Abstract-Band - Fakultät für Informatik, TU Wien - Technische ...

social snapshot the user can choose to generate a comprehensive report
containing general snapshot information, graph visualizations and statistic
results. The thesis is finalized with an evaluation of the proposed function set
emphasizing the performance of the storage modules, the information content
of the provided visualizations and the user interface's usability.
Robert Krejci
Storage and Visualization of Heterogeneous Data from Online Social Networks
Studium: Masterstudium Medizinische Informatik
BetreuerIn: Privatdoz. Dr. Edgar Weippl
Analyzing the information provided by the users in Online Social Networks
(OSNs) is on the one hand a tedious task but on the other hand people lose
control of the information they have shared with the network, this leaves the
door open for criminals and their counterpart: Forensic investigators. The
context of this thesis is to develop a software tool which facilitates analysis of
Social Snapshots split up into two major modules, the first one being a storage
solution and the other one dealing with visualization and analysis assignments.
Utilizing a database solution we make the usually complex data set easily
accessible and available to be further processed. In terms of visualization we
are focusing on automated graph representations of social networks providing
high usability. This is paired with an export functionality generating comprehensive
reports of a single social snapshot. To store and access such a heterogeneous
set of data efficiently we assess different database concepts and
implement a traditional relational database as well as a modern NoSQL
database to determine an optimal solution regarding performance and accessibility.
An abstract access model delivers queried data to the – visualization as
well as statistics related - processing modules, coverting the underlying
physical database connection. These processing modules are integrated into
Gephi, a comprehensive graph visualization tool, harboring all snapshot analysis
related functionality. Efficient graph representations and clustering methods
provide an easily comprehendible social network overview. After having
analyzed a social snapshot the user can choose to generate a comprehensive
report containing general snapshot information, graph visuali-zations and
statistic results. The thesis is finalized with an evaluation of the proposed
function set emphasizing the performance of the storage modules, the
information content of the provided visualizations and the user interface's
usability.
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