A tale of two communities : assessing homophily in node-link diagrams

W. Meulemans, A. Schulz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
632 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Homophily is a concept in social network analysis that states that in a network a link is more probable, if the two individuals have a common characteristic. We study the question if an observer can assess homophily by looking at the node-link diagram of the network. We design an experiment that investigates three different layout algorithms and asks the users to estimate the degree of homophily in the displayed network. One of the layout algorithms is a classical force-directed method, the other two are designed to improve node distinction based on the common characteristic. We study how each of the three layout algorithms helps to get a fair estimate, and whether there is a tendency to over or underestimate the degree of homophily. The stimuli in our experiments use different network sizes and different proportions of the cluster sizes.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGraph Drawing and Network Visualization
Subtitle of host publication23rd International Symposium, GD 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, September 24-26, 2015, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsE. Di Giacomo, A. Lubiw
Place of PublicationDordrecht
PublisherSpringer
Pages489-501
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-27261-0
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-27260-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event23rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2015) - California State University Northridge, Los Angeles, United States
Duration: 24 Sept 201526 Sept 2015
Conference number: 23
http://www.csun.edu/gd2015/

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume9411

Conference

Conference23rd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2015)
Abbreviated titleGD 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLos Angeles
Period24/09/1526/09/15
Internet address

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