dg.o2005 Tutorial:
Application of Social Network Analysis
in Digital Government Research
Presenters:
David Lazer, Ines Mergel
Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University
Noshir Contractor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tutorial home page
Scheduled: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, May 15 | REGISTER NOW
Description:
Social network analysis is a developing paradigm in academia, business and also in
private lives. It spins across all kinds of academic disciplines, such as sociology,
anthropology, psychology, organization studies or political sciences. It helps to map and
measure of relationships and communication or resource flows between people, groups,
organizations, computers or other entities. The nodes in the network are the people and
groups while the links show relationships or flows between the nodes. Social networks
are formed of social relations that consist of nodes (represented by actors, players, agents,
vertices or points) and are connected by lines (ties, links or edges). The nodes can either
consists of individuals or collectivities, such as organizations, political units (cities,
nations, or societies). Social network analysis provides both concepts and theories, but
also statistical tools to visualize and analyze the observed relationships.
Goal:
The target audience of the tutorial "Application of Social Network Analysis in Digital
Government Research" is any researcher interested in the theory and analysis of
relationships between computer networks, organizational and institutional actors. This
tutorial is intended to give an overview of the existing theories, a brief introduction into
the analysis of network data using a common tool called UCInet and into different
visualization methods. Moreover, specific applications for digital government researchers
are presented. A Q&A session will end the tutorial, in which researchers can address their
specific research needs.
We will use existing, well-known and often reanalyzed data to show the relevance of
social network analysis in different fields of application. In addition, we will use our own
data from different studies in the area of Digital Government to show the relevance of the
method and enhance the understanding of social network analysis.
After this tutorial, attendees will be able to analyze their own data using social network
analysis techniques. The lecturers will submit a list of introductory readings and Internet
resources on Social Network Theory and Analysis.
Outline:
Brief bios:
David Lazer is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University and teaches classes on Social Network Analysis. David
is the Associate Director and Co-Principal Investigator of the National Center for Digital
Government, a NSF funded research center. He runs the Cambridge Colloquium on
Social Networks and Complexity (see http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/complexity).
For more information about David see: http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/David_Lazer
Contact:
David Lazer
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 JF Kennedy Street, T371
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-496 0102
Email: david_lazer@harvard.edu
Ines Mergel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Center for Digital Government that
is located at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She has recently
finished her dissertation with the title: "The influence of multiplex network ties on the
diffusion of eLearning techniques "A social network analysis". She holds a PhD from
the University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management, in Switzerland. In her research she
focuses on the social network relationships in the diffusion of innovative technologies
from a Social Sciences perspective.
Ines will be responsible for the second part of the tutorial and will give an introduction on
Social Network Analysis techniques and different kinds of visualization techniques.
For more information, resume, and a list of publications see:
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/digitalcenter/people/mergel_bio.htm
Contact:
Ines Mergel
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 JF Kennedy Street, T371
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-496 611
Email: ines_mergel@harvard.edu
Noshir Contractor (www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/nosh) is a professor of speech
communication and Director of the Science of Networks in Communities
(SONIC) Group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research
program, funded continuously for the past decade by NSF, is
investigating factors that lead to formation, maintenance, and
dissolution of dynamically linked knowledge networks in 21st century
organizational forms. His book titled "Theories of Communication
Networks" (co-authored with Professor Peter Monge and published by
Oxford University Press) received the 2003 Book of the Year award from
the Organizational Communication Division of the National
Communication Association.
Contact :
Noshir Contractor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
244 Lincoln Hall
702 S. Wright Street
Urbana IL 61801
217-333-7780
nosh@uiuc.edu