MCSN Thursday, 3-Nov-11

Proposals

Advice:

• Organize proposal strictly according to the 5 section form (plus a 6th section for bibliography) so I can see exactly how you're thinking.
• Identify phenomenon, assess aim and value. Provide in the broadest of terms, without reference to SNA or any website in particular.
• Contextualize: what does the reader need to know? Be concise but do address such things as: the musical style, people who participate, how they relate to one another. Consider this to be the section in which you clarify all the issues and terms used, so that you can use them freely from now on.
• Query. Try to formulate the questions first without reference to SNA. These can be a bit more specific than in the opening "aim". It is always motivational and instructive to examine contrasts, make comparisons, lest you get lost in the exploration. For instance, you can examine musical influence in general, but it may be more fruitful to show how influence and gender relate to one another. Comparing male and female: who influences whom? Or contrast an influence analysis across musical styles, showing how each style evinces its own patterns in the influence network.
• Model. Here's where you bring in SNA for the first time. Show how you intend to interpret the concepts - especially concepts of "vertex" and "line" - so as to create an SNA model for the phenomenon.
• Method. Here you can discuss the data sources (e.g. website), and SNA concepts or Pajek techniques to try out. In your methodology, consider all the network concepts and Pajek techniques we've learned thus far (e.g. density, degree, components, cores, cliques, signed networks, affiliation networks...more is coming). Until you can demonstrate to yourself that a given concept or technique is *not* applicable, leave it in. During the exploratory phase you'll try things out. Don't close off avenues of exploration prematurely. Consider also the visual display of information - what techniques may work best to summarize your results?
• The bibliography can combine various types of sources:
  • Sources about the music under discussion - whether historical, ethnographic, interpretive, critical, or biographical...
  • General sources (probably from the social sciences) treating concepts of interest, e.g. fame, influence, consumption, production - whether in music or more broadly
  • SNA sources. I don't expect you to include many of these but if you can locate some papers that treat a similar subject or issue, include them and do your best to read and assimilate what they contain. Certainly you can all add ESNAP as a prime source, and cite when you deploy a particular technique.