Assignment 5 — due Tuesday, April 10 8am (20% of final grade)
The purpose of this assignment is to
Test your understanding of multidimensional data
- Test your ability to parse complex relationships between multiple dimensions of data
- Visualize at least three dimensions of the data contained in the Baptized Indians database.
- Produce a network diagram in Gephi that reveals the statistical calculations of 1) modularity, 2) degree and 3) betweenness or Eigenvector value.
The data you are using is compiled from the records of the Moravian missionaries in the mid-Atlantic states in the 18th century. Each missionary wrote down who was baptised by whom, when and where and what their family relations were. Knowing this can help us ask some questions that hopefully your visualization can begin to answer.
For example, how important was close family to the spread of Christianity among the Native Americans? How important was the Native nation you belonged to? Think which calculations would help you answer those questions with your data. Is there one person you can identify who is more influential in the spread of Christianity? Which calculation would you use to show that?
There are several ways to reveal these metrics in Gephi. Different partitions will color your nodes differently. Ranking will change the size of your node based on the statistical calculation. And of course, your layout is important also.
The training modules on the Gephi site are very helpful. Also, the sigma.js plugin is a great way to present your data in a GUI. The other web interface is Loxa Web Site exporter, a plugin that you can install into Gephi.
For this assignment, you should work only in Gephi. Although the location and date information is present do not try to use it in Gephi. Both are advanced techniques that make the platform highly unstable. But, if you want to use this data for a final project then we could certainly go down that rabbit hole….
You will also write a blog post to accompany your Gephi visualizations. This blog post reflects on the process you have gone through to learn Gephi, learn what it can and cannot do, what worked and what did not. You will incorporate your critical readings into your blog post. Submit your post under category “Assignment 5.”