online conversation as networks
DESCRIPTION
Online conversations (and even offline ones) are, deep down, networks. But how to visualize network data so that they make sense to non-network scientists? Presentation at the second CATALYST consortium meeting.TRANSCRIPT
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Online conversation as networksFebruary 2014
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Got data. Now what?
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Overwhelmed?
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Look closer!
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What can you say about a conversation without reading it all?
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What can you say about a conversation without reading it all?
• look at the visualization
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What can you say about a conversation without reading it all?
• look at the visualization
• guess what it means
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What can you say about a conversation without reading it all?
• look at the visualization
• guess what it means
• how would you, as community manager, react to this information?
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What can you say about a conversation without reading it all?
• look at the visualization
• guess what it means
• how would you, as community manager, react to this information?
• “the vocalizer” of the network analysis software conveys interpretations for you
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Very important!
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Very important!
• The network must be specified. It is important to define what nodes and edges represent.
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Very important!
• The network must be specified. It is important to define what nodes and edges represent.
• Here (mostly): nodes => users, edges => comments
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Is my team of moderators doing a good job?
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With moderatorsDensity 0.028Average weighted degree 10.87Average distance 2.3
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No moderatorsDensity 0.013Average weighted degree 3.7Average distance 3.3
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No moderatorsDensity 0.013Average weighted degree 3.7Average distance 3.3
With moderatorsDensity 0.028Average weighted degree 10.87Average distance 2.3
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Moderators rock!
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Moderators rock!
• “No user left behind”: they connect to the general conversation people that are not talking to each other.
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Moderators rock!
• “No user left behind”: they connect to the general conversation people that are not talking to each other.
• They reduce the average distance between members by one hop
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Moderators rock!
• “No user left behind”: they connect to the general conversation people that are not talking to each other.
• They reduce the average distance between members by one hop
• They increase the average weighted degree (number of interactions on the network) from 4 to 11
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How sustainable is my community?
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Posts by contributor (cumulated)
0
100
200
300
400
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
moderators Community
0
500
1000
1500
2000
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Comments by contributor (cumulated)
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User generated content as a share of the total content
0
0,25
0,5
0,75
1
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Share of CommentsShare of Posts
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Share of the conversation that does NOT involve moderators
0
0,25
0,5
0,75
1
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Share of participating usersShare of relationships
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Not much, but getting better
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Not much, but getting better
• Almost all posts and about two thirds of the comments are produced by the community, not the moderators.
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Not much, but getting better
• Almost all posts and about two thirds of the comments are produced by the community, not the moderators.
• BUT A lot of the interactions involve moderators. Drop them at your own risk!
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Not much, but getting better
• Almost all posts and about two thirds of the comments are produced by the community, not the moderators.
• BUT A lot of the interactions involve moderators. Drop them at your own risk!
• On the plus side, the share and number of interactions NOT involving moderators are both growing.
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Are specialized subcommunities emerging?
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Moderators removedModularity 0.5 (>0.4 = “high”)Subcommunities are clearly visible
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Are subcommunities specializing?Bluer edge = more specialization on one or few topics,Redder edge = no specialization, all topics equally discussed
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It seems so! (but check absolute numbers)
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How “broad” and “deep” are my results?
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Topic treeBlue research questions are addressed by green posts, in turn validated by red comments
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Topic tree (detail)
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Topic tree (detail)
No validation
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Topic tree (detail)
Lots of validation
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Topic tree (detail)
Broad discussion, many points of view
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Topic tree (detail)
Narrow discussion
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Some are, some are not...
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Some are, some are not...
• Check you are not relying on results from “narrow” and “shallow” discussion, however you might like the content!
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Some are, some are not...
• Check you are not relying on results from “narrow” and “shallow” discussion, however you might like the content!
• Deploy moderators to ask the community to reinforce semmeingly important results that are not sufficiently validated
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Now go do it!
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A SNA module for Drupal
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coming soon....