SOCIAL NETWORK/ING WEEK
@ the University of Toronto
October 30th- November 2nd, 2007
Welcome
Scholars and practitioners, have been analyzing social networks for some time. With the rise of the Internet, social networks and technology networks have become linked in a way that allows the analysis of socio-technical systems, with implications for the broader academic community.
The University of Toronto has been a leading centre of social network analysis since the 1970s. The International Network for Social Network Analysis was formed here in 1976 and had its headquarters here until 1988. UofT researchers from many disciplines have contributed to the international dialogue and have played a leadership role in advancing our understanding of social network, socio-technical systems, policies, and sciences. For example, Barry Wellman at UofT made the path-breaking discovery that local communities had transmuted into far-flung networks.
Social Network/ing Week is a forum to facilitate knowledge transfer and interdisciplinary collaboration between research and industry/government participants. This event, which promises to be the first of many, includes research presentations from the Faculties of Arts and Science (sociology, computer science, physics, political science), Rotman School of Management, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the Knowledge Media Design Institute.
We are delighted to be joined by three excellent keynote speakers to this inaugural event. Dr. Jon Kleinberg, Cornell University will start the week by delivering the Nathan and Beatrice Keyfitz Lecture. He is followed by Dr. Nan Lin, Duke University, presenting the S.D. Clark Lecture. Finally, Dr. Keith Hampton, University of Pennsylvania, will deliver the opening address for the research symposium.
This collaborative event, led by Bell University Labs, would not have been possible without the committed involvement of the Fields Institute, KMDI and the Department of Sociology– NetLab.
- Barry Wellman, Social Network/ing Symposium Chair,
S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology
- Steve Easterbrook, Academic Director, Bell University Laboratories,
Professor, Computer Science
-Leslie Dolman, Associate Director, Bell University Laboratories.
