAS - March 2014

•History, •American Studies, •Public Diplomacy,•Counter terrorism, •Public health

Fields:

The open source JihadIntroduction

• Why do we think networks matter?

• What type of questions might we ask?

• What do we need to be able to analyse them?

(http://bit.ly/1jMb39a)

The open source JihadFinding relational data

• Interviews

•Letters and archives

• WWII SIGINT (e.g. from Bletchley

Park)

• Familial ties in Renaissance Florence

• Eurovision voting

• Transmission of disease

• ENRON email trail

• Online communities

Researching human networks : Getting Started with relational data

• A sends letter to B

• A marries B

• A retweets B

We are looking for:

Two or more connections between three or more points

Note: Does direction matter in your data?

These connections can be any type of relational data:

Create an edge list with the aggregated connections

Researching human networks : Getting Started with relational data

How to work with our data:

NodeXL – just enter data or use data import

Alternatives; • Create CSV file in spreadsheet or notepad

• Import into Gephi using CSV upload in datalab.

• Convert to a Pajek file using TXT2Pajek (http://bit.ly/1dTr7kF)

Layout matters:Hierarchies in human networks:

•These are the same connections in different layouts

Hierarchies are a type of network

Understanding a network:

What makes someone important?

• Betweenness• Closeness• Degree• Eigenvector• Pagerank

Network data:

• Size - (number of nodes & edges)• Does the network comprise a number of distinct communities?• Density, what proportion of potential connections exist?

Some options:

(there are many others…)

Resources:

Remember: Search engines are your friend…

https://github.com/ptwobrussell/Mining-the-Social-Web

Code on Github:

Example: Open source relational data

66 important Jihadist accounts on Twitter

http://bit.ly/14kYuuI http://bit.ly/1cFbjDg

Check out the interactive version:View full size infographic:

http://bit.ly/1a8Og2I

Read the article

Tracking Response

Information sharing network over time

http://bit.ly/GZ43H8

Example: Open source relational data (part 2)

The open source JihadStarting point for digital data:

“the potential in the era of big data

comes not from drowning in a sea

of data but navigating the most

useful ways to derive insight

and develop innovative strategies”.

Volume, speed, credibility –> emergent behaviour

Focus on the signs which are meaningful to the humans you are studying?

The open source JihadNext time:

• Your projects and questions

• Bigger data examples

• Analytics and visuals