NetdrawGuide.docx

1、NetdrawGuideA Brief Guide to Using NetDrawNetDraw is a program for drawing social networks. Overview of FeaturesMultiple Relations. You can read in multiple relations on the same nodes, and switch between them (or combine them) easily.Valued Relations. If you read in valued data, you can sequentiall

2、y “step” through different levels of dichotomization, effectively selecting only strong ties, only weak ties, etc. In addition, you have the option of letting the thickness of lines correspond to strength of ties.Node Attributes. The program makes it convenient to read in multiple node attributes fo

3、r use in setting colors and sizes of nodes (as well as rims, labels, etc.). In addition, the program makes it easy to turn on and off groups of nodes defined by a variable, such as males or members of a given organization. If the attributes are read in using the VNA data format (see below), they can

4、 be textual in addition to numeric. This means that instead of coding location as numeric codes 1, 2, 3, etc, you can simply write Boston, New York, Tokyo Analysis. A limited set of analytical procedures are included, such as the identification of isolates, components, k-cores, cut-points and bi-com

5、ponents (blocks).2-Mode Data. NetDraw can read 2-mode data, such as the Davis, Gardner and Gardner data and automatically create a bipartite representation of it.Data Formats. The program reads Ucinet datasets (the #h and #d files), Ucinet DL text files, Pajek files (net, clu and vec), and the progr

6、ams own VNA text file format, which allows the user to combine node attributes with tie information.Saving Data. Using the VNA file format, the program can save a network along with its spatial configuration, node colors, shapes, etc. so that the next time you open the file, the network looks exactl

7、y like it looked before. The program can also save data as Pajek net and clu files, and Ucinet datasets (both networks and attributes).Saving Pictures. Network diagrams can be saved as bitmaps (.bmp), jpegs (.jpg), windows metafiles (.wmf) and enhanced metafiles (.emf). In addition, the program expo

8、rts to Pajek and Mage.Printing. There is a Print button. This is very good for creating publication-quality diagrams because the results utilize the full resolution of the printer. (When you save an image like a bitmap to disk and insert into a document and then print that, the image resolution is n

9、o better than your screens.)Appearance Options. A full range of options is implemented, including the ability to change sizes and colors of nodes, node-rims, labels, lines and background. Different node shapes are not yet implemented. You can also rotate, flip, shift, resize and zoom configurations.

10、Layout. Two basic kinds of layouts are implemented at present: a circle and an MDS/ spring embedding based on geodesic distance. The MDS includes options for exaggerating clustering, biasing toward equal-length edges, and turning on/off node-repulsion. Getting StartedSuppose you have a network curre

11、ntly stored as a Ucinet dataset. To draw it in network, just press the Open File button on the toolbar and select the file. The rest is automatic. Here is an example of drawing a file called campnet:Now suppose you have some information about each person that you would like to use to in the display.

12、 You might enter the information in a text file called CampAttribs.txt (e.g., enter it in Excel and Save As text file) in the following format:*node dataid gender role betweennessHOLLY female participant 78.33333588BRAZEY female participant 0CAROL female participant 1.333333373PAM female participant

13、 32.5PAT female participant 39.5JENNIE female participant 6.333333492PAULINE female participant 12.5ANN female participant 0.5MICHAEL male participant 58.83333206BILL male participant 0LEE male participant 5DON male participant 16.33333397JOHN male participant 0HARRY male participant 2.333333254GERY

14、 male instructor 54.66666794STEVE male instructor 16.83333397BERT male instructor 13.66666698RUSS male instructor 47.33333206Note that the values do not need to be numeric. They should be separated from each other by a comma, space or tab (and values that contain spaces should be enclosed in quotes

15、as in “Bill Smith”). To read this file, go to File|Open|VNA|Attributes and select the file. This will read the file and open the Node Selector window, which looks like this:Using this window you can select an attribute (ID is selected by default), and then use that click on and off nodes with specif

16、ic properties, such as females or instructors. Now suppose you want to change the colors of nodes to reflect a node attribute, such as wanting to paint men blue and women red. Go to Properties|Nodes|Colors|By Attribute. A dialogue box will open which lets you choose the attribute (gender) and then c

17、hoose the color of each gender. The dialogue box looks like this:You might also want to change the shape of the nodes to reflect the role that person plays in the group (as indicated by the Role variable). To do this, go to Properties|Nodes|Shape|by attribute, which opens a dialogue box very similar

18、 to the color box, except instead of colors, there are shapes. Something similar can be done with the size of nodes. After setting each gender to the desired color, each role to desired shape, and making the size of the nodes proportional to their betweenness centrality, the network diagram looks li

19、ke this:VNA Data FormatThe VNA data format allows the user to store not only network data but also attributes of the nodes, along with information about how to display them (color, size, etc.). A key feature of VNA attribute data is that textual data is permitted. In other words, instead of using nu

20、meric codes, the gender variable can have values like “male” and “female”. Here is a short example of a vna file:*node dataID name gender agej101 joe male 56w067 wendy female 23b303 bill male 48*tie datafrom to friends advicej101 w067 1 3w067 j101 0 1j101 b303 1 2w067 b303 0 6VNA files are ordinary

21、text files. They consist of sections called “star sections”. Not every file has to have every possible star section, and sections can be in any order. At the moment, there are 3 possible star sections (soon to be 6). They are: *node data*node properties*tie dataA description of each follows. At the

22、end of this document is a complete VNA file.Node Data SectionThe Node Data section contains variables that describe the actors in a network. Here is an example:*node dataid gender role betweennessHOLLY female participant 78.33333588BRAZEY female participant 0CAROL female participant 1.333333373PAM f

23、emale participant 32.5PAT female participant 39.5JENNIE female participant 6.333333492PAULINE female participant 12.5ANN female participant 0.5MICHAEL male participant 58.83333206BILL male participant 0LEE male participant 5DON male participant 16.33333397JOHN male participant 0HARRY male participan

24、t 2.333333254GERY male instructor 54.66666794STEVE male instructor 16.83333397BERT male instructor 13.66666698RUSS male instructor 47.33333206The first line (“*node data”) identifies the section as containing node data. The line following “*node data” is a list of variable names. The first variable

25、is assumed to be a unique identifier. It can be numeric or text, as long as each node has a distinct value. If any value (for any variable) contains spaces or other extraneous punctuation, it should be enclosed in full quotes, as in:“John Barrymore”Following the line of variable names is the actual

26、data corresponding to those variables. All following lines are assumed to be node data until a new star command is read or the end of the file is reached.Node Properties SectionThe node properties section is very similar to the node data section, except that the variables all refer to display charac

27、teristics of the nodes, such as size, color, and shape. Here is an example:*Node propertiesID x y color shape sizeHOLLY 1094 415 255 1 10BRAZEY 84 742 255 1 10CAROL 1224 996 255 1 10PAM 1249 722 255 1 10PAT 1291 551 255 1 10JENNIE 1518 686 255 1 10PAULINE 1051 928 255 1 10ANN 1330 876 255 1 10MICHAE

28、L 791 365 255 1 10BILL 785 52 255 1 10LEE 80 619 255 1 10DON 994 195 255 1 10JOHN 776 894 255 1 10HARRY 945 214 255 1 10GERY 600 578 255 1 10STEVE 338 636 255 1 10BERT 282 897 255 1 10RUSS 543 814 255 1 10As before, the first line (“*node properties”) identifies the section as containing node proper

29、ties. The line following “*node properties” is a list of variable names. Aside from the first variable, which must be ID, all the other variables can be in any order, and none of them have to be there at all. But if they are present, they must be named exactly as shown in the example. Variable “X” i

30、s the horizontal coordinate of a node. Variable “Y” is the vertical coordinate (the 0,0 point is the top left corner of the drawing area). Variable “Color” is the color of the node (in hexadecimal). Variable “Shape” is the shape of the node (circle, square, up-triangle, etc.). Variable “Size” is the

31、 size of the nodes in points. Finally, (not shown in the example), the variable “Shortlabel” gives the label for each node (if not given, the program uses the ID code). Following the line of variable names is the actual data corresponding to those variables. Tie DataThe Tie Data section contains dya

32、dic data the presence/absence or strength of tie among pairs of nodes on one or more relations. Here is an example:*Tie datafrom to talk strengthHOLLY PAM 1 1HOLLY PAT 1 3HOLLY DON 1 2BRAZEY LEE 1 1BRAZEY STEVE 1 2BRAZEY BERT 1 3CAROL PAM 1 1CAROL PAT 1 2CAROL PAULINE 1 3PAM JENNIE 1 3PAM PAULINE 1 1The second line contains the list