Collaborative Network Analysisin the Humanities Classroom:Using Gephi with Imagination

David D. KimMichigan State University

ddkim@msu.eduApril 18, 2014

What is Social Network Analysis (SNA)?The analysis of relational patterns with big data

Actors as nodes: humans, organizations, etc.

Relations as edges: distance, strength, frequency, connectivity, density

Benefits: “The resulting graph makes possible visual inspection of relations beyond anything possible by observing the actual relations, and a graph can be a great deal more complete and less ambiguous than the ephemeral encounters on which it is based.” [Jeroen Bruggeman, Social Networks: An Introduction (London: Routledge, 2008), 7.]

Your Social Networks on Facebook1. Log into your FACEBOOK account.

2. In the SEARCH box, type “netvizz”.

3. You have five options, but select “personal network” (first option).

4. Select “friend’s like and post count” and click “start”.

5. Right click “Your gdf file” (gdf = Geographic Data Files) and save the link on your desktop.

6. Open Gephi.

7. Select “New Project,” go to “File,” select “Open,” and choose the saved gdf file from your desktop.

8. Select “OK” in the import report.

9. Use “ForceAtlas 2” to visualize your social network.

What do we learn from visualizing and manipulating these social connections?

See clusters of friends

Identify key players in each cluster

Use big data to analyze specific categories (sex, age, locale, etc.)

Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants (1927)

Question 1: What is the main theme of this short story?

Question 2: What do you want students to understand in their interpretation of this short story?

Question 3: How would you teach this text in one of your courses?

Collecting Data in Interpretation

Nodes (words and concepts)

Open an Excel sheet with your partner for collaboration. (Later you may also use Google Drive.)

List your words and concepts under “ID”.

Save the file as “.csv” file (comma-separated value) on your desktop.

Edges (interpretive connections)

Open a second Excel sheet with your partner for collaboration. (Later you may also use Google Drive.)

Create interpretive connections between words and concepts. List the ID’s under “Source” and/or “Target” and designate “Weight” in accordance with your interpretation.

Save the file as “.csv” file (comma-separated value) on your desktop.

Upload Data on Gephi

Select “New Project”.

Select “Data Laboratory”.

Select “Import Spreadsheet”.

Begin with nodes: Choose the csv file for nodes from the desktop. Select “Nodes table” under “As table” Select “Next” and “Finish”.

Do the same with edges and make sure to select “Edges table”.

Select “Overview”.

Manipulate your interpretive network.