The Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) research group helps to understand and meet the needs of diverse communities, using social network theories, methods, and tools.
SONIC is led by Noshir Contractor, the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences, Communication Studies, and Management & Organizations at Northwestern University. The group develops cutting-edge techniques to study and improve social and knowledge networks in large communities, such as distributed working groups, virtual teams, and online communities. Using a comprehensive methodology, SONIC researchers model, assess, validate, and enable the emergence of social and knowledge networks.
SONIC also helps communities discover their existing communication and knowledge networks, diagnose their network's health by measuring its robustness, connectedness, bottlenecks, etc., and design the social incentives and technical infrastructure needed for networks to function at optimal effectiveness.
Professor Noshir Contractor introduces his social network and cross-disciplinary research:
| Please see more of Professor Noshir Contractor's talks on video clips here | |
SONIC's Mission Statement
SONIC is developing a computationally intensive methodology that has as a dual focus:
- Advancing the basic science of social networks in communities
- Designing, developing, and deploying a more general-purpose suite of web-based social and knowledge networking tools to enable and empower communities using the next generation cyber-infrastructure.
A coauthored paper by Meikuan Huang and Noshir Contractor titled "Group Practices That Support the Use of Digital Knowledge Repositories: A Multilevel Analysis of Information Provision" was selected as a top paper at the International Communication Association Annual Conference in Singapore (June 2010).
The Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) speaker series invites you to attend a presentation titled "Towards a socially driven search engine" by Josep Pujol, Telefonica Research Labs, Barcelona at noon on Monday, October 19 in Room 2-107 France Searle Building.
Please RSVP Meikuan Huang (meikuan-huang@northwestern.edu) by Friday, October 16th with dietary preferences for a light lunch.
Professor Noshir Contractor Comments on the Relationship between the Internet and Crime [link]
Annie Wang and Noshir Contractor won Best Paper Award from International Network of Group Research (INGroup) Conference, July 20, 2009, at Colorado Springs, CO.