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Visualizing Network Data

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Statistical Analysis of Network Data with R

Part of the book series: Use R! ((USE R,volume 65))

Abstract

Up until this point, we have spoken only loosely of displaying network graphs, although we have shown several examples already. Here in this chapter we consider the problem of display in its own right. Techniques for displaying network graphs are the focus of the field of graph drawing or graph visualization. Such techniques typically seek to incorporate a combination of elements from mathematics, human aesthetics, and algorithms. After a brief characterization of the elements of graph visualization in Sect. 3.2, we look at a number of ways to lay out a graph, in Sect. 3.3, followed by some ways to further decorate such layouts, in Sect. 3.4. We also look quickly at some of the unique challenges posed by the problem of visualizing large network graphs in Sect. 3.5. Finally, in Sect. 3.6, we describe options for producing more sophisticated visualizations than those currently possible using R.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Here and throughout we use terms like ‘draw’ only in the colloquial sense, although more formal mathematical treatments of this topic area exist (e.g., see Chap. 8 of Gross and Yellen [67]) which attach more specialized understandings to these terms.

  2. 2.

    Original source: http://observatoire-presidentielle.fr/. The subnetwork used here is part of the mixer package in R . Note that the inherent directionality of blogs are ignored in these data, as the network graph is undirected.

  3. 3.

    See Chap. 4.4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University Professor, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric D. Kolaczyk

  2. Department of Statistics, Harvard University Research Associate, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Gábor Csárdi

Authors
  1. Eric D. Kolaczyk
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  2. Gábor Csárdi
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Kolaczyk, E.D., Csárdi, G. (2014). Visualizing Network Data. In: Statistical Analysis of Network Data with R. Use R!, vol 65. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0983-4_3

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