1,319,961 research outputs found

    Network Society. What is it?

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    What is the network society? Roberta Iannone provides a complete and articulated definition of the concept of “network” that renders, in a clear and effective way, the descriptive content of the analysis, giving us at the same time a key to depict the contemporaneity. This perspective is enlarged and enriched by the interesting contributions of Cristina Marchetti, Laura Mariottini, Emanuele Ferreri and Manuela Ciprì.The key questions of the present volume are why and how to read society as a network. At the base of these interrogatives, there are at least three reasons: 1. First, the fact that the network has colonized the common use of the language and the collective imagination. Everyone talks about networks in different areas (politics, economics and health care, among others) and referring to different concerns (conformity, cooperation, multilingualism, social control and the crisis of the welfare state, to name but a few). In each situation, it assumes the most varied features: from a device that saves, to a mesh that traps. In these aspects, the role of the InterNet ‒ as the “network of networks” ‒ emerges. It becomes a metaphor and, at the same time, a support both for the Network Society and the contemporary societies even when creating new divisions – as exemplified by the concept and the phenomenon of the digital divide. 2. The second reason is that the study of the network is essential for the description of some of the processes through which we explain contemporary society since the late ‘70s: the postmodern and post‐industrial society; the fluid and flexible social processes; the organizations as cooperative and anti‐bureaucratic systems; the actors as results of multiple identities and as points of intersection of different social circles; the end of the fixed and immutable order of hierarchies and the advent of the governance; the birth of the “global village”; globalization; the mobility and transnationalism; the new forms of solidarity and horizontal communities; the transition from welfare state to the welfare society, etc. 3. The third reason is related to the implications the network society has in terms of linguistic practices and discursive production of space during the process of construction of both individual and collective identities. The movements of the individuals in the geographic space, resulting from the globalization processes of migration and mobility, generates a process of dislocation that involves the loss of the relationship between natural, socio‐cultural and geographical boundaries, while producing a partial relocation of old and new symbolic productions. Consequently, at the base of the postmodern processes of identity construction we cannot find the traditional relationship, related to socio‐territorial aspects, but a more complex net, that involves transnational and multilingual discursive practices. Therefore, to analyse society as a network means not only to respond to the “actual needs”, but also to highlight the “opportunities” and the “utilities”, and to investigate if society is really relational or only perceived as such – as exemplified by these processes and the related concepts

    What is Social Network Analysis?

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    This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book introduces the non-specialist reader to the principal ideas, nature and purpose of social network analysis. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals. Social network theory maps these relationships between individual actors. Though relatively new on the scene it has become hugely influential across the social sciences. Assuming no prior knowledge of quantitative sociology, this book presents the key ideas in context through examples and illustrations. Using a structured approach to understanding work in this area, John Scott signposts further reading and online sources so readers can develop their knowledge and skills to become practitioners of this research method. A series of Frequently Asked Questions takes the reader through the main objections raised against social network analysis and answers the various queries that will come up once the reader has worked their way through the book

    What is Social Network Analysis?

    Get PDF
    This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book introduces the non-specialist reader to the principal ideas, nature and purpose of social network analysis. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals. Social network theory maps these relationships between individual actors. Though relatively new on the scene it has become hugely influential across the social sciences. Assuming no prior knowledge of quantitative sociology, this book presents the key ideas in context through examples and illustrations. Using a structured approach to understanding work in this area, John Scott signposts further reading and online sources so readers can develop their knowledge and skills to become practitioners of this research method. A series of Frequently Asked Questions takes the reader through the main objections raised against social network analysis and answers the various queries that will come up once the reader has worked their way through the book

    What Is a Peer? The Role of Network Definitions in Estimation of Endogenous Peer Effects

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    We employ a standard identification strategy from the peer effects literature to investigate the importance of network definitions in estimation of endogenous peer effects. We use detailed information on friends in the Adolescent Longitudinal Health Survey (Add Health) to construct two network definitions that are less ad hoc than the school-grade cohorts commonly used in the educational peer effects literature. We demonstrate that accurate definitions of the peer network seriously impact estimation of peer effects. In particular, we show that peer effects estimates on educational achievement, smoking, sexual behavior, and drinking are substantially larger with our more detailed measures than with the school-grade cohorts. These results highlight the need to further understand how friendships form in order to fully understand implications for policy that alters the peer group mix at the classroom or cohort level.peer effects, education, adolescent health

    Extremal Properties of Three Dimensional Sensor Networks with Applications

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    In this paper, we analyze various critical transmitting/sensing ranges for connectivity and coverage in three-dimensional sensor networks. As in other large-scale complex systems, many global parameters of sensor networks undergo phase transitions: For a given property of the network, there is a critical threshold, corresponding to the minimum amount of the communication effort or power expenditure by individual nodes, above (resp. below) which the property exists with high (resp. a low) probability. For sensor networks, properties of interest include simple and multiple degrees of connectivity/coverage. First, we investigate the network topology according to the region of deployment, the number of deployed sensors and their transmitting/sensing ranges. More specifically, we consider the following problems: Assume that nn nodes, each capable of sensing events within a radius of rr, are randomly and uniformly distributed in a 3-dimensional region R\mathcal{R} of volume VV, how large must the sensing range be to ensure a given degree of coverage of the region to monitor? For a given transmission range, what is the minimum (resp. maximum) degree of the network? What is then the typical hop-diameter of the underlying network? Next, we show how these results affect algorithmic aspects of the network by designing specific distributed protocols for sensor networks
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