A region specific study, located in the Middle East, on the scientific collaboration of physicists, who are based in Iran, across multiple disciplines was recently done a few months ago. Analyzing the network’s basic properties, betweenness, diamater, etc., the local model is then compared to the global model of scientific collaboration to discover how a developing region such as the Middle East can contribute to global scientific process statistically. However, what becomes striking is how the local model unexpectedly differs from the global model. For example, despite the fact that the diameter of Iran’s physicists network is much smaller, resulting from a low diversity of information and disciplines, the physicists are reluctant to collaborate.
Collaboration between SONIC and CFES
On Monday, January 24, 2011, SONIC Lab Director Professor Noshir Contractor and Dr. Jan van Dijk of the Center for eGovernment (CFES), signed a memorandum of understanding.
The aim of the collaboration is to combine the research expertise of CFES with SONIC Lab’s in advancing our understanding the networked government. Examples of networks with the context of government:
- Networks of collaborating governmental agencies
- Communication networks between citizens, businesses, and governments
- Intermediary networks (roles of intermediaries in the stakeholder/government relationship)
- Open data networks
Understanding the complexities of the networked government is difficult. Research in this domain is scarce. The shortage of research is magnified by the rise of social media (web 2.0). We lack theories that explain and anticipate the transformation and impact of the networked government at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. The cooperation between CFES and SONIC will seek to advance our knowledge in this field.
The mission of the SONIC/CFES collaboration is the following:
The SONlC/CFES collaboration combines social network theories, methods, and tools with knowledge from the e-Government domain to understand and meet the needs of the networked government.
The research groups will exchange knowledge, collaborate on funding of projects for (internationally comparative) research, and coauthor publications.
The website for CFES: http://www.utwente.nl/ibr/cfes/
The website for SONIC: http://sonic.northwestern.edu/
The First Twitter Revolution?
Not so fast. The Internet can take some credit for toppling Tunisia’s government, but not all of it.
ICA and Sunbelt Conference paper acceptances
We have had papers accepted at the International Communication Association (ICA) and the INSNA Sunbelt conference for research related to team assembly and collaboration on Wikipedia articles about breaking news topics.
Keegan, B., Gergle, D., Contractor, N. (2011). “A Multi-theoretical, Multi-level Model of High Tempo Collaboration in an Online Community.” INSNA Sunbelt XXXI, Tampa, Florida.
Keegan, B. (2011). “Breaking News, Breaking Planes, and Breaking Hearts: Psycholinguistics and Sensemaking in Collaborative Accounts of Catastrophe.” International Communication Association, Boston, MA.
My ICA paper was nominated as a Best Student Paper for the Communication and Technology Division.
Gold farming conference acceptances
The VWO gold farming team has had several papers accepted for presentation at upcoming conferences.
Keegan, B., Ahmad, M., Williams, D., Srivastava, J., Contractor, N. (2011). “Mapping Gold Farming Back to Offline Clandestine Organizations: Methodological, Theoretical, and Ethical Challenges.” Game Behind the Video Game, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
Keegan, B., Ahmad, M., Williams, D., Srivastava, J., Contractor, N. (2011). “Title: Using ERGMs to Map Online Clandestine Behavior to Offline Criminal Activity.” International Network of Social Network Analysis, Sunbelt XXXI, Tampa, FL.
See this and other VWO-related information at the project website.
Conference Acceptances Featuring CCAP work
International Sunbelt Social Network Conference (February 2011):
Young, L., & Contractor, N. (Feb 2011). Individual, tie, and network level predictors of access to social capital: Applying multi-level analysis to the study of ego-network capital. Paper presented at the 2011 International Sunbelt Social Network Conference, St. Pete Beach, FL.
International Communication Association Conference (May 2011):
Young, L., & Pieterson, W. (May 2011). Government to citizen communication in a networked world: †Integrating network and communication theories to inform strategic communication. Paper presented at the 2011 International Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA.
* Also to be presented at the ICA Strategic Communication Pre-Conference (May 26, 2011)
Encounter in Virtual Space
Yun Huang presented the paper “Encounter in Virtual Space” in INFORMS 2010 at Austin Texas on November 10th 2010. Here are the presentation slides.
INFORMS 2010 papers
INFORMS 2010 accepts “Encounter in Virtual Space” by Yun Huang, Roger B. Chen, Hani S. Mahmassani, and Noshir Contractor. This paper studies the impact of distance proximity on players’ relation building in SONY EverQuest II game. Yun Huang will present it in Austin Texas on November 10th 2010.
Leslie DeChurch SONIC Speaker Series
Leslie DeChurch,
University of Central Florida “Collaboration within and across teams: Leadership forms and network structures” Friday, November 19, 2010.
Organizations are restructuring into collaborative work systems because they offer the ability to address complex problems by combining expertise distributed across business functions, knowledge specialties, geographic locations, and organizational boundaries. Often times the goals these systems face are complex and multifaceted requiring multiple distinct teams to coordinate their efforts and compile information for decision making distributed across a network of teams. The current study explores the structural contingency theory prediction that collaboration is a function of alignment between the form of leadership and structure of communication network. Ideas were tested in a sample in 80, 6-person networks tasked with performing a laboratory pc-game-based humanitarian aid task. Leadership form and communication network structures were manipulated, and effects on socio-cognitive networks, teamwork processes, and multiteam effectiveness examined.
Professor DeChurch’s research program explores what makes effective team leaders, how teams successfully collaborate across boundaries, and how leadership and team dynamics are sustained in virtual organizations. Professor DeChurch is currently Principal Investigator on “Building functionally collaborative infrastructure in virtual organizations” (NSF), and “Leadership in complex network environments” (Army Research Institute).
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Collaboration Within and Across Teams
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Scott Feld SONIC Speaker Series
Scott Feld, Pu
rdue University “Social Network Theorizing Using Ideal Types” Friday, November 12, 2010 (audio and slides).
Scott L. Feld suggests that one approach to network theorizing is to identify a useful “ideal type,” carefully specify its defining properties, derive important implications of those properties, and consider how deviations from the defining properties affect the relevant implications. Professor Feld will illustrate this approach by considering the ideal type of a robust network hierarchy, distinguish it from other similar patterns (e.g. a transitive hierarchy or simple core-periphery), provide an empirical illustration, and consider some causes and consequence of this type of network pattern.
Scott L. Feld is Professor of Sociology (and Political Science) at Purdue University, and a Visiting Scholar at NICO. This presentation is part of his current effort to explicate the theoretical strategy in his earlier works on the focused organization of social ties, on friends of friends, and on the robust network hierarchies found in academia.
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Social Network Theorizing Using Ideal Types
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