CASA Seminar Series: Clio Andris, Georgia Tech [ONLINE]

Social networks are critical structures for understanding the transfer of information, capital, goods, and diseases. Spatial social networks (SSNs) can be defined as social network structures where nodes and edges have a defined geographic location. While GIS analysts often analyze networks of flows, we lack infrastructure and methods for analyzing ‘small’ social networks, including those collected through fieldwork in sociology, criminology, anthropology, organization science, and economic development. Here, I will show some case studies in these domains and describe a broad research framework for embedding SSNs into geographic space. I will also illustrate some new geospatial methods, such as cluster-cluster plots, route factor diagrams, and SSN scan methods, that we can use to answer basic questions about how and why individuals and organizations connect over space.