nwcommands - new version 1.2.0

[Thomas Grund]

Hi all,

after several smaller updates, I just released version 1.2.0 of the “nwcommands”. Below you find a summary of the update. Probably, the biggest change is that now everything can be done through dialog boxes. The installation procedure has been simplified as well. There are also some new and exiting commands. 

Furthermore, there are some upcoming workshops and a new Youtube channel with tutorials.

 

Best,

Thomas

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///       Installation

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Simplified Installation (nwinstall)

The installation of the “nwcommands” has been simplified. Now, you only need to install the package “nwcommands-ado” (. search nwcommands). After that just run:

. nwinstall, all

This installs additional packages and files that are required. It also installs the “nwcommands” dialog boxes. You can always update your “nwcommands” with

. adoupdate

 

Dialog boxes (nwinstall)

Since version 1.1.16, the nwcommands come with Stata dialog boxes. This allows you to do almost everything the nwcommands can do by clicking around.  After updating, just type:

. nwinstall, all

This downloads the required files and installs a new menu item “Network Analysis” under the “User” menu in your Stata.  The menu is installed permanently and will be there when you start Stata again (see help nwinstall for more on this). You can also check-out this installation guide:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uev8u2vowxtpoe4/Quickstart.pdf?dl=0

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///       Workshops and tutorials

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Workshops

 

We had the first workshop on “Social Network Analysis Using Stata” at IAS, Linköping University. Check out the course slides and the commented Stata syntax with examples and tutorials.

https://nwcommands.wordpress.com/tutorials-and-slides/

The next workshop will be on 23 June at the Sunbelt Conference in Brighton

http://insna.org/sunbelt2015/?page_id=183

Youtube Channel with tutorials

There is now a youtube channel with additional tutorials and examples. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/user/nrachox/videos

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///       Version 1.2.0 update log

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Sociomatrix plots (nwplotmatrix)

There is a new graph engine to plot a network as sociomatrix. You can also group by and sort by additional variables.  For example:

. webnwuse florentine, nwclear

. nwplotmatrix flomarriage, group(seat) lab

Animations (nwmovie)

The command “nwmovie” is now fully documented and debugged. It allows you to make network movies very easily and extremely fast. The third party software ImageMagick is required. The command will prompt you to install the correct version for your operating system.  You just call the command followed by the networks you want to animate. Almost all options from “nwplot” to change color, size, symbols of nodes/edges are available for “nwmovie” as well.

. webnwuse klas12b, nwclear

. nwmovie _all

Two-mode network support (nw2fromedge)

With version 1.2.0, some (limited) support for two-mode networks is introduced. The command:

. help nw2fromedge

works just like “nwfromedge” and loads two-mode network data from edgelist format, expect that it also creates a variable for level membership (great for plotting). It also allows you to make one-mode projections on different levels. For example,

. use http://nwcommands.org/data/institutions.dta, clear

. nw2fromedge persons institutions, project(1)

loads two-mode data (where persons and institutions are variables) and makes a one-mode projection to the level of persons. There are different modes available to deal with valued data. Additional two-mode network commands will follow. Full support for two-mode networks is scheduled for version 2.0 of the “nwcommands”.

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///       Extensions and bugfixes

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Extensions 

“nwcorrelate” can now be used to correlate network nodes (find out how similar they are in their network pattern).

“nwrandom” can now generate networks based on a dyad census.

 

Bugfixes

Several smaller and bigger bugfixes for nwdrop, nwtabulate, nwcorrelate, nwcontext, nwimport, nwrecode, nwplot, nwmovie,….