Social Network Analysis (352-0-20)

Instructors

Yu Xu

Meeting Info

Lutkin Hall: Tues 5:00PM - 7:50PM

Overview of class

Digital technologies are transforming how we learn, organize, innovate, mobilize, trade, travel, date, and play. This course introduces "network thinking" to examine how our social networks enable and constrain our attitudes and behaviors, personally and professionally, as individuals and as collectives. The course will discuss how social network concepts, theories, and methods help us map, measure, understand, and leverage the ubiquitous social networks and structures that shape our lives. The course has no formal prerequisites but will be most beneficial to students who have had some quantitative training, such as an introductory statistics course, and experience with, or interest in learning, how to visualize and analyze networks with user-friendly software (e.g., Gephi, Communalytic) or R. The primary goal of the course is not to teach programming for social network analysis (SNA) but to help students interpret results and gain actionable insights. Although a few specialized network models involve some coding, these tasks will be greatly simplified with the help of AI tools, making the process accessible even to students without a coding background.

Class Materials (Required)

Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., Johnson, J. C., & Agneessens, F. (2024). Analyzing social networks (3rd ed.). Sage.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Communication Studies Majors only until the end of preregistration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone who has taken the prerequisites. COMP_SCI students must enroll in the COMP_SCI version of this course. Please search for COMP_SCI 341-0 and add it to your shopping cart to complete your registration.

Associated Classes

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