Please answer the following three questions in one to two paragraphs. Please format your responses in 12
point font, double spaced, with 1-inch margins. This assignment is due on Canvas at 11:59 PM PST on
Friday, November 6th.
1. What is centrality” in a network context? What is the difference between degree centrality and closeness centrality? When might we want to use a measure like closeness centrality to discuss someones
position in a social network instead of degree centrality? What about transitivity? When might we
care more about transitivity than we do about centrality as researchers?
2. What is contagion” in a network context? Describe one example of network contagion in your own life.
In your example, identify the social network (a network of classmates? a family? a workplace?), the
nature of the connection between individuals (do you exchange information? affection? money-labor?),
the directionality, and the thing spreading through the network.
3. Much of the research with which we have engaged so far is now over a decade old (if not older). What
more recent changes { social changes, technological innovations, political phenomena, etc. { may have
changed some of the conventional wisdom, findings, or scientific understandings of social networks
since this research was carried out? Please describe at least one change and walk us through what the
consequences of that change might be on current and future social network scholarship.