International Summer School on Social Network Analysis | National research university ‘Higher school of economics’ | Moscow metro to create 4G network

International Summer School on Social Network Analysis

National research university ‘Higher school of economics’http://sna.hse.ru/2014

International Summer School 2014 "Social Network Analysis" Russia, St. Petersburg, August 8–13, 2014 Faculty Participants Program Materials Gallery Call We invite advanced students and young researchers to participate in the International Social Network Analysis Summer School organized by Network Science Lab and Sociology of Education and Science Lab ofHigher School of Economics, Russia. The working language of the Summer School is English. Social network analysis focuses on relationships between social entities. It is used widely in the social and behavioral sciences, as well as in political science, economics, organizational science, and industrial engineering. The social network perspective has been developed over the last sixty years by researchers in psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The social network paradigm is gaining recognition and standing in the general social and behavioral science communities as the theoretical basis for examining social structures. This basis has been clearly defined by many theorists, and the paradigm convincingly applied to important substantive problems. However, the paradigm requires a new and different set of concepts and analytic tools, beyond those provided by standard quantitative (particularly, statistical) methods. This year SNA Summer School consists of two parallel tracks: Track 1: Methods in Network Analysis (Intermediate / Advanced level) Track 2: Networks in Academia, Science and Technology Track 1. Methodology for network analysis (Intermediate / Advanced evel) Instructors: Stanley Wasserman (Professor of Statistics, Psychology, and Sociology, Indiana University), co-author of fundamental book Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications; Valentina Kuskova (Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia). This workshop presents an introduction to various concepts, methods, and applications of social network analysis drawn from the social and behavioral sciences. The primary focus of these methods is the analysis of relational data measured on groups of social actors. Topics to be discussed include an introduction to graph theory and the use of directed graphs to study structural theories of actor interrelations; structural and locational properties of actors, such as centrality, prestige, and prominence; subgroups and cliques; equivalence of actors, including structural equivalence, blockmodels, and an introduction to role algebras; an introduction to local analyses, including dyadic and triad analysis; and a brief introduction statistical global analyses, using models such as p1, p*, and their relatives. Brief introductions will be given to common networks software packages: UCInet, Pajek, relevant R libraries, and pnet (if time permits). This is a workshop designed for people more interested in learning methodology than theory (we assume that you have a basic knowledge of network theory). It assumes a familiarity with matrix algebra and statistics. The course will include both lectures and hands-on computer laboratory exercises. ^^^ Track 2. Networks in Academia, Science and Technology Instructors: Alireza Abbasi (University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia); Nees Jan van Eck (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University), developer of VOSviewer and CitNetExplore; Benjamin Lind (Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia) (lab practice: R packages for SNA). The course will focus on collection and analysis of scholarly activity data; modeling structure and dynamics of communities; science mapping; collaboration in science and technology; flows of communication in the scientific system. It will also review and compare the available software packages that are widely used to analyze large-scale networks, and specifically bibliometric and scientometric data. The workshop includes lectures, seminars (=group discussions), hands-on computer laboratory exercises, and project presentations of the students where participants receive feedback from both their peers and the instructors. ^^^ We invite applicants with background in social, behavioral, science studies, as well those who are interested in learning about network methods of analysis. The working language of the Summer School is English. Since the tracks are run in parallel, only one track can be chosen. Attendance is limited to 20 participants at each track. There is no registration / tuition fee. Participants are responsible for their travel and lodging expenses. The applications should be submitted online. An application includes a registration form, a motivation letter and a description of current research (300-500 words). Financial support: selected Masters and PhD students will receive hostel-type accommodation paid by the School. The funds are limited; selection will be based on strength of project description and motivation letter. >>Online applications form<< Deadline for applications is at May 25, 2014. Final decisions - May 31, 2014.


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Moscow metro to create 4G network

By The Moscow Times / May 13, 2014

The Moscow metro will hold a competition to create a unified mobile network throughout the city’s sprawling underground transport system, a source familiar with the metro’s plans told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The planned competition was confirmed by two mobile operators, and a source close to the Moscow Department of Information Technology said that the winning company would be required to produce a network that provides 100 percent coverage on all three networks — 2G, 3G and 4G — by leveraging existing infrastructure to created a unified service that will be expanded to attain complete coverage on the metro.