May 15, 2014: Keynote at Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State University

07MayMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will speak at the Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State University on Thursday, May 15, 2014.

I will talk about the themes Thinking across Boundaries, Learning by Doing, and Innovating through Collaboration in the context of the work of the Social Media Research Foundation to deliver an end-user friendly, free and open tool for social media network analysis.

The NodeXL project from the Social Media Research Foundation has crossed many boundaries, notably bridging the divide between the social sciences and the computer sciences.

We have learned a great deal as the NodeXL development team has released hundreds of updates to the application, guided by the feedback of our growing user community.

The Social Media Research Foundation team has innovated at multiple levels: organizationally we are a modern, virtual, distributed group of collaborators. Technically, we have focused our project on ease of use and automation rather than scale and sophistication, our users are not programmers. We have implemented many innovative network analysis and visualization techniques because we have been driven by a need to serve a diverse user population. The contributors to the project are themselves from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds, making it easier to shape the tool for the broadest audience.

May 7-9, 2014 – SQLPASS – San Jose – Social media network maps in Excel with NodeXL

10MarMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will present a talk at the 2014 SQL PASS Business Analytics Conference in San Jose on May 8th.

The talk will focus on free and open tools for creating network maps and reports that can illuminate the landscape of social media.

The graph represents a network of 633 Twitter users whose tweets in the requested date range contained “sqlpass”, or who were replied to or mentioned in those tweets. The tweets in the network were tweeted over the 15-day, 2-hour, 48-minute period from Tuesday, 25 February 2014 at 00:26 UTC to Wednesday, 12 March 2014 at 03:15 UTC.

There is an edge for each “replies-to” relationship in a tweet, an edge for each “mentions” relationship in a tweet, and a self-loop edge for each tweet that is not a “replies-to” or “mentions”.

The graph’s vertices were grouped by cluster using the Clauset-Newman-Moore cluster algorithm. The graph was laid out using the Harel-Koren Fast Multiscale layout algorithm.

The edge colors are based on edge weight values. The edge widths are based on edge weight values. The edge opacities are based on edge weight values. The vertex sizes are based on followers values. The vertex opacities are based on followers values.

Top 10 Vertices, Ranked by Betweenness Centrality:
@sqlpass
@laertesqldba
@nikoneugebauer
@karlakay22
@jenstirrup
@retracement
@grrl_geek
@sqlrockstar
@markvsql
@sqlservermag

Top URLs in Tweet in Entire Graph:
http://www.sqlpass.org/ss2014launch/Webinars.aspx
http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2014/Speakers/CallForSpeakers.aspx
http://sqlsaturday.com/287/schedule.aspx
http://bi.sqlpass.org/
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5759204879042322946
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2383471085904007682
http://paper.li/PASSAppDev/1391708680
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3165768110532010497
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2196441958679840002
http://www.linkedin.com/slink?code=bNfBsHy

Top Hashtags in Tweet in Entire Graph:
#sqlpass
#sqlserver
#sql
#sqlsatexeter
#sqlpass_de
#sqlsaturday
#sqlsatvienna
#sqlsatportugal
#msbi
#sqlsatmadison

May 1-2, 2014 Talk at Social Media & Web Analytics Summit in San Francisco

09MarMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will speak at The Social Media & Web Analytics Summit on May 2nd.

Hosted by The Innovation Enterprise, the event provides 30+ industry case studies and over 20 hours of networking opportunities across 2 days.

The summit will cover the important topics relevant to business today:

Measuring, Evaluating & Predicting the Social Consumer
What Consumers Say vs. What They Do
Multi-Platform Consumer Engagement
Journey to Social Media ROI
Multi-Variate Experiments on the Web
Scientifically Measuring the Wealth of your Website

You can follow the event on Twitter with the hashtag: #IESocialWeb.

#IESocialWeb Twitter NodeXL SNA Map and Report for Friday, 14 March 2014 at 00:30 UTC

View an interactive version of this graph (experimental)

Continue reading →

April 24-25, 2014: TheNextWeb – Amsterdam – NodeXL talk about mapping social media networks

09MarMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I spoke at TheNextWeb 2014 in Amsterdam on April 25th.

Here is a map of the connections among the people who recently tweeted the terms: tnwconference OR #TNWEurope OR thenextweb

This is a highly fragmented “Brand” network pattern with several prominent Broadcast hub and spoke structures centered around the most central participants: @thenextweb, @ow, @epro, @nicolasfordham, @gcouros, @malchord, @martinsfp, @plagia3, @k5launch, @taxion2.

I spoke about how anyone who can make a pie chart can now make these network maps and reports.

Interested in a map for a topic important to you? Request a free sample NodeXL social media network map and report.

March 17, 2014 Predictive Analytics World – San Francisco: Think Link! Network Insights with No Programming Skills

05MarMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will present a workshop at Predictive Analytics World in San Francisco on March 17, 2014.

Track 1: Social Media Analysis
Think Link! Network Insights with No Programming Skills

Networks are everywhere but collecting, analyzing, visualizing, and gaining insights into connected structures can require advanced technical skills. This session presents a free, easy-to-use tool for network analysis that builds on the familiar Excel spreadsheet called NodeXL. If you can make a pie chart, you can get insights into networks. The tool makes it easy to collect data from a range of social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). Quickly create visualizations and reports on the shape of connected groups. Identify the key people, groups and topics in a community. Network analysis can reveal the hidden structures in streams of interactions.

StrataConf 2014 – February 11-13, Santa Clara – Network Science Made Simple: SNA for pie chart makers

03FebMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will present at the 2014 Strata Conference in Santa Clara, CA on February 11, 2013.

Network Science Made Simple: SNA for pie chart makers

Marc Smith (Connected Action Consulting Group)

2:20pm Wednesday, 02/12/2014

Data Science
Ballroom ABNetworks are everywhere, particularly in social media. Understanding networks can quickly reveal the key people, groups, and topics that matter most. But the tools to collect, analyze, visualize, and gain insights into connected structures have remained complex. Now the free and open NodeXL application makes network analysis tasks as easy as making a pie chart. The Network Overview Discovery and Exploration add-in for Excel (2007, 2010, 2013) extends the familiar spreadsheet, enabling users to easily access networks from a range of data sources including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, email, message boards, Wikis, blogs, and other repositories of connections. With simple automation tools, NodeXL users can calculate a range of network metrics, create a visualization, and generate a report highlighting key people, groups, and top URLs, hashtags, words and word pairs used in the discussion network. Network maps have revealed many of the hidden structures of social media, defining the major differences in the shapes and structures created as people link to one another.

I will also hold Office Hours at the event:

Office Hour with Marc Smith (Team NodeXL)

Marc Smith (Connected Action Consulting Group)
3:00pm Wednesday, 02/12/2014
Office Hour
Table A

If you have questions on social network analysis, meet with Marc to talk about:

NodeXL and related network analysis and visualization tools
How to collect, store, analyze, visualize, summarize and publish social network reports with just a few clicks (and no coding)
How to identify key influential people and subgroups within a conversation network
How to apply social network analysis to social media marketing
How to apply organizational network analysis to enterprise collaboration

Above is a map of the connections among the people who recently tweeted the term “strataconf” over the 7-day, 19-hour, 38-minute period from Sunday, 26 January 2014 at 21:53 UTC to Monday, 03 February 2014 at 17:32 UTC. The key people in the network at this point are:

@strataconf
@oreillymedia
@thedatacrunch
@dataiku
@alpinedatalabs
@sasanalytics
@zettaforce
@bigdata
@josemariasiota
@tibco

You can make these types of maps with just a few clicks using NodeXL.

I hope to see you in Santa Clara!

December 12-14, 2013 – DISC2013 International Conference on Social Network Analysis in Daegu, South Korea

17NovMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

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I will speak this December 12-14 , 2013 at the DISC2013 International Conference on Social Network Analsysis at Yeungnam University in Daegu, South Korea – http://bit.ly/17LtWlo

My host is conference organizer Dr. Han Woo Park, director or the Webometrics Lab at Yeungnam University

After the conference I will travel to visit with other research groups in Korea focused on the study of social media. I will be traveling with a colleague, Dr. Jana Diesner, professor of information science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Schedule for December:
12-14 Asia Triple Helix Forum
16 Workshop at POSTECH with Dr. Woo-Sung Jung
17 Talk at KAIST with Dr. Il-Chul Moon
18 Workshop at Treum, Meeting with Dr. Gihong Yi
19 Sogang University and KISTEP

[flickrset id=”72157638574883866″ thumbnail=”thumbnail” photos=”” overlay=”true” size=”medium”]

DC on Nov 13 at 8:30AM: IREX Social Network Analysis: Influence and Impact Beyond Likes and Retweets

05NovMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will participate in a workshop at IREX in Washington D.C. on November 13, 2013.

The workshop is titled Social Network Analysis: Influence and Impact Beyond Likes and Retweets. We will focus on the applications of social network analysis for development efforts, exploring how SNA can:

Create viral and influential advocacy and political campaigns
Find business and employment connections for entrepreneurs and youth
Identify hidden disease vectors and stop new infection pathways
Break circles of government corruption and graft
Target existing informal support resources for disaster response

The workshop will be facilitated by Wayan Vota along with three social network analysis researchers:

This Deep Dive will be an active event. We will mix thoughtful discussions with experiential activities, building social capital while we learn about social networks. Participants are encouraged to submit social media topics in advance so maps and reports can be generated for the event.

Note that this event is in-person only, so please RSVP now to attend.

How Social Network Analysis Can Improve Impact
IREX Tech Deep Dive
8:30am-12:30pm,
November 13th, 2013
IREX Headquarters
Washington, DC

October 24th, 2013: NodeXL Social Media Network Analysis Workshop at Arizona State University

13OctMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I will speak about social media networks on October 24th, 2013 at the department of Computer Science at the Arizona State University.

The graph represents a network of 712 Twitter users whose recent tweets contained “@ASU”, taken from a data set limited to a maximum of 10,000 tweets. The network was obtained from Twitter on Sunday, 13 October 2013 at 19:56 UTC.

The tweets in the network were tweeted over the 4-day, 21-hour, 47-minute period from Tuesday, 08 October 2013 at 21:48 UTC to Sunday, 13 October 2013 at 19:35 UTC.

There is an edge for each “replies-to” relationship in a tweet. There is an edge for each “mentions” relationship in a tweet. There is a self-loop edge for each tweet that is not a “replies-to” or “mentions”.

The graph is directed.

The graph’s vertices were grouped by cluster using the Clauset-Newman-Moore cluster algorithm.

The graph was laid out using the Harel-Koren Fast Multiscale layout algorithm.

TedX Bay Area Talk: The Myth of Selective Sharing – Digital Health Futures: Empowerment or coercion?

05AugMay 7, 2015 By Marc Smith

I spoke about my concerns with the continued belief in selective sharing. I argue at this TedX Bay Area talk that it is unwise to expect that digital information systems are capable of privacy or selective sharing. In other words, it is a dangerous myth to believe in a feature that in practice fails regularly and by design. In fact, it seems that it is practically impossible to create any digital information system that is secure.

In such a world we may want to reconsider our sharing practices, particularly if they were built on the idea of selective sharing. If any of your digital information is something you would rather not share publicly, you may want to rethink the idea that you can keep your information private.

If you are building an information system, you may want to rethink the idea that you can offer selective sharing in a reliable form.