The International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) is a professional
academic association
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...
of researchers and practitioners of
social network analysis
Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
. Members have interests in social networks as a new theoretical paradigm, in methodological developments, and in a variety of applications of different types of
social networks
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...
approaches,
social network software, and
social networking
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...
.
History
INSNA was founded in 1977 by
Barry Wellman
Barry Wellman (born 1942) is a Canadian-American sociologist and is the co-director of the Toronto-based international NetLab Network. His areas of research are community sociology, the Internet, human-computer interaction and social structur ...
, a
sociologist. A key function of the organization was to provide a sense of identity for a set of researchers who were widely dispersed geographically and across scientific disciplines. Wellman served as "coordinator" of INSNA until 1988, when he passed the baton to Al Wolfe, an anthropologist at the University of South Florida. Wolfe in turn passed the leadership to Steve Borgatti, who served from 1993 to 1999. Borgatti incorporated INSNA as a legal entity, creating bylaws and establishing the positions of President, Vice-President and Treasurer. A full chronology of INSNA leadership is as follows:
Shortly after INSNA was founded, Linton C. Freeman founded the association's flagship journal, ''
Social Networks
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...
'', in 1978. In 1981, the annual Sunbelt Conference was founded by Al Wolfe and H. Russel Bernard. Initially, the conference was independent of the association, but was brought under INSNA's auspices by Steve Borgatti in the 1990s.
As of 2018, INSNA has approximately 1,000 active members, while the SOCNET listserv has about 3700 subscribers.
As well as publishing a triannual journal
Connections 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.
*Facilitates regional and specialized conferences.
*Publishes a quarterly journal, ''Social Networks''.
*Publishes the online ''Journal of Social Structure'', irregular periodicity.
Journal of Social Structure
online journal, irregular periodicity.
*Provides links to researchers around the world.
*Provides raw data.
Sunbelt Conference
:The official conference of the association is the Sunbelt Conference, held annually in a wide variety of international locations. The first Sunbelt conference was organised by Alvin Wolfe and H. Russell Bernard in Tampa, FL. Initially, it was decreed to alternate US coasts, in order to spread travel costs on the part of participants from different regions. However, in 1994, it was decided to incorporate the European network conference, which had been held in parallel with Sunbelt. Starting 1995, Sunbelt observed a 3-year rotation of Europe, west coast, and east coast. Starting with the 2nd Sunbelt, Sunbelt featured a Keynote address by a prominent member of the community. In the 1990s, the keynote speakers were also recognized with the Georg Simmel Distinguished Career Award.
See also
*Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...
*Social network analysis software
Social network analysis software (SNA software) is software which facilitates quantitative or qualitative analysis of social networks, by describing features of a network either through numerical or visual representation.
Overview
Networks can ...
* Dynamic Network Analysis
References
Print
*Freeman, Linton C. (2004) ''The Development of Social Network Analysis: A Study in the Sociology of Science.'' Vancouver: Empirical Press. .
*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.
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Network For Social Network Analysis
Social network analysis
Social sciences organizations
Organizations established in 1977