TRACK: ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY

Minitrack: Communication and Social Networks

Communication networks stems from the study of social networks, which is a branch of systems sciences and complex systems. Communication networks can be defined as the patterns of contact that are created by the flow of messages among entities through time and space. Communication network analysis identifies the communication structure shaped by the flows of information or other material/nonmaterial resources. The complex social networks that people create and manage are dynamic, mutli-modal, and increasingly mediated by social media. As such, the science of communication and social network analysis and visualization has coevolved with the development of these new media. The current minitrack focuses on the structures and patterns of association that emerges from the flow of information, broadly defined, and is particularly well suited for dynamic and multi-modal data. Units of analysis and form of flow are scaleable, and this track welcomes a wide range of communication network conceptualizations. A few examples are offered below: Organizational studies often include communication network data, as it can often better represent emergent and informal networks in organizations that can remain cloaked by organizational blueprints. Additionally, the exponential use of communication technologies within organizations across an expanding geography adds to the need to analyze organizations as communication networks. International and globalization research includes communication network analysis, as much of the global information flows are a communication network that material flows is increasingly dependent on. Research on computer-mediated communication and new media has brought about near perfect communication network data as represented by email networks, blog networks, and computer supported collaborative learning and work. Scholars who study computer networks as represented by information flows, such as hyperlink networks. Research streams that focus on the way that people mange and form their communication networks, e.g. via the use of social media. Examples of scholars that this minitrack will attract are: Organizational and business school scholars that use communication network analysis in their research, including those that are collecting computer-mediated communication network data, such as email networks or networks of online collaboration. World systems and international relations scholars who analyze the global flow of information Communication scholars that study the structure of both ego-centered and complete communication network data, and who are researching information technologies that allow for communication network analysis Computer systems scholars that are interested in networks of information flow

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Minitrack Leaders Devan Rosen (primary contact) Roy H. Park School of Communications 356 Park Hall Ithaca College 953 Danby Road Ithaca, NY 14850 Email: drosen@ithaca.edu Tel: (607) 274-5100 (direct) Tel: (607) 274-3260 (dept) Fax: (607) 274-7041 (dept) Devan Rosen currently assistant professor of New Media at Ithaca College in the Roy H. Park School of Communications where he is the Program Director for the Emerging Media Program. Professor Rosens research focuses on the social uses of new media, social network analysis, and distributed socio-technical systems. He has developed social and semantic networkanalytic methods for the analysis of dynamic social and communication networks in online environments. He received his PhD from Cornell University. George A. Barnett Department of Communication University of California Davis One Shields Drive, Davis CA 95616 Email: gbarnett@ucdavis.edu Tel: (530) 752-3674 George A. Barnett is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of California - Davis. Currently, he is a Board Member and a past President of the International Network of Social Network Analysts. Professor Barnett's research concerns structural models of the role of communication in social and cultural processes. He received his PhD from Michigan State University.

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