Visualizing Social Networks Louis Licamele & Mustafa Bilgic

Outline Introduction Introduction Motivation Motivation Tasks Tasks Tools Tools Demo Demo Conclusions & Critiques Conclusions & Critiques

Introduction – What are Social Networks - “A social network is a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.” “A social network is a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.” -- Definition From Wikipedia -- Definition From Wikipedia Nodes (Actors) and Edges (Relationships) Nodes (Actors) and Edges (Relationships) Tasks: Tasks: finding groups (clustering), finding groups (clustering), predicting relationships, predicting relationships, pruning, pruning, etc… etc…

Research Trend

What’s new… Traditional Sociological Studies Attributes Attributes Social Networks Relationships Relationships

Motivation A new perspective: Relationships and Attributes A new perspective: Relationships and Attributes Rich and complex data Rich and complex data New tasks New tasks A simple graph is not enough A simple graph is not enough

Tasks Finding Finding The most “important” actor The most “important” actor Groups Groups Relationships Relationships Pruning Pruning

Tools/Toolkits Lots of primitive toolkits: Lots of primitive toolkits: JUNG – Java Network/Graph Framework JUNG – Java Network/Graph Framework Prefuse – A toolkit for interactive information visualization Prefuse – A toolkit for interactive information visualization Vizster - Visualizing Online Social Networks Vizster - Visualizing Online Social Networks Good start, but much work is left to be done Good start, but much work is left to be done

Demo Prefuse Prefuse JUNG JUNG Orgnet – have not heard back Orgnet – have not heard back Vizster – have not heard back Vizster – have not heard back

Conclusions & Critiques Social Networks is a quickly growing field. Social Networks is a quickly growing field. Toolkits are at their early development Toolkits are at their early development Hard to make sense when the network is large Hard to make sense when the network is large Need interactive pruning, searching, and details on demand Need interactive pruning, searching, and details on demand “Cool, but are they useful?” “Cool, but are they useful?”

Questions