The International Network for Social Network Analysis is the professional association of social network analysis. The rapid increase in awareness of social networks, social network software, and social networking has led to lively discussions and influence beyond sheer numbers.

Membership, history and output

INSNA's membership consists of more than 1,000 social network analysis researchers, who have a website (see External links) and an active listserve discussion group.

INSNA has always been international and interdisciplinary. Most members are social scientists, but there is significant involvement by mathematicians, statisticians, the business world (especially management consultants), and social networking software creators and analysts.

It was founded in 1977 by Barry Wellman

Barry Wellman

Barry Wellman, FRSC directs NetLab as the S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His areas of research are community sociology, the Internet, human-computer interaction and social structure, as manifested in social networks in communities and organizations...

, a sociologist to connect scattered network analysts, dispersed across countries and fields. It was headed by communications scientist William Richards from 2005 until his sudden death in August 2007. Vice-president George Barnett, currently a professor at the University of California, Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

, succeeded him.

As well as publishing a triannual journal Connections

Connections (journal)

Connections is a military science journal covering security, defense, armed forces, intelligence, history, war, and related issues. It was established in 2002 by the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes and is published four times per year in English...

 on the subject, INSNA also:

• Runs SOCNET, a listserv mailing-list for the subject.
• Hosts the International Sunbelt Social Network Conference annually. See list below.
• Publishes a quarterly journal, Social Networks.
• Publishes the online Journal of Social Structure, irregular periodicity.
• Provides links to researchers around the world.
• Provides raw data.

List of Annual "Sunbelt" Meetings / Keynote Speakers

Starting in the 1990s, the Keynote Speakers were also recognized with the Georg Simmel Distinguished Career Award.

• 1981 Tampa, none
• 1982 Tampa, John Barnes
• 1983 San Diego, James S. Coleman
• 1984 Phoenix, Harrison White
  Harrison White
  Harrison Colyar White is the emeritus Giddings Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. White is an influential scholar in the domain of social networks. He is credited with the development of a number of mathematical models of social structure including vacancy chains and blockmodels...
  
  
• 1985 Palm Beach, Linton Freeman
• 1986 Santa Barbara, J. Clyde Mitchell
  J. Clyde Mitchell
  James Clyde Mitchell was a British sociologist and anthropologist....
  
  
• 1987 Clearwater, Everett Rogers
  Everett Rogers
  Everett M. Rogers was a communication scholar, sociologist, writer, and teacher. He is best known for originating the diffusion of innovations theory and for introducing the term early adopter....
  
  
• 1988 San Diego, Charles Kadushin
• 1989 Tampa, Frank Harary
  Frank Harary
  Frank Harary was a prolific American mathematician, who specialized in graph theory. He was widely recognized as one of the "fathers" of modern graph theory....
  
  
• 1990 San Diego, Mark Granovetter
  Mark Granovetter
  Professor Mark Granovetter is an American sociologist at Stanford University who has created theories in modern sociology since the 1970s. He is best known for his work in social network theory and in economic sociology, particularly his theory on the spread of information in social networks known...
  
  
• 1991 Tampa, James Davis
• 1992 San Diego, Peter Blau
  Peter Blau
  Peter Michael Blau was an American sociologist and theorist. Born in Vienna, Austria, he immigrated to the United States in 1939. He received his PhD at Columbia University in 1952, and was an instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan from 1949–1951, before moving on to teach...
  
  
• 1993 Tampa, A. Kimball Romney
• 1994 New Orleans, Barry Wellman
  Barry Wellman
  Barry Wellman, FRSC directs NetLab as the S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His areas of research are community sociology, the Internet, human-computer interaction and social structure, as manifested in social networks in communities and organizations...
  
  
• 1995 London, Patrick Doreian
• 1996 Charleston, Bonnie Erickson
• 1997 San Diego, H. Russell Bernard & Peter Killworth
  Peter Killworth
  Professor Peter D. Killworth was an English scientist known for both his work on oceanography and the study of social networks. A prodigious writer, his published output exceeded 160 scientific papers over the course of his career...
  
  
• 1998 Sitges, Spain, Rolf Ziegler
• 1999 Charleston, Nan Lin
  Nan Lin
  Nan Lin is the Oscar L. Tang Family Professor of Sociology of the Trinity College, Duke University. He is most notable for his research and writing on social networks and social capital.-Biography:...
  
  
• 2000 Vancouver, Linton Freeman
• 2001 Budapest, Martin Everett
• 2002 New Orleans, Philippa Pattison
• 2003 Cancun, MX, Alvin Wolfe
• 2004 Portorož, Slovenia, Frans Stokman
• 2005 Redondo Beach, CA, Ronald Breiger
• 2006 Vancouver, Edward Laumann
• 2007 Corfu, Vladimir Batagelj
  Vladimir Batagelj
  Vladimir Batagelj is a Slovenian mathematician, born 1948 in Idrija, Slovenia, who works mainly in data analysis, discrete mathematics, combinatorial optimization and applications of IT in education....
  
   & Anuška Ferligoj
  Anuška Ferligoj
  Anuška Ferligoj is a Slovenian mathematician, born 1947 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, whose work in network analysis research is internationally recognized. Her interests include multivariate analysis , social networks , and survey methodology...
  
  
• 2008 St Petersburg, FL, Stephen Borgatti
• 2009 San Diego, CA, Phillip Bonacich
• 2010 Riva del Garda, Italy, Tom A.B. Snijders

See also

• Social network
  Social network
  A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
  
  
• Social network analysis software
  Social network analysis software
  Social network analysis software facilitates quantitative or qualitative analysis of social networks, by describing features of a network, either through numerical or visual representation...
  
  
• Dynamic Network Analysis
  Dynamic Network Analysis
  Dynamic network analysis is an emergent scientific field that brings together traditional social network analysis , link analysis and multi-agent systems within network science and network theory. There are two aspects of this field. The first is the statistical analysis of DNA data. The second...
  
  

Print

• Freeman, Linton C. (2004) The Development of Social Network Analysis: A Study in the Sociology of Science. Vancouver: Empirical Press. ISBN 1594577145.

• Barry Wellman, “Networking Network Analysts: How INSNA (the International Network for Social Network Analysis) Came to Be.” Connections 23, 1 (Summer, 2000): 20-31.

External links

• INSNA website.