Start Networking!
To get a better understanding of complex networks, students create their own, real social network example by interacting with their peers in the classroom and documenting the interactions. They represent the interaction data as a graph, calculate two mathematical quantities associated with the graph—the degree of each node and the degree distribution of the graph—and analyze how these quantities can be used to infer properties of the social network at hand.
What can we learn about the characteristics of complex networks by analyzing graphs?Copyright Office of Adolescent Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/resources-and-publications/learning/coll-tk/index.html#chapter-2/section-2-3/ http://www.insurance.wa.gov/social/index.shtml
We are all members of social networks. Many of us use social networking websites—built by software engineers—to keep in touch and up to date with the people in our social circles. Our money changes hands in exchange for goods and services, creating economic networks studied by financial engineers. Infectious diseases spread via contact networks and are studied by bioengineers and public health researchers. Information flows over our friendship and acquaintance networks, often facilitated by technologies developed by electrical and computer engineers.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Represent data as a graph.
- Calculate the degree of each node of a graph as well as the degree distribution of a graph.