So you think you’re so important?

The other day my colleague Regina Birner (IFPRI) asked me: “Do you think people generally overestimate their own influence (when drawing Net-Maps and setting up influence towers)?” Hm, good question. It’s been shown by other social network analysts (plus, it’s somehow logical) that most people over-represent their own connectedness in a network: They know all [...]

Social networks and XY

That’s the really interesting stuff, combining the analysis of social networks with the analysis of something else (XY): What kinds of networks are linked to greater innovations in companies (you need to collect indicators of innovativeness in addition to the network analysis), higher welfare in African villages (add welfare indicators) or being more effective terrorists [...]

Search it in the library, ask the librarian (or ask everyone)?

I’m not that old (or maybe I am) but when I started to study, I was annoyed that they were making us take computer classes because I was convinced that I would never need to use a computer in my work life. This might be why a lot of my analogies that help me understand [...]

What is your profession?

Traveling in Europe last month, introducing my baby to the family meant: I was traveling in the real world, meeting bakers, nurses, administrators and car mechanics. The people who make the world go round and have never heard the word facilitator or thought about things being participatory. If you ask them what their job is, [...]

Thought of the day

It’s the d-tours that teach you about the lay of the land.

Business as usual leads to results as usual

As regular readers know, I love having guest writers on my blog who describe their network mapping experiences and who enrich the discussion about potentials and challenges. The question that Hippolyte asks below reminds me of a network mapping session with American/European researchers and African policy makers. We asked (after mapping out the policy network): [...]

Hippolyte Affognon (ILRI) writes: Implementing knowledge acquired through Social Network Analysis training

Eva Schiffer, an expert in Social Network Analysis (SNA), gave training on SNA on the campus of ILRI Nairobi, Kenya from 13 to 17th October 2008. After the training we applied the knowledge acquired in many workshops in West Africa to identify relevant and effective pathways for disseminating research results on a BMZ funded project [...]

Whose truth?

What do you do if you work with groups of people who tell you a completely different story about the same event? Do you choose one of them and decide that this one is telling you the truth while the rest are lying? How do you choose this one honest one? Because of his/her honest [...]