Reactions:Balancing Systematic and Flexible Exploration of Social Networks

This paper mainly address visualization complexity of networks/social networks.Authors talk about too much data to be visualize in term of links and label of nodes when it is displayed.I agree to this that its hard to visualize network even tough human have powerful cognition ability. Author suggest new way of modelling it ,namely SocialAction. SocialAction uses ranking and coordinated views for helping human minds find pattern. It works like tool where different type of views are generated by ranking, filtering(queries) ,ordering ,color coding and grouping and then used in different steps to find out interesting pattern across the breath of network.

Following are some characteristic of SocialAction:

1.Change of measure and ranking

2.Preserving node position

3.Allowing different view for ordering, filter and visually-coded node link for finding outliers(or any pattern)

This provides systematic and flexible exploration of networks.I like it having different views like scatter-plot, order-list and group/clustered network, highlighted links and ranked nodes.This behavior is very much like tool and allows lot of interactivity with this network data.Also this will help in using benefit of one view and overcoming drawback from other view.Like scatter-plot can easily give details about individual node of interest, or getting group characteristic by clustered/group/cohesive subgroup view, or multiplex ranking providing patterns on different types of link. SocialAction provide systematic iteration through the network measure available to get structural properties or pattern.Overall I find this technique very effective as it allows full freedom to user to interact and find the pattern in way and manner(spatial/structural or pattern) user wants.