| Interests, not demographics
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Science Roundup summarizes an article in Science:
Social networks are dynamic processes that evolve over time depending on the shared characteristics, activities, and affiliations of their members. In a Report in the 6 Jan 2006 Science Kossinets and Watts offered an empirical analysis of social network evolution in a large university community. Over the course of one academic year, the team compiled a registry of e-mail interactions between more than 43,000 students, faculty, and staff. In combination with encrypted information about personal attributes, as well as lists of classes taught and attended, the team assembled a quantitative picture of how the strength of personal interactions depends on similarities between the individuals and how the interactions change with time. The results show that at least in this particular environment, people were more likely to form ties with others when they had a shared "focus" such as a class that brought them together or a mutual acquaintance, but were less likely to interact solely on the basis of shared characteristics such as age or gender. Comparative studies of corporate or military networks could shed light on which features of network evolution are generic and which are specific to a given cultural, organizational, or institutional context. [Emphasis added]
(Science Mag only posts the abstract of the article for free.) (Thanks to Andrew Weinberger for the link.) [Tags: email social networks demographics]
Posted
by D. Weinberger at February 1, 2006 10:37 AM
Comments
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/311/5757/98 points to something about coral reefs.
Posted by: Stowe Boyd | February 2, 2006 05:29 PM
Thanks, Stowe. I've fixed the link.
Posted by: David Weinberger![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 2, 2006 05:40 PM
Comments weren't working this afternoon, so I spent another ten minutes and wrote a post.
Posted by: Phil | February 2, 2006 06:33 PM
I tried to post the following yesterday, but couldn't...
But, then I went over and read Phil's post. So, I'll add another two cents worth...What reason (other than the assumption that the Internet is a root metaphor for the world) is there to believe that social networks "evolve" in any way that is independent of institutional, cultural, and group forces? To me, this is just another version of the Autonomous Technology thesis...Are these other social science concepts nothing more than their representations as social networks? SNA, in my opinion, is a useful tool for analyzing social dynamics, but to say it evolves is like saying a correlation coefficient evolves as you measure different relationships...neither one "evolves"...their representations of what they are used to analyze just change, IMHO...
Posted by: Larry Irons | February 3, 2006 10:47 AM
Very well organized site. I particularly liked the resources section.
Will use it to plan my next trip to NWT. See you soon.
Posted by: pharmacy | February 15, 2006 04:46 AM