Editing Communication and Social Networks (Spring 2024) (section)

= Required resources and texts =

== Computing Resources ==

One of the goals of this class is a basic skills in analyzing and visualizing network data in R. '''You will need access to a computer for this course.''' You shouldn't need anything especially new or powerful, but it needs to have room to install a few programs and enough memory to run them.

This semester, we are going to try using VSCode, an IDE which can write R code, and which includes a plugin to do AI-assisted coding. [[/R Lab 1|Our first R Lab]] will walk you through installing everything you need.

== Readings ==

* Required texts: 
* Easley, D., & Kleinberg, J. (2010). Networks, crowds, and markets. Cambridge University Press. [[https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/ web edition (free)]] [[https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/networks-book.pdf pre-print pdf (free)]] [[https://smile.amazon.com/Networks-Crowds-Markets-Reasoning-Connected/dp/0521195330/ (print edition (Amazon))]]
* Hanneman, R. A., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods. Riverside, CA: University of California, Riverside [http://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/nettext/ [web edition(free)]]

* Other readings: Other readings will be made available on Brightspace.

=== Reading Academic Articles ===

Many of the readings will be academic articles. I do not expect you to read every word of these articles. Rather, you should practice intentional directed skimming. [https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/strategies-for-reading-academic-articles This article] gives a nice overview. The TL;DR is that you should carefully read the abstract, introduction, and conclusion. For the rest of the article, focus on section headings and topic sentences to extract the main ideas.

== Other suggested books ==

* Barabasi, A-L. (2002). Linked: The new science of networks. Cambridge, MA: Perseus. 
* Scott, J. (2000). Social network analysis: A handbook (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications. 
* Watts, D. J. (2004). Six degrees: The science of a connected age. WW Norton & Company.
* Christakis, N. and Fowler, J. (2009). [https://archive.org/details/connectedsurpris00chri/ Connected : the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives]