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User interface

NodeXL v.167 – New features for handling groups of nodes in a network (and a few other things)

04MayMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

The NodeXL team at the Social Media Research Foundation is happy to announce the availability of the newest version: there is lots of new stuff in the latest release of NodeXL v.1.0.1.167!

  • Group Frames: If your graph has groups and you choose to lay out the groups in their own boxes (NodeXL, Graph, Layout, Layout Options), you can now specify the width of the box outlines.

  • Constant Edges: When you select an edge, its width no longer changes. NodeXL used to use the same width for all selected edges, even if the edges had varying widths when unselected.
  • Group and Vertex Display Harmony:
    • When a graph has groups, you now have more control over how the groups are shown. Go to NodeXL, Analysis, Groups, Group Options.
    • The NodeXL, Show/Hide, Graph Elements, Groups menu item has been replaced with a checkbox in the Group Options dialog box.

  • Right-Click Group Controls: Menu items for selecting, expanding, collapsing and removing groups are now available in the menu that appears when you right-click the graph pane. (These are just shortcuts for the same menu items that are available in the Ribbon at NodeXL, Analysis, Groups.)

  • WYSIWYCC: What You See Is What You Can Click –
    • Hidden edges and vertices (those that have their Visibility cells set to Hide) can no longer be selected in the graph pane.
    • Edges and vertices that have been filtered (NodeXL, Analysis, Dynamic Filters) can no longer be selected in the graph pane.
  • Bigger Twitter Lists: When importing a Twitter list network (NodeXL, Import, From Twitter List Network), you can now enter up to 10,000 usernames. The maximum used to be 500.
  • UCINET / Matrix Compatibility: Bug fix: When exporting the graph to a UCINET file (NodeXL, Data, Export, To UCINET Full Matrix DL File), isolated vertices didn’t get exported. When exporting the graph to a new matrix workbook (NodeXL, Data, Export, To New Matrix Workbook), isolated vertices didn’t get exported, when importing a graph from a matrix workbook (NodeXL, Data, Import, From Open Matrix Workbook), isolated vertices didn’t get imported. Now they do!
Posted in All posts, Connected Action, Foundation, Maryland, Measuring social media, Metrics, Network clusters and communities, Network data providers (spigots), NodeXL, Porto, Research, SMRF, Social Interaction, Social Media, Social Media Research Foundation, Social network, Social Network Analysis, Social Theories and concepts, Sociology, User interface, Visualization Tagged Analysis, Feature, network, NodeXL, SMRF, SMRFoundation, SNA, Social Media Research Foundation, Social network, update, Upgrade, v167, Version

NodeXL: Automatically Collapse Groups in v.166 with Autofill Columns and Conditional Collapse

26AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

NodeXL allows users to gather vertices into named collections called “Groups”.  This is handy whenever the entities in the network are made up of different types or an algorithm has divided the network into sub-regions based on how densely some vertices connect to one another.  The Groups menu is found in the NodeXL>Analysis menu:

Since version v.132 of NodeXL it has been possible to Collapse a group of vertices (See: Expand and Collapse Groups of Vertices with NodeXL v.132).  When a group is collapsed all of the vertices within that group are removed from the network graph and replaced with a single vertex with a size proportionate to the number of vertices in the group.  A small “+” plus sign indicates that the vertex is a placeholder for a group of vertices.

If the user expands a collapsed group all of the vertices that had been hidden return to positions in the network visualization.  The Groups menu has commands for creating, collapsing, and expanding groups.

NodeXL (v.166) now has the ability to automatically collapse or expand any group of vertices conditionally based on any attribute in the workbook using the Autofill Columns feature.

The NodeXL Autofill columns feature allows users to map data elements to display elements.  At the bottom of this list (you may need to scroll down to see it) you will now find a new row: Group Collapsed?

There are several network metric attributes for each group that are created when the Find Groups and then the Graph Metrics command has been run on a network in NodeXL:

Selecting one of the data items in the drop down allows you to automatically decide if a group with those attributes will be presented in a collapsed or (default) expanded state.  The data about each group include the number of vertices within the group, the number of connections between those vertices, the number of non-unique connections, the number of unique connections among the vertices, the number of self-connections, the number of unique connected components, the number of isolated vertices, the number of vertices in the largest component, the number of edges in the largest component, the maximum and average width of the largest component, and the density of the group.

These metrics allow for the automated processing of the graph to measure each group and apply a test to decide if a group is too dense or populous to be seen in an expanded state.

Posted in All posts, Network clusters and communities, Network metrics and measures, Network visualization layouts, NodeXL, Social network, User interface Tagged 2011, April, Autofill, Automation, Clusters, Collapse, Columns, Control, Expand, graph, group, Layout, network, NodeXL, Programmatic, Sets, SMRF, SMRFoundation, SNA, Social Media Research Foundation

July 17 – July 23, 2011 – NodeXL Session at Computational Social Science Workshop, Lipari Island, Italy

25AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith


Logo
Lipari

I will be speaking at the Jacob T. Schwartz International School for Scientific Research week long Lipari School on Computational Social Science , July 17 – July 23, 2011, Lipari Island, Italy.

This year’s program is dedicated to Computational Social Science: Text and Decisions

Speakers:

  • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla: Director of the Center for Social Complexity, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Washington DC.
  • Huan Liu: Community Detection and Mining in Social Media [abstract]
    School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University
  • Roel Popping: Computer-assisted text analysis, and the relevance of decision making and text mining [abstract]
    Department of Sociology, University of Groningen

Tutorials

  • Marc A. Smith: Charting Collections of Connections in Social Media: Maps and Measures with NodeXL [abstract]
    Chief Social Scientist, Connected Action Consulting Group
  • Calogero Zarba: Introduction to matrix algebra [abstract]
    Neodata Intelligence s.r.l., Italy
  • Alessandro Pluchino: Netlogo: An agent based simulation programmable environment [abstract], University of Catania, Italy
Posted in All posts, Collective Action, Common Goods, Community, Conference, Measuring social media, Metrics, Mobile Devices, Mobile Social Software, Network clusters and communities, Network data providers (spigots), Network metrics and measures, Network visualization layouts, NodeXL, Performance scale parallel and cloud computing, Research, Social Interaction, Social Media, Social network, Social Network Analysis, Social Roles, Sociology, Talks, Technology, University, User interface, Visualization Tagged 2011, Analysis, Italy, July, Lecture, Lipari, Marc Smith, network, NodeXL, Presentation, SNA, social, Talk, Tutorial, workshop

Getting into shape(s) with NodeXL

23AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith
 

 

NodeXL offers a range of shapes to represent vertices, including: circle, square, triangle, and diamond in filled and unfilled forms.

Vertices can also be represented as images.

Edges can also have styles:

 

Posted in All posts, Network visualization layouts, NodeXL, Social network, Social Network Analysis, User interface, Visualization Tagged 2010, Attriibute, Circle, Node, NodeXL, Shape, SMRF, SMRFoundation, Social Media Research Foundation, Square, Triangle, Vertex

Setting forth: saving NodeXL option settings – how to exchange your expert configurations in NodeXL

23AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

Recently, we’ve been setting out to set up a new way to set the option settings in NodeXL.  Now we have added a new feature to NodeXL (v.166): savable, selectable configuration option settings files.

This may seem dull but this feature may have a big impact on the ease of use of NodeXL.  This may let the most experienced users of NodeXL share their best practices with the rest of the user community.

Throughout NodeXL you can set a wide range of values, options, and settings.  Change the default size of a font in the Graph Options and we record that setting.  Map the size of a vertex to a value associated with it in Autofill columns  and we record the setting.

Until now, we recorded the settings in several places: some settings went with each workbook, some settings were associated with each machine and stayed on each desktop.  The result was that I could create a great network visualization, save and send someone the workbook and they often would not see what I saw when they opened and visualized the network graph. Why?  People set their settings in lots of different ways, on different machines, creating potentially vastly different results.

Now, NodeXL will record everything about how a network workbook should be rendered in that workbook.

This now also means that expert users can save their settings for NodeXL and exchange them with other users.

NodeXL now has three places to put settings that should make it more reliable to share a workbook and get the same results on different systems.  There will now be a default NodeXL settings file, a per NodeXL workbook settings file (stored in a hidden worksheet in the workbook) and any number of saved settings files.  Users can save their settings in each workbook or decide to save the workbook’s custom set of settings to overwrite the default settings file that will be applied to all subsequent NodeXL workbooks.  Users can also save their settings to one or more named files, which can be shared with others.  Users can import any of these settings files and apply them to an open workbook by selecting NodeXL>Options>Import.

  • Each NodeXL workbook now has its own set of options. The options are stored right in the workbook, so if you send a workbook to someone else, she’ll be using the same set of options that you did. (“Options” are the selections you make in NodeXL’s dialog boxes, in the NodeXL tab in the Excel Ribbon, and in the toolbar at the top of the graph pane.)
  • If you like the options you’ve selected in a workbook and you want those options to be used for all new NodeXL workbooks, use NodeXL, Options, Use Current for New in the Ribbon.
  • You can export a workbook’s options to a separate “options file” that you can send to another NodeXL user or use yourself for other NodeXL workbooks. Use NodeXL, Options, Export.
  • Import an options file into a workbook using NodeXL, Options, Import. (Known bug, will be fixed in next release: The setting for the Scale slider at the top of the graph pane does not get imported.)
  • The old “Options” button at the top of the graph pane is now called “Graph Options.”
  • There is no longer a Background button in NodeXL, Visual Attributes. The graph’s background color and image are now both set via Graph Options.

For those who are running automated collections that then run automated processing of a workbook (see: How to schedule the creation of a network with NodeXL and Windows Task Scheduler) you should note that:

  • The NodeXL Network Server console program now lets you specify a NodeXL options file to use when a network is saved to a NodeXL workbook. See the NodeXLOptionsFile topic in the SampleNetworkConfiguration.xml file for details.  This means that the same machine can be used for scheduled network collection and processing without console users interfering with the settings for automated graphs.
Posted in All posts, NodeXL, Social network, User interface Tagged 2011, April, Configuration, Exchange, NodeXL, Options, Release, Settings, SMRF, SMRFoundation, Social Media Research Foundation, Upgrade, v.166 1 Comment

NodeXL (v.166) Keyboard Shortcuts

23AprMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

NodeXL now (v.166) offers users a set of keyboard shortcuts that can speed up your routine network layout tasks.

After you click in the graph pane, a number of keyboard shortcuts are now available for functions that had previously been available in the visualization pane’s right-click menu. Now, you can press:

Ctrl+A to select all vertices and edges
Ctrl+V
to select all vertices
Ctrl+E
to select all edges
Ctrl+D
to deselect everything
Ctrl+P
to edit the properties of the selected vertices
Ctrl+C
to save the graph image to the Windows clipboard
Ctrl+I
to save the graph image to a file
Arrow key
to move the selected vertices a small distance
Shift+arrow key
to move the selected vertices a large distance.

(If you forget a shortcut, most of them are listed in the graph pane’s right-click menu.)

If you have any suggestions for other frequent tasks that could be accelerated with a keyboard command, please contact us on the NodeXL discussion board or here in the comments.

(v.166)
Posted in All posts, Foundation, NodeXL, SMRF, Social Media Research Foundation, User interface Tagged 2011, April, Command, CTRL+, Edge, Feature, graph, Image, keyboard, Lay Out, NodeXL, Pane, shortcuts, SMRF, SMRFoundation, Social Media Research Foundation, update, v166, Version, Vertex

A network guide to NodeXL features: The new NodeXL sample network (in v.159)

19DecMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues, (University of Porto) from the NodeXL team has created a sample network file that attempts to highlight the functions and applications of the social media network analysis toolkit.  The latest release of NodeXL now contains this sample file:

In this map nodes represent the major feature groups and functions in the NodeXL application.

This map will become the default file that will open when you run NodeXL for the first time.  You will see a dialog like this:

Select Yes to have the graph above imported into the workbook.  You can then display the graph using the Show Graph button in the NodeXL menu ribbon.

After that, it will be available via the help menus. When you import the file, all of the data is also available in the spreadsheet part of NodeXL so that you can experiment with changing values there to see the impact in the graph display after you hit the “refresh graphs” button.

Over the coming weeks we plan to release additional sample network data sets that illustrate key concepts and methods in network science.  Suggestions for sample networks are welcome!

Posted in All posts, Foundation, Network data providers (spigots), Network metrics and measures, Network visualization layouts, NodeXL, SMRF, Social network, User interface, Visualization Tagged 2010, Analysis, Chart, graph, Hello, Map, network, November, Sample, SMRF, SMRFoundation, SNA, social, Social Media Research Foundation, Splash Screen, Visualization, World

Fully automatic: NodeXL can build your network graphs hands free

12SepMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

In many cases I look at a network graph and apply a series of operations to transform it into a more presentable form.  For example, I often calculate graph metrics, use Autofill columns to map data to display attributes like size, color, or shape, create clusters, sub-graph images, and then select the Harel-Koren layout and select the options so that small components get lined up in neat rows at the bottom of the graph.  I like the edges to be gray and partially transparent.  I often set the font size to a large 24 points because I scale the graph to about 10% of its full size to reduce occlusion.

Carrying out each of these operations once is no problem.  Repeat 100 times and there is a problem.

The NodeXL team completed another phase of our automation feature, allowing users to build a refined graph with any set of configuration that can be applied to any number of other networks.

Along with the automated collection system, NodeXL can now generate a regular stream of network graphs from social media sources.

Posted in All posts, Foundation, NodeXL, Social network, User interface Tagged 2010, Automation, Feature, July, network, NodeXL, SMRF, SMRFoundation, SNA, Social Media Research Foundation

Book: Flier and Cover Art – Analyzing social media networks with NodeXL: Insights from a connected world

19JunMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

The production team at Morgan-Kaufmann have created a cover and a flier for the forthcoming book:

2010 – June – NodeXL Book Flyer.

Written and edited by Derek Hansen, Ben Shneiderman and Marc Smith, the book contains contributed chapters on sample social media systems:

[Chapter 10]: Twitter: Conversation, Entertainment and Information, All in One Network!

By Vladimir Barash and Scott Golder

[Chapter 11]: Visualizing and Interpreting Facebook Networks

By Bernie Hogan

[Chapter 12]: WWW Hyperlink Networks

By Robert Ackland

[Chapter 13]: Flickr: Linking People, Photos, and Tags

By Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues and Natasa Milic-Frayling

[Chapter 14]: YouTube: Contrasting Patterns of Interaction and Prominence

By Dana Rotman and Jennifer Golbeck

[Chapter 15]: Wiki Networks: Networks of Creativity and Collaboration

By Howard T Welser, Patrick Underwood, Dan Cosley, Derek Hansen, and Laura Black

This handy poster contains many details about the book contributors, chapters, and the book cover (which you can also see below):

2010 - Book - Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL Cover

Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World

Posted in All posts, Book, Collective Action, Common Goods, Community, Connected Action, Maryland, Measuring social media, Metrics, Network clusters and communities, Network data providers (spigots), Network metrics and measures, Network visualization layouts, NodeXL, Performance scale parallel and cloud computing, Research, Social Media, Social network, Social Network Analysis, Social Roles, Sociology, University, User interface, Visualization Tagged 2010, Art, Ben Shneiderman, Book, Chart, class, Cover, Derek Hansen, Flier, graph, Hansen, learn, Map, Marc Smith, Maryland, Morgan Kaufmann, NodeXL, Promotional materials, Shneiderman, SNA, Social Media, social network analysis, teach, textbook

New NodeXL Network Server (v1.0.1.126) – Frequently Asked Questions

14JunMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

NodeXL Network Server Frequently Asked Questions

The NodeXL team has released a new version (v.1.0.1.126) with better support for collecting data from social media network sources, starting with Twitter.  The NodeXL Network Server program now ships in every NodeXL installation.  Tony, the lead developer on the team, created the following FAQ to explain how to use the collector application.

This document describes how the NodeXL Network Server works.

  • What is the NodeXL Network Server?

It’s a Windows command-line program that downloads a network from Twitter and stores the network on disk in several file formats.  It can be run directly from a command line, but is typically scheduled to run on a periodic basis via the Task Scheduler that is built into Windows.

  • Where can the files be found?

The files are in NodeXL’s program folder.  To find out where the folder is, right-click the Microsoft NodeXL, Excel 2007 Template menu item in the Windows Start menu, then select Properties.  On 32-bit English computers, the folder is “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Research\Microsoft NodeXL Excel Template.”

  • Who are its intended users?

The Server is meant for use by people with moderate system administration skills.  It is not difficult to use, but it is not intended for the same audience as the NodeXL Excel Template, where ease of use is of high priority.

  • How do you run the Server from the Windows command line?

Like this:

NodeXLNetworkServer.exe NetworkConfiguration.xml

The program takes a single argument, which is the path to a configuration file that specifies which network should be downloaded and how the network should be saved to disk.  A particular configuration file might specify “Get the Twitter search network for people whose tweets contain ‘Sociology,’ add an edge for each ‘mentions’ relationship, limit to 100 people, include tweets, include statistics, and store the network as a GraphML file in the C:\NodeXLNetworks folder.”

The program immediately gets the requested network, saves it to disk, and exits.  On its own, it does not run on a periodic basis.

  • How do I create a configuration file?

You create a configuration file by copying a provided template file and editing the copy in Notepad.  The template file is named SampleNetworkConfiguration.xml and is stored in the same folder as the program.  The file is in XML format and the XML tags are clearly named and documented.

  • In what file formats can be the network be saved to disk?

You can save the network to either GraphML, which can be imported into a NodeXL workbook; directly to a NodeXL workbook; or both.

  • Do you typically run the program from the command line?

No.  Instead, you typically run it as a scheduled task via a built-in Windows program called Task Scheduler

Task Scheduler is a powerful utility that lets your run any program, including NodeXL Network Server, on a periodic basis.  You can, for example, tell Task Scheduler to run NodeXL Network Server using a particular network configuration file every twelve hours starting June 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2010; or once a week starting now and continuing forever.  The scheduling options are endless.

  • Why not just include scheduling features in the NodeXL Network Server?

For two reasons.  First, Task Scheduler’s extensive scheduling options would be difficult to duplicate.  Second, if NodeXL Network Server had to download a network on a periodic basis, it would have to run as a Windows service, and Windows services are more complex to implement and to use than a simple command-line program.

  • How are the network files named?

Scheduling the NodeXL Network Server to run periodically can create any number of network files in the specified directory, so a file-naming scheme is needed.  The file name format is

{NetworkConfigFileName}_{Date}_{Time}.{Extension}.

So the above example, in which NetworkConfiguration.xml specifies that networks are to be saved as GraphML, might create a set of network files that look like this:

NetworkConfiguration_2010-06-01_02-00-00.graphml
NetworkConfiguration_2010-06-01_14-00-00. graphml
NetworkConfiguration_2010-06-02_02-00-00. graphml
…
  • What happens if the computer is not turned on at the scheduled time?

By default, the task won’t be performed until the next scheduled time when the computer is turned on.  However, if the computer is sleeping, you can tell Task Scheduler to wake it at the scheduled time to run the task.

  • What happens if the NodeXL Network Server encounters an error?

If the error prevents the network from being downloaded, the NodeXL Network Server creates an error file instead of a network file.  The file name starts with “Error” to make it easy to spot:

Error_NetworkConfiguration_2010-06-02_14-00-00.txt

The error file contains the details of what went wrong.

If one or more errors block part of the network but other parts of the network are successfully downloaded, then the NodeXL Network Server creates the network file containing the partial network, along with a text file that explains how many errors occurred.  The text file name starts with “PartialNetworkInfo” to make it easy to spot:

NetworkConfiguration_2010-06-02_14-00-00.Graphml
PartialNetworkInfo_NetworkConfiguration_Date.txt
  • What if I want to periodically download more than one network?

Simply schedule more than one task, each using a different network configuration file.  The tasks are independent of one another and can be scheduled to run at different times.

Posted in All posts, Metrics, Network data providers (spigots), NodeXL, Social Media, Social network, Twitter, User interface Tagged 2010, Chart, Data Collector, Desktop, Diagram, graph, GraphML, June, NodeXL, Server, SMRF, SMRFoundation, Social Media, Social Media Research Foundation, Twitter

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Apply NodeXL in espanol!

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