This paper describes a method of inferring the social network of a group of IRC users in a channel. An IRC bot is used to monitor a channel and perform a heuristic analysis of events to create a mathematical approximation of the social network. From this, the bot can produce a visualization of the inferred social network on demand. These visualizations reveal the structure of the social network, highlighting connectivity, clustering and strengths of relationships between users. Animated output allows viewers to see the evolution of the social network over time.
Includes images, mpeg animations, and a downloadable Java implementation. Cool.
[via Advogato]
Posted by johndan at January 24, 2004 01:27 PM
| TrackBack