Analyzing Social Networks. 3 credits, 3 contact hours

Catalog description

Prerequisite: PTC 601 for MSPTC students; approval of instructor for non-MSPTC students. This course will provide students with an overview of social networks by introducing them to the unique terminology of social networks (centrality, boundary spanners, directional ties, etc.) Positive and negative characteristics of social networks will be discussed, followed by visualizations and analyses of those characteristics. Students will read selected journal articles explaining how social networks relate to communication and the flow of information within organizations. The culmination of the course will be a project in which students will create and analyze their own social network, most likely drawing their data from the popular social media site Facebook and using ORA, a freeware social network analysis application created by Carnegie Mellon University.