A GALLERY OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES

Network Visualization - technical

Network Visualization - technical

While networks are usually concerned with the relations among the same sets of objects, the visualition project tries to extend visualization to relations among nodes of different sets of nodes or a combination of both. The empirical information provided in such cases may not allow to locate all elements in a unique way. The procedures involved allow the researcher to add additional constraints for the fitting procedures, which open the road to varying forms of quasi experimentation.

• The fitting of empirical network information to a priori shapes is a first principle for a powerful visualisation.

• A second principle is to apply gravity to the configurations produced by the fitting algorithm . An illustration of gravity demonstrates the deformation of toy structures over time. An example of applying gravity to a complex dataset and the results are given here.

• Many studies of social networks are interested to describe potential advantages an actors may have in persueing his interests. Such advantages may result from holding specific positions in his environment, the social network. he is embedded in. The visualisation of access to different parts of a network is sometimes a convincing method to illustrate the potential importance of a specific actor. Here we illustrate access of an industrial organization to various parts of a network of state sponsored research laboratories.

• A tool for the evaluation of specific solutions which result from applying gravity, is to identify the domains for different groups of actors.

• Here you can look at an experiment in which we morph the the spatial configuration of a society of hunter and gatheres into social space. Morphing physical space with social ties is an attempt to visualize and understand the social institution of hxaro.

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