Networks Class AT UIUC

SPCM 529, NC, “Communication Networks”

Professor Noshir Contractor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

&

Professor Peter Monge

Annenberg School of Communication, University of
Southern California

Available via Access Grid and Polycom Videoconference

3 – 6 pm Tuesday, Central (4 – 7 pm Eastern, 1 to 4
pm Pacific)

Videconferencing hosted at Room 2000, National Center
for Supercomputing Applications, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

UIUC Call number 43499, Students at Big Ten School can
register via CIC

Over the past two decades networks have come to play
an increasingly important role in our understanding of
a wide array of phenomena ranging from cells to
society. In communication and the organizational
sciences, extraordinary developments in computing and
telecommunications have engendered new organizational
forms based on fluid, dynamic networks. These new
network forms, some of which are self-organizing, are
constantly evolving in dynamic communities as new
network links are created and dysfunctional ones
dissolved. While many writers assert that the
capability to nurture networks will differentiate
dominant 21st century organizations, little is known
about how this important new organizational form
emerges and evolves.

This seminar is intended to review theoretical,
conceptual, and analytic issues associated with
network perspectives on communicating and organizing.
The course will review scholarship on the science of
networks in communication and organizational science
as well as other areas in the physical, social and
life sciences in order to take an in-depth look at
theories, methods, and tools to examine the structure,
dynamics and co-evolution of networks.

As with most graduate seminars, the majority of class
time will be spent discussing the assigned readings.
A series of laboratory exercises will provide
experience with computational tools to analyze, model,
and visualize networks. Students will write a term
paper advancing some theoretical, methodological or
computational aspect of network science.