ASNA 2009

Call for Papers

6^th Conference on Applications of Social Network Analysis, August 27-28, 2009
Hosted by the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich

Expanding networks: New reality or new perspective?

The network term has experienced an inflationary usage over the last two decades, both among scholars and in the wider public. The network metaphor has been increasingly used to explain various social phenomena such as friendship or opinion formation, technological innovation or global development. From a scientific perspective, it is widely understood today that social entities such as consumers, voters, firms, organizations or whole states with their choices and behavior form network structures that, in turn, condition again choices and actions of these social entities. Parallel to the increasing use of network concepts, the research stream of Social Network Analysis (SNA) has expanded and spans today myriad scholarly fields including biology, anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, economics, communication science, and others. Theories, methods and applications from SNA have proven to be useful in studying the behavior of groups of individuals, organizational structures, information processing, or political processes.

The 6^th Conference on Applications of Social Network Analysis (ASNA) has the goal to assess the state of the field and discuss current developments and innovations in social network research. As for the previous years, ASNA 2009 will primarily provide an interdisciplinary venue with focus on applications of social network analysis. However, submissions on theoretical and methodological issues are also welcome. There are no limitations with respect of scientific disciplines and research questions. However, contributors are especially encouraged to address the conference topic of “Expanding networks: New reality or new perspective?” Has the reality (i.e. the object under study) in the respective field changed and is it becoming more connected? Or were there networks ever since and SNA primarily provides a new analytical perspective?

Abstracts of no more than 300 words have to be submitted by June 1 (send your abstract by e-mail to info [at] asna.ch). You will be notified about the acceptance of your submission by June 15, and you will have to submit a full paper by August 1. Every paper will be discussed by a respondent, which means that by presenting every participant agrees to be a respondent for another paper. Presenters will have the opportunity to make their paper available to a broader audience on the conference website. Additionally, an edited volume containing the conference contributions will be published in 2010.

Prof. Martin Everett will give a Keynote presentation on “Regular equivalence beyond the social science boundary” as well as a half day pre-conference workshop on UCINET and NetDraw (August 26).

Please note the following deadlines

· Abstract submission by June 1 (notification of acceptance by June 15)

· Conference registration by August 1

· Full paper submission by August 1

Further information about ASNA 2009 (and previous conferences) can be found on the conference website: www.asna.ch

Organizing Committee

Thomas N. Friemel, U of Zurich, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research

Christian Hirschi, ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions

Karin Ingold, ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions

Uwe Serdult, U of Zurich, Centre for Democracy Aarau

Contact: info [at] asna.ch