Sunbelt XXXI International Network for Social Network ... - INSNA

Dynamics Networks As Exchange Of Heterogenous InformationBerea, Anamaria; Tsvetovat, MaksimNetworks and Economicsendogenous network, heterogeneous information, information interdependenceFRI.PM2Economic theories of information focus on the peculiarities of information as an economic good and on asymmetric information problems in a market setting,treating information as a homogeneous good. This paper treats information as a heterogeneous agent from a person’s subjective perspective and uses socialnetwork analysis and marginal cost‐benefit analysis to discover and interpret interesting emergent topologies. The analysis is performed on a bi‐modalnetwork of people and information employing a bottom‐up approach with respect to ego‐networks of people and a top‐down approach with respect toinformation embedding. The information agent is analyzed under its’ semantic dimension and represents both nodes in the interdependence network andedges in the people network. In order to do this, a clear distinction between “noise” and “meaningful information” has to be made. The rules of edge creationand destruction follow the basic economic rules of exchange. One important finding is that the embedded network of information can significantly alter thestrength of the edges in the network of people, regardless of the initial topology.Dynamics Of Friendship Networks And Academic Performance: A Comparison Between Two Student Cohorts Before And After Education Reform In TaiwanChang, Ming‐Yi; Snijders, Tom; Wu, Chyi‐InFriendship networksAdolescents, Multilevel Networks, Selection And Influence, Friendship NetworkWED.PM1For adolescents in Taiwan, in their junior high school years, to advance to a better high school for the diploma, students have to be competent enough. This isassessed by the Entrance Exam. In the past, exam stress brought lots of educational and adaptation problems for pupils. An educational reform wasimplemented in order to mitigate the stress of education competition. To examine how this reform has affected students' social and academic lives in juniorhigh schools, this study tests whether it has changed the pattern of co‐evolution of friendship networks and students' academic performance. The data consistsof 2534 adolescents in 41 schools from two different youth panel datasets collected before and after the educational reform in Taiwan. Actor‐oriented models,as implemented by RSIENA, will be used to answer the research questions. Further discussions will be provided about the effects of education reform inTaiwan.