Understanding networks can help “cultivate a collective empathy” and can be a way to rethink citizenship and help develop a feeling of responsibility in individuals and groups that these people are part of.”  Read this paper and find many ideas that support the the type of network building and information mapping that the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC seeks to be part of.

In this section of the Tutor/Mentor Connection library I have many links to web sites that talk about concept mapping, network mapping and similar ideas.

In this section are links to articles about social capital. If we can map the expansion of personal and organizational networks we can demonstrate the growth of thick and bonding social capital.

Since 2009 I’ve been sharing SNA articles on a Ning.com site, which I may discontinue in 2017 due to increased fees and lack of revenue. Thus, I’m going to move some of those articles here. 

Added 7-14-2020

THE MISSING METRICS: Emerging practices for measuring students’
relationships and networks – click here

This is a Christensen Institute report showing the importance of social capital and talking of ways to measure it.  I’ve read it and annotated, using Hypothes.is. The link I’m pointing to shows my highlighted section and comments.  Add your own.

Added 2019

Why Policy Networks Don’t Work (the way we think they do) .. click here
I continue to seek out articles that show ways network analysis can be used to understand how people are connecting to solve complex problems.  This is one example.

Added in 2009

* Here’s a link to an article titled “Managing the 21st Century Organization“, by Valdis Krebs. Follow Valdis’ ideas in this blog. Here’s a 2010 interview with Valdis Krebs.

* Here’s another article written by Valdis Krebs, titled Social Capital: Key to Success of 21st Century Organization

Added in 2010

* This blog article shows some interesting applications of data visualization.

* Here’s an article titled Social Network Analysis Can Help Enterprises Achieve a Pattern–Based Strategy that Leverages Relationship Information.

* Here’s an article posted by Valdis Krebs on his twitter account, that shows the value of “bridging individuals” in a network. If our work in mapping the connections created by the Tutor/Mentor Connection through the conferences, and other work we do, demonstrates this value, we hope it leads to investors providing money to accelerate the pace of what we do, and to support others who might duplicate this in other cities, building even more connections between the T/MC and others.

* Here’s another article worth reading, posted by Valdis Krebs on Twitter. The article shows that people with wider networks are likely to be more prosperous. Studies like this seem to support our efforts to expand the networks of inner city kids by connecting them to volunteers and experiences from beyond the poverty areas where they live.

* Here’s another article by Valdis Krebs that he is circulating on Twitter today. It’s title is Power in Networks.

* This article shows how an app was created to mine the email addresses in a file and create a network map. I’d like to figure how to adopt this to our work.

Added in 2011

* This web site is titled “Learning for Sustainability” and offers a library of articles and information about “Building networks for learning” and helping people collaborate and innovate.

* Making sense of your social network is the topic of this blog article.

* Here’s a blog article by Harold Jarche about Network Thinking . It offers that  “One major challenge in helping organizations improve collaboration and knowledge-sharing is getting people to see themselves as nodes in various networks, with different types of relationships between them.”

* Here’s a video titled “The Power of Networks: Knowledge in an age of infinite interconnectedness”

Added in 2012

* Here’s an article showing Why it’s Important to Map your Network. http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/3-benefits-of-mapping-your-network…

* Here is another really good example of Social Network Analysis used to enhance business practices.  Browse the different sections to see the various services and applications of SNA.  On this page you can sign in and begin to build your own connections to this network. http://www.optimice.com.au/friends.php   Here’s a blog written by one of the people working with this company. http://www.pattianklam.com/blog/

* This article provides a perspective on different types of networks that are emerging and supported by technology.  Social network analysis could be used on a platform to enable people to self-identify which of these networks they are part of and to connect more easily with other people who are part of the same network.  Individuals and organizations can be part of more than one network.

facebook_networkgraph10-20-12

 

The map at the left was made in 2012 from a Facebook app. I then copied it to Photoshop and added labels to show the different groups.  It’s a beginning.

* On a more sophisticated level, I encourage you to view this blog. It has quite a few interesting articles about uses of social network analysis and making sense of the maps that get created.  http://paolonegrini.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/network-map-of-knowled…

Added in 2013

* This paper shows a use of Gephi to show the economic environment and networks of people and organizations in Malaysia.

* This Slideshare presentation, titled “Leveraging Networks for Improved Performance” shows why it’s important to understand networks, and to apply network analysis.

* This article, titled “How to Find, Follow and Connect with Social Media Influencers” shows ways to use network analysis tools to expand your network and reach people of influence.

Added in 2014

* This article, titled “The Real  Importance of Networks: Understanding Power”, discusses the importance of networks from a power perspective. Who in the network controls decisions and why.

* This 2014 PEW report titled, Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters., is a must-read for anyone trying to understand how social media can be a tool for network building.  It includes some tips for visualizing networks of Twitter users, using NodeXL Twitter data importer.

* Here’s interesting research on how Facebook contributes to expanding social capital. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12078/full  The title is: Cultivating Social Resources on Social Network Sites: Facebook Relationship Maintenance Behaviors and Their Role in Social Capital Processes

Added in 2015

* Here’s a blog article that describes “bonding” and “bridging” social capital. I think of the connection of youth and volunteers in organized tutor/mentor programs as a form of “bridging social capital” and seek to create network analysis tools that programs could use to show how such networks expand over time in programs that are sustained for multiple years.

* I’ve been part of a MetaMaps community on Google, where a new network mapping product is being developed.  The Metamaps founders created this Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC map, using the Strategy Map built using CMAP tools.

Here’s an article showing how a collaboration community is attempting to use Metamaps to map their network.  There’s a lot learn from groups like this, and potential connection opportunities.

I’ve not been able to develop this platform due to lack of manpower and time. It’s something a team of volunteers from a company, university, or other group could adopt as a project.

* Learn about the Social Media Research Foundation and NODEXL, an open source tool for mapping social networks. Here are three links.

Added 2016

* This article, focusing on using social network analysis to evaluate faculty productivity, has a lot of ideas that could be applied to measuring impact of employee volunteer engagement in non profit organizations.  It’s worth a deep read.

That’s the list of articles I’ve shared on the Ning.com site. Visit this section of the Tutor/Mentor web library for more links to articles about network analysis.  Visit this section of the web library for articles related to social capital.

Added 2017

Here’s a new blog (2017) that is using Gephi and social network analysis in mapping the growth of a political group in opposition of the new GOP administration in DC.

Added 2018

This blog article is a profile of Valdis Krebs, which includes an extensive list of resources that open a huge door to understanding social capital and social network analysis.

 

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