Introduction To Network Analysis

AY2019/2020 Semester 1

A network is a collection of nodes that are connected in pairs by edges, which is the most powerful way of representing complex and dynamic systems like human societies. People, artifacts, events, and anything else around us can be viewed as nodes, and their interactions as edges. Friendship, love, ideas, information, money, power, or even disease pass through and are shaped by networks, and therefore, can be formulated and examined from a network perspective. This course will introduce the core concepts of network analysis and their applications to real- world problems. Its theoretical part will cover the fundamental theory of network analysis and review related works on social and communication networks. An equal weight of emphasis will be placed on developing practical skills for collecting and analyzing data to investigate empirical networks using computational programming languages, such as R and Python.