Week 12 Assignment: Gephi Exploration I

This week’s assignment is exploratory in nature. In the understanding that one will need to explore several possibilities in order to find a meaningful and feasible project, this assignment is to prepare you for your second digital project. Allow two or three hours for this assignment, depending on how familiar you are now with Gephi.

Open the Microsoft Access version of China Biographical Database (CBDB).

  • Use any of the existing network-querying modules (Query Associations, Query Social Networks, and Query Mediated Associations) to make at least two network queries.
  • Check the radio button next to “Pinyin” (the default is usually “UTF-8”) and click “Save to Pajek” button to save your queries as .net files.
  • Visualize each of your query results in Gephi. Color the nodes according to their modularity classes and size them based on their centrality values (betweenness or degree centrality or else, depending your needs). Save each of your visualization as a .gephi file.
  • Write two or more paragraphs in a Microsoft Word document.
    • In the first paragraph, explain briefly what each Gephi graph is about (e.g., correspondence networks of Wang Anshi, teacher-student networks among men in Luoyang between 1050 and 1127, etc.).
    • Then, choose one of your Gephi graph, and write a short interpretation of it (one paragraph or more). Include all Gephi graphs in your MS Word document.
  • Zip all your .gephi files and your MS Word document together, and submit the zipped file to the drop box on Moodle: Week 12: Gephi Exploration 1