Analyzing Networks

(social, economics, psychology, sociology, genealogy, criminology, medicine, history, …)

Each science has the same structure:

It analyzes the links between notions (see table below)

Each science thus has a network structure.

LinkNotions also has this structure.

Therefore LinkNotions can serve you as a basis for scientific analysis.

“All the better to see it with”

Table presenting areas of knowledge as networks and presenting the types of notions and links with examples.

Examples of networks	Notions (Nodes)	Examples of nodes	Links	Examples of links
Social networks	social actors	people who know each other : A, B, …	knows	A knows B
		peopple that have a Facebokk account	ist a facebook friend of	A ist a facebook friend of B
		People working in a firm	works with	A works with B
	Aim of a diagram of relationships: Seeing the structure; detecting central actors; detecting groups.
	see an example of a graph

Economics	economic phenomena	demand, prices	influence in the same direction	if demande increases, prices increase
		supply, prices	influence in the opposite direction	if supply increases, prices go down
		unemployment, …	corresponds to	unemployment corresponds to the number of people without employment
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting the influences of phenomena on each other; presenting and understanding the mechanisms in economy.
	see an example with LinkNotions

Genealogy	people of one family	Jean DuvalErnest Duval	is father of	Jean Duval is father of Ernest Duval
		Jean DuvalDanielle Bonnet	is married to	Jean Duval is married to Danielle Bonnet
		Jean DuvalEmile Anquet	is cousin of	Jean Duval is cousin of Emile Anquet
	Aim of the diagram: Showing all persons of a family and their link types (father, sister, cousin, aunt, etc.).
	see an example with LinkNotions

Sociogram sociology	persons belonging to a group	A, B, …	chose x to work in a group	A chose B to work in a group
Sociogram sociology	persons belonging to a group	A, B, …	chose x to go on holidays	A chose B to go on holidays
	Aim of the diagram: Detecting affinities and rejections in a group in order to be able to create sub-groups that can function in an activity.
	see an example with LinkNotions

Sociogram criminology, psychology,	people, locations, objects	Jean, Crime	has seen	Jean has seen the crime
		Jean, Pierre	is a friend of	Jean is a friend of Pierre
		Jean, Marie	hates	Jean hates Marie
		Jean, car x	owns	Jean owns car x
		Jean, François	is in business with	Jean is in business with François
	Aim of the diagram: Having a global view of relationships in order to understand a phenomenon. A crime in criminology. A disruption in psychology.


Sociogramof a book, a film, a fairy tale	people, locations, objects, parts of a story	same as above
Sociogramof a book, a film, a fairy tale	people, locations, objects, parts of a story	Jean, scene x	is present in	Jean is present in scene x
	Aim of the diagram: Having a global view of the structure of a work.
	see an example of a book with LinkNotionssee an example of a fairy tale with LinkNotions

Organogram	people working in a firm	Jean, François	is hierarchical superior of	Jean is hierarchical superior of François
Organogram	people working in a firm	Jean, Eline	se réunit hebdomadairement avec	Jean meets weekly with Eline
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting the organizational structure and decision-making in a company.
	see an example with LinkNotions

Psychology	psychological concepts	punishment, stress	influence in the same direction	If the number of (the threat of) punishment increases, stress increases
Psychology	psychological concepts	punishment, intrinsic motivation	influence in the opposite direction	If the number of (the threat of) punishment increases, intrinsic motivation decreases
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting the influences of phenomena on each other; presenting and understanding the mechanisms in psychology.
	see an example with LinkNotions (in french)

Medicine	symptoms, diseases, drugs, medicines, side effects, location	stress, headache	influence dans le même sens	if stress increases, headache tends to increase (headache may come from stress)
Medicine		Aspirine, maux de tête	influence in the opposite direction (is a remedy against)	If we increase the amount of Aspirin, headache decreases (Aspirin is a remedy against headache)
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting the interrelations in order to reveal the cause and effect relationships.
	see an example with LinkNotions (to be done)

History (analysis of a conflict)	actors, institutions, events, decisions, mechanisms, laws,	Minister of the Interior, prefects	gives order to	The Interior Minister gives orders to prefects
		deportation order, heads of the executive	implemented by	deportation order implemented by heads of the executive
		dispossession of property, government	profits to	dispossession of property benefits (to) Government
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting and understanding a historical phenomenon by deploying all components.


Interactive Encyclopedia of Jazz	musicians, instruments, styles, times, places, groups	L. Armstrong, E. Fitzgerald	a joué avec	L. Armstrong a joué avec E. Fitzgerald
		L. Armstrong, trumpet	played the instrument	L. Armstrong played the instrument trumpet
		L. Armstrong, New Orleans Jazz	played the style	L. Armstrong played the style New Orleans Jazz
	Aim of the diagram: Showing and structuring all the elements that have played a role. Visualizing who played with whom, what instrument, where, etc.
	see an example with LinkNotions

Restaurant Guide	restaurants, services, locations, types of cuisine	Auberge de la Seine, terrasse	has	Auberge du Lac has terrace
		Auberge de la Seine, Paris	is located	Auberge de la Seine is located (in) Paris
		Auberge de la Seine, gastronomic	type of cuisine :	Auberge du Lac type of cuisine : gastronomic
	Aim of the diagram: Presenting the characteristics of restaurants and allow consultants to choose restaurants according to criteria (terrace, quality, price, style, type of cuisine, region, etc.)
	see an example with LinkNotions

Studying networks with LinkNotions

Two concepts are fundamental in the study of networks:

Notions (nodes):

– Social actors (in social networks)

– All types of concepts in different areas of knowledge (economic concepts in the economic system/network; psychological concepts, etc. Please see the table below)

Links (edges):

These are links between nodes. As link, one can understand the relationships, influences, comparisons, etc. Please see the table below)

A link can be oriented (it has a direction: is father of). Often, the link is then represented by an arrow. At LinkNotions, the direction is not indicated by an arrow. A link leaves at the bottom of a box and enters the top of another box.

A link can be undirected (is married to).

A network can be studied to understand its structure and its influence.

This is primarily a quantitative approach. Visualization example: the graphs.

Quantitative analyzes of networks by graphs allow an analysis of its structure.

– Calculation of the degree of prestige of a member of a group

– Calculation of the degree of centrality

– Identification of the most central individuals

– Identification (auto) of relevant groups of individuals

A graph graph software visually will highlight in a 3D diagram prestige or the centrality of an individual in the network or in a group of the network.

A network can also be studied to understand its content and network operating mechanisms.

This is primarily a qualitative study. Examples of visualization: Mind map, LinkNotions.

LinkNotions allows a qualitative analysis of the network. It can therefore be seen as complementary to graph software. It is useful every time where the emphasis is not placed on the structure, but on the quality and the content of links and nodes. LinkNotions allows to analyze and understand operating mechanisms of a group, a phenomenon (social, economic, historical, …). It also allows to visualize situations, but on a different way than with graphs.

LinkNotions’ specifics are presented in the table below giving examples of networks in different areas of knowledge.

The specifics of LinkNotions:

There are two ways to categorize the notions: domains and subject groups
- a domain is an area of the 2D space (diagram) including notions having a common characteristic
- a subject group visually highlights notions with a common characteristic, but are scattered throughout the diagram (they are located in different domains)
  - notions and links are easily spotted and seizable
  - example: LinkNotions built a diagram of economic links, which contains over 400 notions (economic concepts) grouped according to their belonging to one of the economic agents (the domains). The subject groups are the economic issues such as unemployment, exchange rates, wages. The subject group unemployment includes multiple concepts that are found in different domains: salaries in the domain of household; recruitment in the domain of business; programm against unemployment in the domain of the state; etc. (Note: we could have done the opposite: having the concepts according to economic subjects that would be at this point areas and economic agents would become subject groups).
- Links can be of different types (as many as you want) distinguished by different colors.
- Links are oriented (they have a direction).
- Links are visualized by lines and by a highlighting when clicking on a notion (clicking on a notion and all notions associated with the notion clicked are highlighted in the color of the link type).
- All notions and all links may have content: text, documents, photographs, films, etc.