VOSON: A Web Services Approach for Facilitating Research into Online Networks

Abstract

The Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) is providing a web-based environment facilitating research into networks. While the initial focus of the VOSON Project is on empirical analysis of online networks by social scientists, we aim to eventually facilitate network research in other disciplines such as biology and applied physics. Via a VOSON web portal, researchers can access various storage and computational resources such as existing network data sets, tools for creating and storing new data sets, network analytical methods and network visualisation tools. While these resources are currently provided in-house, we envisage the involvement of third-party resource providers (primarily, other researchers) who wish to share their data and methods to promote scientific endeavour in their particular areas of network research. Thus, VOSON is an example of using emerging e-Research technologies to promote open-source research practice and we see the web services model as a means of bringing together of disparate network research resources, many of which are already well-established. In this paper, we describe VOSON System and our plans (and progress) for incorporating web services into the system. New VOSON- facilitated research into online environmental activists is also presented.

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