Mastering Gephi Network Visualization (2015)

Preface

Gephi has rapidly become one of the most utilized tools for the exploration and analysis of network data, as users seek to understand the relationships between groups of people, institutions, events, and other connected phenomena. At the same time, Gephi can help us understand serious topics such as disease transmission, the diffusion of ideas and innovation, and changes over time to community structures. With the ability to import a wide variety of data formats both open and proprietary, Gephi is truly moving toward democratizing network information.

This book aims to assist both new and experienced users in fully leveraging the immense potential of Gephi, regardless of whether the end goal is exploration, analysis, visualization, or some combination of each. While not every nuance of Gephi is covered in this volume, the topics in the book should go a long way toward improving your capabilities for effectively using Gephi.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Fundamentals of Complex Networks and Gephi, provides background into the world of complex networks and how we can use Gephi to explore and analyze network patterns.

Chapter 2, A Network Graph Framework, provides a process for creating and developing network visualizations using Gephi.

Chapter 3, Selecting the Layout, will introduce many available layout algorithms in Gephi, and help you to select the most appropriate types based on the characteristics of your network data.

Chapter 4, Network Patterns, examines several critical network patterns, including contagion, diffusion, and homophily. We then use Gephi to explore and understand these behaviors.

Chapter 5, Working with Filters, provides multiple examples for how and when to use the powerful filtering capabilities provided within Gephi.

Chapter 6, Graph Statistics, provides readers with background on some key statistical network measures, followed by examples for how to effectively apply these methods in Gephi.

Chapter 7, Segmenting and Partitioning a Graph, provides insight into the multiple approaches that can be used to effectively segment a network, based on categorical or behavioral attributes. The use of size and color to partition a graph will be thoroughly explored.

Chapter 8, Dynamic Networks, will introduce the concept of Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) and how time-based networks can be explored and understood in Gephi.

Chapter 9, Taking Your Graph Beyond Gephi, gives an overview of available export options, followed by several examples for creating visualizations by combining Gephi with external tools.

Chapter 10, Putting It All Together, incorporates many of the methods covered earlier in the book to create both revised and brand new visualizations. We'll also introduce some new methods that will allow for further network customization.

Appendix, Data Sources and Other Web Resources, lists out all the important references that you can use to understand the book in much more detail.

What you need for this book

This book requires some degree of knowledge or curiosity about network graph analysis and how to use Gephi software and plugins. While a number of technical topics are discussed, the reader will not require a deep understanding of the mathematical complexities of graph statistics or layout algorithms.

To use this book effectively, the reader should have the following software installed, in order to follow along with the examples and use the referenced datasets:

· Gephi version 0.8.2 (0.8.1 should also work in most cases)

· Gephi plugins referenced in the book, and easily installed from within the application

· Java runtime version 1.6 or greater – 1.7 preferred

· Inkscape (or Adobe Illustrator) software for editing graphs outside of Gephi

· Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, Google Spreadsheet, or other spreadsheet software for editing and manipulating .csv files

Who this book is for

This book is designed for those who would like to use Gephi to view, explore, and analyze network data. It will also be valuable for those who wish to create network visualizations that can be deployed beyond Gephi, as static or web-based interactive versions. Both relatively inexperienced users as well as Gephi power users should find material that will make Gephi a more powerful tool for working with network data.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "The .svg and .pdf options are also useful if your intent is to do further editing in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape."

A block of code is set as follows:

body {

margin: 0px;

}

#seadragon {

width: 800px;

height: 600px;

background-color: Black;

}

</style>

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Notice that at the top of the graph there are three tabs—the SNA page, About analysis tab, and About uspage."

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.