A Visual Analytics Approach to Dynamic Social Networks

The visualization and analysis of dynamic networks have become increasingly important in several fields, for instance sociology or economics. The dynamic and multi-relational nature of this data poses the challenge of understanding both its topological structure and how it changes over time. In this paper we propose a visual analytics approach for analyzing dynamic networks that integrates: a dynamic layout with user-controlled trade-off between stability and consistency; three temporal views based on different combinations of node-link diagrams (layer superimposition, layer juxtaposition, and two-and-a-half dimensional view); the visualization of social network analysis metrics; and specific interaction techniques for tracking node trajectories and node connectivity over time. This integration of visual, interactive, and automatic methods supports the multifaceted analysis of dynamically changing networks.