MCSN Tuesday, 13-Sep-11

Today's assignment

Social structure. Read Preface, p. 1, and sections 1.1 to 1.3.2. Graph theory exercise due (distributed by email) - submit answers via the Moodle (see above for instructions regarding network diagrams). Brainstorm some MCSN examples with research questions.

Question of the day

• How does a new musical trend (song, artist, style, genre) spread? (diffusion phenomenon)
• What sorts of questions (naive) might we like to answer about such a phenomenon?
• How could musical diffusion be modelled with SNA?
• What sorts of research methods could be applied?

Review

• Last class...
• course outline (any questions?)

Technical details

• Any questions on using the Moodle?
• Any problems with Pajek? Issues with Wine?
• Were you able to obtain and open the Pajek datasets?

ESNAP reading and Pajek

• Sections 1.1 to 1.3.2. - dining table partners data
• Examine the data file in a text editor (note: be careful not to save as anything but "plain text"!)
• Manipulate the network using Pajek

Applications of SNA to music culture

• Brainstorming MCSN
• Research on music networks

Graph theory (Wilson ch. 1)

ch. 1

• vertex
• edge,arc
• degree
• graph, digraph
• multiple edges, loops
• simple graph
• walk (alternating sequence of connected vertices and lines)
• path (alternating sequence of connected vertices and lines, such that the vertices don't repeat)
• Eulerian graph (contains a walk containing every edge once, and returning to starting point)
• Hamiltonian graph (contains a walk containing every vertex once, and returning to starting point)
• connected and disconnected graphs
• tree (only one path between each pair of vertices)
• planar graph
• counting graphs
  • isomorphic graphs, and difference
  • how many different simple graphs can you create with a fixed number of vertices? (1,2,3,4)
• Wilson ch.1 questions