Working With NodeXL: Installing, Entering Edge Lists, and Visualizing Tie Strength

In this how-to video for the undergraduate social networks course at the University of Maine at Augusta, we work through installing, entering edge lists, and visualizing tie strength with NodeXL, an Excel template available from the Social Media Research Foundation at nodexl.codeplex... on the web.

[@jamesstrawn2881]

Excellent practicum. Combined with a couple of hours of theory this should take the novice from "no-nothing" to "enough-to-be-dangerous". Thanks for posting this to a public forum.

[@leset8604]

This is very helpful! I am new to exploring SNA and this is an excellent tutorial. Thank you.

[@Kaiserohnepurpur]

Excellent tutorial. I am new to NodeXL and want to do a SNA on some historical figures from the Antiquity. Your video will assist me immensely. Thank you.

[@elenakochetkova7838]

Thank you so much! So clear - I managed to get a start finally!

[@JamesCookUMA]

KC, thanks for the comments. Instead of looking for ONE tool that does everything you want, consider the possibility of taking each package's strength and stitching them together. For dynamic filtering and visualization, consider NodeXL or Gephi. For analysis, consider network analysis in R, or, if you're looking for a ready-to-go package with a good number of analytic tools, check out UCINET.

[@sonic-fan-play4817]

Thanks a bunch!!!

[@ginni123456789]

thanks Prof!, also is there a certification of network analysis that i can take , I find this subject quite interesting

[@alexandersharma]

Hi what is the url for the assignment. Do you have a powerpoint presentation as well.

[@thanasispanification]

Hi James. Thank you for the video. It is really goodE I have a couple of questions for you. I am looking for a free softwrare to visualise the material flow (transportation) of our goods withing the European map. I think from your presentation I can do everything I have in mind but I'm not sure about a couple of things: 1) Can I 'fix' the position of my nodes on 2-dimensional space (i.e. by inserting Longitude-Latitude)? I see that I can move the position of the nodes but this is one-by-one manually. 2) Can I paste a background photo behind my network? In the past I have done the same using Scatterplots to draw points or simple lines over maps. In any case NodeXL is a good software to add in my arsenal :-)

[@JamesCookUMA]

Hi, Thanos, and thanks for writing. Indeed, you can indeed fix the nodes according to any X/Y variable, which Longitude/Latitude is a particular instance of. And if you right-click on the graph of your network, you can select "Graph Options," and one of those graph options is to set a background image.

[@thanasispanification]

Super! I did both. This software makes a very powerful tool for data visualization!. It is very easy to use and flexible. I'm really impressed!

[@thanasispanification]

Thank you!

[@TheRaph75]

Good morning professor Cook. I'm a professional IT employée and found NodeXL a few days ago. Your tutorials are very helpful and easely understandable! I'm still struggeling with one point (maybe I missed it somewhere or just didn't understood it well). Is there a possibility to group graphically vertices into "predefined" groups? For a stupid and simple axample, let's say i have 6 vertices: A1, A2, A3, and B1, B2, B3. Let's say there are links between 'em, but the question and problem is: can I define manually and graphically two 'bubbles', one which englobes all A vertices and another defined group 'bubble' which envelopes all B vertices?! And if yes, of course, would you be so kind and redirect me to any writte explanation on how to do so? Hope my question was clear enough, as English isn't my native language, so, pardon me the few mistakes. Thanks in advance, best regards.

[@JamesCookUMA]

TheRaph75 Good question, and yes, there is! First, set different attributes for the vertices you want to group in the "Other Columns" area of the NodeXL spreadsheet. Then, select Groups --> Group by Vertex Attribute in the "Analysis" portion of the toolbar on top. For more info on this, I recommend Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL, a book from the folks who wrote the software. www.amazon.com/Analyzing-Social-Media-Networks-NodeXL/dp/0123822297

[@TheRaph75]

James Cook Thank you for your very quick answer, really appreciated. Just tested it, works very well. Now I have to finetune the layout, but you gave me the right directions :-) Many thanks for your help, i'll check out the book too! Wish you a nice day professor :-)

[@ginni123456789]

Hi , any idea how to download nodexlpro ?

[@JamesCookUMA]

+Luxmi Verma Right here: nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/registration.aspx