Some VIVO Things Blog
Musings on the community, software, data, use, and whatever else comes to mind.
CTSA Social Network Analysis at Sunbelt XXXIV
At the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) there is great interest in collaboration and in improving collaboration across the university. Collaboration is evidenced by "artifacts" -- co-authored papers, co-written grant proposals, co-investigators on a grant award, a patent or a presentation. At UF, VIVO is the repository of collaboration information. We have a complete record of co-authorships on papers dating back to 2008, as well as a complete collaboration information for co-investigator relationships on grant awards, also back to 2008. Unfortunately we don't have such information for proposals, presentations or patents. In each case, the university does not have a process for generating and managing such information. A few authors put their presentations in VIVO, but there is no university mandate to do so.
In 2013, as part of its evaluation efforts, the CTSI contracted with the UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) to conduct a social network analysis of the publication and grant networks of the university over the five year period 2008-2012. Several of their findings were presented in two talks at the recently held Sunbelt XXXIV Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida.
The first talk, A network intervention on scientific networks: design and reactions, presented by Dr. Chris McCarty, described social network intervention research done by BEBR to determine if connections across the social network could be lengthened by identifying pairs of investigators who might benefit from an introduction. Using VIVO as a data source, the BEBR team created pairs of investigators and emailed the investigators asking if the other person in the pair might be interesting as a possible collaborator. Network characteristics, as well as subject matter and methods were used to make the pairings. The results indicated that "distance" in the social network was correlated with decreasing interest in collaboration, but that distance of up to 10 connections was still of interest. More than 30 percent of the pairings were deemed of interested to the recipients of these emails. This rate could be compared to random pairings of faculty to determine of the social networking heuristics were generating pairings better than could be done by chance.
The second talk, Using social networks to evaluate the impact of a CTSA on research at a university, presented by Dr. Raffaele Vacca, considered the impact of the CTSI on the social network of the university over the period 2008-2012. The university has more than 6,000 researchers and many are in the "central component" of the network -- the largest group consisting of researchers connected to at least one other member of the group. The central component of the social network of the University of Florida is dominated by biomedical researchers. From 2008-2012, the central position of the CTSI increased and many new connections were made. The CTSI grew rapidly and with that growth came increasing network span. The CTSI continues to add new connections as well as making additional connections between its investigators.
This is the second SunBelt conference I've attended. The first was in 2011. Both conferences were held at the Tradewinds in St. Pete Beach, Florida. The conference is low-key, informal, and a heck of a lot of fun. With over 700 participants, and a huge program, there is a great mixing of people and ideas. Methodologists, theorists, data people, faculty, graduate students, and postdocs from a very wide range of academic disciplines attend. The hospitality house, held each night, is a special opportunity to meet and mix. All those interested in networking, regardless of what you may call it -- social network analysis, research networking, network science, or other term -- should try to attend.
The International Network for Social Network Analysis, founded in 1977 is the professional society for researchers interested in social network analysis. INSNA has endorsed the first annual European Conference on Social Networks to be held in Barcelona, July 1-4, 2014.