Required Software
There are dozens of different types of software for analyzing social networks. These software range from the high-end (and high-priced) variety to open-source (sometimes code-intensive) variety; the cost of the former is often too much for local agencies, while the computer know-how required for some of the latter often scares away many of the day-to-day practitioners.
This workshop will use two pieces of software—both of which are open-source or freely available—that will hopefully overcome both of these obstacles. For the purposes of the workshop, you will need to install both prices of software prior to the training—please do not show-up without having the software installed!
SafetyNET |
The SafetyNET software was developed by Andrew Papachristos with the assistance of the Nielsen Corporation (US), LCC, as a tool for violence prevention and criminal justice practitioners. SafetyNET is designed with the sole intention of visualizing networks of any size based on standard criminal justice and other types of records and databases. The software uses data in a standard format (.csv) and creates an interactive space for the analyses of networks and individuals in these networks.
The first version of this software will be available in August 2015. |
R and R Studio |
R is a “do-it-all” piece of statistical software (really, everything--GIS, multivariate, SNA, and more). It’s free and can be downloaded here:
http://www.r-project.org// Rstudio is (basically) a graphic interface for R. It really helps to navigate the software, especially in a class setting. You need to install R before you install Rstudio. http://rstudio.org/ |