The easiest and cheapest way to map a social network
Webster, Andrew
Hello All,
I’m not much of a tools guy. The VN methodology drew me in and won me over, but the tools that support it aren’t friendly enough for a software ignoramus like me.
That said, I’m looking for a tool befitting of someone in my position. My objective is to create a social map to show connectivity amongst conference delegates before and after the conference, and eventually the dynamics of the connectivity a year or so down the road. I hope to measure whether or not people are making connections that we assume they are making, and if those connections endure.
Are there any examples of similar experiments out there?
I’ve downloaded a few mapping tools like NetMiner3, but can make no sense of the application in reasonable time. Are there open-source options out there that speak my language and are somewhat intuitive?
Any advice appreciated.
Thank you,
Andrew
Andrew Webster
Meeting Design Manager
Kingbridge: Conference Centre &
Institute
Phone: 905-833-6534
Fax: 905-833-0762
Now blogging at www.togetherworking.blogspot.com
Kingbridge Conference Centre: Professional business conferencing services: For Packages, please call Sales at (905) 833-6512. Kingbridge Institute: Explore the Kingbridge Approach to great meetings: Contact a Meeting Designer (905) 833-6523.
Randa...@cancer.org
Andrew I would have to ask the question about data collection before recommending a tool. If you are looking for a visualization too for data you already have UCI net is not overly complex to use, and Valdis Krebs has a tool that is even easier.
Getting the data that delineates what a valid connection is, to me, is more work than actually creating the visualization.
Randal Moss
American Cancer Society
Futuring and Innovation Center
404-329-7573 Skype: Randalcmoss
http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/
| "Webster, Andrew"
<Andrew....@kingbridgecentre.com>
Sent by: Value-N...@googlegroups.com 07/31/2008 12:03 PM
|
|
Webster, Andrew
Hi Randal,
Fair enough. Here are some very simple questions to get some very simple responses:
- I knew this person already
- I met them at this conference
- I didn’t meet them in person at the meeting, but would like to
Delegates at a small conference were asked to assign a 1, 2, or 3 to every participant on the list. I would like to ask in a few months for every delegate to assign a 1, 2, or 3 to every name on the participant list, where 1, 2, and 3 are something like:
- I have not interacted with this person since the conference
- I have interacted with this person since the conference
- I have worked with this person on a project initiated since the conference
Are these reasonable questions? At this point, the intent is just to gauge whether or not we are forming meaningful connections, as is our intent.
I am downloading Ucinet as we speak. Thanks for the suggestion.
Regards,
Andrew
Now blogging at www.togetherworking.blogspot.com
<br
Victoria Axelrod
There are several but look Open Beacon used at Last Hope Conference
and sociopatterns.org
provides attendee meta-data, has a video with active display visualizing the connections in real time. These badges operate on RFID, a technology for better or worse which is being designed into all US passports.
nTag, spin off from MIT was the first one I was aware of
Regards,
Victoria
Victoria G. Axelrod
Principal
Axelrod Becker Consulting
212-369-2885
www.axelrodbecker.com
Blog: 21st Century Organization http://c21org.typepad.com
Don Steiny
The program Pajek is free. It is easy to use if you know how. It
exports the maps in SGV or EPS so they can be changed in Illustrator.
There ia s free program excel2pajek that turns excel spreadsheets into
pajek .net files. Networks are inherently complex and that's the way it
is so it might take a few hours to figure out how to do it. The hard
part is that Pajek does many things that only people that were serious
about networks would care about, and most people are happy to draw some
pictures.
-Don
> Hello Andrew,
>
> There are several but look Open Beacon <http://www.openbeacon.org/> used
> at Last Hope Conference
>
> and sociopatterns.org <http://www.sociopatterns.org/>
> provides attendee meta-data, has a video with active display visualizing
> the connections in real time. These badges operate on RFID, a
> technology for better or worse which is being designed into all US
> passports.
>
> nTag, spin off from MIT
> <http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20129/?a=f>was the first one I
> was aware of
>
> Regards,
>
> Victoria
>
> On 7/31/08, *Webster, Andrew* <Andrew....@kingbridgecentre.com
> <mailto:Andrew....@kingbridgecentre.com>> wrote:
>
> Hello All,
>
>
>
> I'm not much of a tools guy. The VN methodology drew me in and won
> me over, but the tools that support it aren't friendly enough for a
> software ignoramus like me.
>
>
>
> That said, I'm looking for a tool befitting of someone in my
> position. My objective is to create a social map to show
> connectivity amongst conference delegates before and after the
> conference, and eventually the dynamics of the connectivity a year
> or so down the road. I hope to measure whether or not people are
> making connections that we assume they are making, and if those
> connections endure.
>
>
>
> Are there any examples of similar experiments out there?
>
>
>
> I've downloaded a few mapping tools like NetMiner3
> <http://www.netminer.com/NetMiner/home_01.jsp>, but can make no
> sense of the application in reasonable time. Are there open-source
> options out there that speak my language and are somewhat intuitive?
>
>
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> //Andrew///
> /**Andrew Webster***
> **Meeting Design Manager**
> **Kingbridge: Conference Centre & Institute**
> **Phone: 905-833-6534 Fax: 905-833-0762 **/
>
> /*//Now blogging at www.togetherworking.blogspot.com
> <http://www.togetherworking.blogspot.com/> //
>
>
>
> Kingbridge Conference Centre:
> Professional business conferencing services:
> For Packages, please call Sales at (905) 833-6512.
>
> Kingbridge Institute:
> Explore the Kingbridge Approach to great meetings:
>
> Contact a Meeting Designer (905) 833-6523.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Victoria G. Axelrod
> Principal
> Axelrod Becker Consulting
> 212-369-2885
> www.axelrodbecker.com <http://www.axelrodbecker.com>
Cory Banks
David Coleman
"The soft stuff is the hard stuff"
New Book: "Collaboration 2.0"
Http://www.happyabout.info/collaboration2.0.php
Join the Collaboration 2.0 Community and access the full book contents at http://book20.collaborate.com
kpkfusion
visualization tool, Intronetworks has a wonderful toolset. www.intronetworks.com.
They do a lot of work in the conference and event space. The
advantages of the tool, are the additional support of conference
communication, and the ability of self - segmentation and definition
of data by conference members. Speak with Mark Sylvester. K.
On Jul 31, 11:31 pm, "David Coleman" <dav...@collaborate.com> wrote:
> Andrew,
>
> I know IBM has a tool called Atlas that is a stand alone social network
> mapping tool. They are supposed to integrate it with their Connections
> product at some point, but here is a link to some information on it. It is
> David Coleman
>
> On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 9:01 AM, Webster, Andrew <
>
>
>
> Andrew.Webs...@kingbridgecentre.com> wrote:
> > Hello All,
>
> > I'm not much of a tools guy. The VN methodology drew me in and won me
> > over, but the tools that support it aren't friendly enough for a software
> > ignoramus like me.
>
> > That said, I'm looking for a tool befitting of someone in my position. My
> > objective is to create a social map to show connectivity amongst conference
> > delegates before and after the conference, and eventually the dynamics of
> > the connectivity a year or so down the road. I hope to measure whether or
> > not people are making connections that we assume they are making, and if
> > those connections endure.
>
> > Are there any examples of similar experiments out there?
>
> > open-source options out there that speak my language and are somewhat
> > intuitive?
>
> > Any advice appreciated.
>
> > Thank you,
>
> > **Andrew Webster**
> > Kingbridge: Conference Centre & Institute
> > Phone: 905-833-6534 Fax: 905-833-0762
>
> > Kingbridge Conference Centre:
> > Professional business conferencing services:
> > For Packages, please call Sales at (905) 833-6512.
>
> > Kingbridge Institute:
> > Explore the Kingbridge Approach to great meetings:
> > Contact a Meeting Designer (905) 833-6523.
>
> David Coleman
> Collaborative Strategies
> (415) 282-9197
> dav...@collaborate.com
John Maloney (IM: jheuristic)
America) showed me how they are using www.intronetworks.com . I've never
tried it in production but it definitely gets a 'ten' on the coolness scale.
-j
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_America
-----Original Message-----
From: Value-N...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:Value-N...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kpkfusion
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 5:50 AM
To: Value Networks
Subject: Re: The easiest and cheapest way to map a social network
Laurence Lock Lee
We have done exercises for conference, which we call "accelerated
networking" which develops affinity networks between registrants
see ... http://www.optimice.com.au/page434.php
We also have an on-line social network survey tool www.onasurveys.com
which can help you collect the network data before and after the
event. In terms of social network mapping the data, the tool can load
the data into Netdraw http://www.analytictech.com/Netdraw/netdraw.htm
or Valdis' Inflow www.orgnet.com .These tools may be a little simpler
to use than NetMiner, but I suspect you will just have to have a look
and see what you think yourself.
Good Luck!
Laurence Lock Lee
www.optimice.com.au
On Aug 1, 2:01 am, "Webster, Andrew"
> Hello All,
>
> I'm not much of a tools guy. The VN methodology drew me in and won me
> over, but the tools that support it aren't friendly enough for a
> software ignoramus like me.
>
> That said, I'm looking for a tool befitting of someone in my position.
> My objective is to create a social map to show connectivity amongst
> conference delegates before and after the conference, and eventually the
> dynamics of the connectivity a year or so down the road. I hope to
> measure whether or not people are making connections that we assume they
> are making, and if those connections endure.
>
> Are there any examples of similar experiments out there?
>
> I've downloaded a few mapping tools like NetMiner3
> out there that speak my language and are somewhat intuitive?
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Andrew
> Andrew Webster
> Meeting Design Manager
> Kingbridge: Conference Centre & Institute
> Phone: 905-833-6534 Fax: 905-833-0762
>
> Now blogging atwww.togetherworking.blogspot.com
Webster, Andrew
Many thanks for the numerous responses an great suggestions following my
question about network mapping around a conference context.
After some research and play, I am concluding that this isn't something
I could fumble my way through using an open-source solution. If/when
this project materializes into anything interesting (success or other),
then I'll be sure to report back here.
Incidentally, I have used introNetworks as a participant before, and it
is impressive. Importantly, it is easy for a participant to navigate
their way through it and experience the value of it.
Thank you all again,
Wael Al Saad
it is great to observe the collaboration spirit in this thread ..
any one can recommend a web-conferencing tool?
Thanks
Wael
--
Salam
Wael
palestine.nw -at- gmail.com
Together we defeat the injustice power:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7KHUbuhgpQ
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. (Voltaire)
Be the change you want to see (Mahatma Gandhi)
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead)
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together, (Goerge Eliot)
If you knew the secret history of those you would like to punish you would find a sorrow and suffering enough to disarm, all your hostility - HW Longfellow
Don't clap until you see the caravan of refugees moving toward Palestine!
Never, ever give up. Do not complain, act constructively!
Wael Al Saad
it is great to observe the collaboration spirit in this thread ..
any one can recommend a web-conferencing tool?
Thanks
Wael
Webster, Andrew
Hi Wael,
I blogged about the spirit present in this group and available to the flatter world a few days ago, if you’re interested: www.togetherworking.blogspot.com.
Like me with my initial question, yours may be a bit broad. What are you hoping to achieve? How much functionality do you want, and how important is simplicity or intuitive use to you?
I’d suggest starting with Skype to see what it can do for you at little or no cost, then move on from there. Adobe Connect is a pretty complete option, and enables multiples users to edit documents shared in a “meeting room”. Sexier still would be a ProtoSphere virtual world, where work can be conducted and documents edited, but there’s the novelty of avitars, virtual spaces, and if you like; virtual 3D constructs of physical items you would like to display or manipulate with your conferees. There’s also a lot of support for Learning Management Systems. Of course, there’s also a lot of price tag associated.
A few things to consider that you may or may not be looking for when you check out these and other options:
· Ability for participants to edit documents (not just view them)
· Ability for participants to upload or share documents (not exclusively an administrator function)
· Polling function
· Chat
· Whiteboard
· Ease of connecting – do a participant need to follow a link and enter a code, or do they need to login, register, download applications, etc
Hope this helps. My final suggestion is Adobe Connect, but it is not perfect (requires that plug-ins, add-ons, bells and whistles be downloaded by participants for some functionality, and it is by no stretch intuitive) and is expensive.
Regards,
Andrew
John Maloney (IM: jheuristic)
Eric Hoffer
https://www.webhuddle.com/ for desktop sharing
skype for voip
freeconferencecall.com for voice (and recording)
http://dimdim.com/
http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/
http://www.yuuguu.com/home
for example.
Eric Hoffer, Second Integral LLC
eho...@secondintegral.com
Blog: http://www.secondintegral.com/axonomics
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/erichoffer
Wael Al Saad
Hi Andrew,
actually I wanted to tell you about I am doing when I have first drat to present. But you are right; some back-ground information helps better collaboration and getting better answers for my question.
The background of my query is: our www.mepeace.org (based ning.com web2.0 platform) is reaching 1000 members and there is big well to introduce some organisational elements to its current "simple" strucutre, in order to optimize its out-put and value inside and out-site the community.
Currently I am focusing on introduction of an organisational structure fits the nature of "global" social-networks with the area of focus "Peace and Peace Building/conflict solving research and approach" using meanly my background discussions beside my managerial and activism experience.
The whole concept contains following topics
- Background (History on mepeace and motivation for this project)
-
Vision and philosophy (All members should commit to and work to achieve)
- Goals and Principles (We refer our discussions and actions to. And our guidelines )
- Create Concept for Organisational Structure (How to manage our resources? How to set up our internal and external communication and information flow? Who will decide on what and how? It should covers all practices in which members are in relation with or may engage)
- Introduction plan for the organisational structure. Drop 1, 2, 3
- Definitions (precise description of terms, processes, functional groups, .. )
Under 4. I cam a across
Organisation Elements (what are we going to organize)/Linguistic
to the point
Communication elements: For any task it can be decided which element to be used.
-
Groups (ning?)
- threaded discussion board, (ning?)
- online-conferencing, (Skype, ..?)
- personal meetings,
- polls (?)
The project I am collaborating on called " Building borderless community of change"
The goal is to make it open-source concept once the first draft is ready. Who knows; if the global community co-created unified organized social network, the "Global Brain Application" will be build constructed.
The writing work is now under google-sites.
In case any one can offer related practical material/concepts can benchmarked in social-network field, it would be great as well. But as said, the project will be open for contribution later on.
Best,
Wael