Figure 1– My Visual Network Map

This visual network map indicates my social connections in my personal, professional, and academic networks. My network includes digital and in-person groups as well as close and distant groups.

I used MindMeister to build my network map, Figure 1. I used Dron and Anderson’s  (2016) definition of networks as unstructured, informal connections. They also define a group as a finite number of individuals defined by rules and purpose (Dron & Anderson, 2014). For this visual network, I identified groups of people through positions or titles rather than using names. I did this to protect identities as permissions were not granted. Groups are represented by the node and title. The connections within groups are represented by the black lines and the inter-group connections are represented by the green arrows. I situated myself in the center of the graph as that was the focus of the assignment and am the base of the connections represented.

There were some drawbacks to not representing individuals. Firstly, while members within a network are fluid, this is not represented in my visual network map, as individuals are grouped. Secondly, because I do not represent individuals, but groups, there is a seeming hierarchy of size and importance. Whereas, in actuality, many individuals are of far greater importance than groups. With more resources and time, it would be interesting to create a more microscopic version of this map. I would also be curious to see network maps represented over a span of time to demonstrate changes over that time.

References

Dron, J, & Anderson, T. (2014). Teaching Crowds. Athabasca University Press.