ITR: The Structure and Dynamics of Electronic Social Networks

这个项目描述了美国电子邮件用户的网络模式，确定了电子关系是如何形成的，以及这种关系对行为的影响。在三个阶段中的第一个阶段，该项目通过确定通过电子邮件交换联系的人群来确定电子通信网络的全球特征。此示例提供识别社会距离、社会凝聚力、小世界属性、社会平衡和隔离等网络功能所需的信息。第二阶段通过为原始研究人群的样本收集一年来有关在线活动、社会行为和人口统计特征的深入信息，来研究电子网络的动态细节。使用这些数据，研究人员可以对在线关系的稳定性以及网络位置对社会行为的影响进行建模。该项目的第三阶段在一年后重新联系原始样本的成员。这一阶段的数据使研究人员能够开发将个人行为置于本地和全球网络环境中的社会行为的网络环境模型。该项目的三个阶段为社会网络研究人员和信息技术专家提供了前所未有的能力，以模拟快速变化的电子社会背景下网络对社会行为和社会关系模式的影响。

This project describes network patterns among email users in the United States, identifying how electronic relations form and the implications of such relations for behavior. In the first of three stages, the project identifies the global features of electronic communication networks by identifying sets of people linked through email exchange. This sample provides the information needed to identify network features such as social distance, social cohesion, small-world properties, social balance, and segregation. Stage two examines the dynamic details of electronic networks by collecting in-depth information about online activity, social behaviors, and demographic characteristics over a year for a sample of the original study population. Using these data, researchers can model the stability of online relationships and the effect of network position on social behaviors. The third stage of the project re-contacts members of the original sample a year later. Data from this stage allows researchers to develop network-contextual models of social behavior that situate individual behavior within both local and global network contexts. The three stages of this project provide social network researchers and information technology specialists with an unprecedented ability to model network effects on social behavior and patterns of social relations in the rapidly changing electronic social context.