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An Introduction to the Social Side of Social Network Analysis Barry An Introduction to the Social Side of Social Network Analysis Barry Wellman Director, NetLab Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1 [email protected] www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman NetLab Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Possible C.S. Fallacies Only online counts Groupware NE Networkware HCI: Only two-person interactions matter Can build small world systems All ties are the same; all relationships are the same Social network software support social networks Size matters – Linked In No need to analyze networks 3 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman In a Sentence ––– “To Discover How A, Who is in Touch with B and C, Is Affected by the Relation Between B & C” John Barnes (anthropologist) “The Sociology is Hard. The Computer Science is Easy.” Bill Buxton (UofT, PARC, MSR) 4 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman What is a Social Network? Social structure as the patterned organization of network members & their relationships Old Def: When a computer network connects people or organizations, it is a social network Now ported over to more ambiguous cases: web networks; citation networks, etc. 5 Three Ways to Look at Reality Categories All Possess One or More Properties as an Aggregate of Individuals Examples: Men, Developed Countries Groups (Almost) All Densely-Knit Within Tight Boundary Thought of as a Solidary Unit (Really a Special Network) Family, Workgroup, Community Networks Set of Connected Units: People, Organizations, Networks Can Belong to Multiple Networks Examples: Friendship, Organizational, Inter-Organizational, World-System, Internet Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Nodes, Relationships & Ties Nodes: A Unit That Possibly is Connected Individuals, Households, Workgroups,Organizations, States Relationships (A Specific Type of Connection) A “Role Relationship” Gives Emotional Support To Links Web Page To Attacks Ties (Contain One or More Relationships) Friendship (with possibly many relationships) Affiliations (Person – Organization) Works for IBM; ACM Member; Football Team One-Mode, Two-Mode Networks 7 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman A Network is More Than The Sum of Its Ties A Network Consists of One or More Nodes Could be Persons, Organizations, Groups, Nations, Web Connected by One or More Ties Could be One or More Relationships That Form Distinct, Analyzable Patterns Can Study Patterns of Relationships OR Ties Emergent Properties 8 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Short History UofT/ICS: Prof. Bott 1920s J.L. Moreno – Sociometry 1930s Anthropology, Post WWII 1950s Detribalization, Migration, Cold War Qualitative Analysis – Africa, UK (Eliz Bott) Survey Research - New Community Forms 1960s Small Groups Analysis (Centrality, Transitivity) 1960s Role Analysis / Block Modeling 1970s Interlocking Corporate Ties – 1970s Social Movements - Why Riot? 1970s Collaborative Networks / Citation Analysis 1980s Online Networks 2000s Web Networks 2000s Social Software 2000s 9 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Short History of INSNA International Network for Social Network Analysis Informal conferences in mid-late 1970s Toronto (1978); Hawaii Formalized as Sunbelt 1981 – annual Normal Rotation: SE US, US West, Europe Vancouver (May 06); Greece (May 07); SE US (Feb 08) Always Informal, But Serious Work Grown from 175 to 800 Members 1500 on Listserv (Not Limited to Members) Website: www.insna.org; also ucinet.org 10 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Journals Connections , 1977 Informal Journal: “Useful” articles, news, gossip, grants, abstracts, book summaries Social Networks , 1978? Formal Journal: Refereed articles, book essays Journal of Social Structure , 2000? Online, Lots of visuals Articles Appear Occasionally when their time has come 11 10 Minute Overview –––Key Books Elizabeth Bott, Family & Social Network, 1957 J. Clyde Mitchell, Networks, Norms & Institutions, 1973 Mark Granovetter, Getting a Job, 1974 Holland & Leinhardt, Perspectives on Social Network Research, 1979 S. D. Berkowitz, An Introduction to Structural Analysis, 1982 Knoke & Kuklinski, Network Analysis, 1983, Sage, low-cost Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons, 1984 Wellman & Berkowitz, eds., Social Structures , 1988 David Knoke, Political Networks, 1990 John Scott, Social Network Analysis, 1991 Ron Burt, Structural Holes, 1992 Manuel Castells, The Rise of Network Society, 2 nd ed. 2000 Barry Wellman, Networks in the Global Village, 1999 Wasserman & Faust, Social Network Analysis, 1992 Nan Lin, Social Capital (monograph & reader), 2001 Barry Wellman, Caroline Haythornthwaite, The Internet in Everyday Life, 2002 Duncan Watts, Six Degrees, 2003 Wooter de Nouy, AndreJ Mrvar & Vladimir BatagelJ, Pajek Patrick Doriean, Vladimir BatagelJ, Anuška FerligoJ. Generalized Blockmodeling 10 Minute Overview –––Software 1) UCINet – Whole Network Analysis 1) Lin Freeman, Steve Borgatti, Martin Everett 2) Pajek – Whole and Ego-centered Network Analysis 3) MultiNet – Whole Network Analysis 1) + Nodal Characteristics. Bill Richards 4) P*Star – Dyadic Analysis – Stan Wasserman 5) R, GUESS , etc. 6) Ego-Centered Network Analysis 1) SPSS/SAS – See Wellman, et al. “How To…” papers 10 Minute Overview –––Data Basis Small Group “““Sociometry“SociometrySociometry””””1930s > (Moreno, Bonacich, Cook) Finding People Who Enjoy Working Together Evolved into Exchange Theory, Small Group Studies Ethnographic Studies, 1950s > (Mitchell, Barnes) Does Modernization > Disconnection? Survey Research: Personal Networks, 1970s > Community, Support & Social Capital, “Guanxi” Mathematics & Simulation, 1970s > (Freeman, White) Formalist / Methods & Substantive Analysis Survey & Archival Research, Whole Nets, 1970s > Organizational, Inter-Organizational, Inter-National Analyses Political Structures, 1970s > (Tilly, WallersteinWallerstein)))) Social Movements, Mobilization (anti Alienation) World Systems (asymmetric structure > Globalization) Computer Networks as Social Networks, late 1990s > (Sack) Automated Data Collection Web Networks > Bernardo Huberman , Duncan Watts Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Social Software Social Software Friendster, Orkut, Visible Path, Wallop, MySpace Managing Your Network Managing Your Organization’s Network -- IKNOW Interlinking Networks Rarely Have Network Analytic Tools 15 The Multiple Ways of Network Analysis Method – The Most Visible Manifestation Misleading to Confuse Appearance with Reality Data Gathering Data Base -- Friendster, etc. Theory – Pattern Matters Substance Community, Organizational, Inter-Organizational, Terrorist, World System An AddAdd----On:On: Add a Few Network Measures to a Study Integrated Approach A Way of Looking at the World: Theory, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Substantive Analysis Links to Structural Analyses in Other Disciplines Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman General Principles The world is composed of networks - not densely-knit, tightly-bounded groups Structured social relationships are a more powerful source of social explanation than personal attributes Norms emerge from location in structured systems of social relationships Social structures affect the operation of dyadic relationships Networks provide flexible means of social organization and of thinking about social organization Networks have emergent properties of structure and composition Networks are a maJor source of social capital mobilizable in themselves and from their contents Networks are self-shaping and reflexive Networks scale up to networks of networks 17 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Working Assumptions Ties are asymmetrically reciprocal, differing in content & intensity Ties link network members indirectly and directly. Hence, ties must be defined within the context of network structures The structuring of ties creates nonrandom networks. Hence, clusters, boundaries, cross-linkages Cross-linkages connect clusters as well as individuals Super-connectors account for many short-cuts Asymmetric ties & complex networks differentially distribute scarce resources 18 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman The Social Network Approach Moving from a hierarchical society bound up in groups to a network – and network ing – society Multiple communities / work networks Multiplicity of specialized relations Management by networks More alienation, more maneuverability Loosely-coupled organizations / societies Less centralized The networked society 19 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Changing Connectivity: Groups to Networks Densely Knit > Sparsely-Knit Impermeable (Bounded) > Permeable Broadly-Based Solidarity > Specialized Multiple Foci 20 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Ways of Looking at Networks Whole Networks & Personal Networks Focus on the System or on the Set of Individuals Not Necessarily People: Web Nodes, Organizations Graphs & Matrices We dream in graphs We analyze in matrices Dualities of Persons and Groups (2-mode) 21 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Duality of Persons & Groups People Link Groups Groups Link People An Interpersonal Net is an Interorganizational Net Ronald Breiger 1973 22 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman The Dualities of Persons and Groups -- Graphs 23 Barry Wellman www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Dualities of Persons and Groups -- Matrices 24 Barry Wellman
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