Social Networks

Networks have always been the backbone of social life, long before social media, or email, people spread information through letters, commercial exchange, or simply face to face interactions. These ties embed us into an invisible web of connections that, through the methods of network analysis, we can make tangible and analyze. In this course students will engage with consequences of connectivity and understand why small changes in the structure of our ties can lead to big differences in how networks behave. In weekly hands-on sessions, students will learn the basics of network analysis using open-source software like R and Gephi and will collect, describe, and visualize a social network of their choosing for the final project. (SOCI 0255 Or STAT 0116 Or STAT 0118 Or STAT 0201, or instructor approval.)