SNA Tools and Formats diagram - updated

16 Nov Update: I've updated the diagram, and made it easier to read - the link now points to a pdf version. The same license applies as for the whole blog - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0. Do let me know, though - it's always interesting to find out how your work is used.

Some time ago, I was struggling to work out how I could evaluate a new social network analysis tool - one that made use of some obscure format. In order to give a new tool a fair test, I always use a specific group of datasets, that I know inside out. Almost inevitably, the new tool will require that they all be translated into some obscure format. But, given the tools already out there, there's always a chance that I can some combination of existing tools will do it for me. In the end, I drew a map to help me navigate this process.

Now, after many requests, I've revised the map. As before, if you have any more information, corrections, even objections, I will endeavour to respond - and quicker, this time. Mea culpa.

Comments

[Clara Pelaez]

Thank you very much! This is extremely useful!

[rick davies]

This is a very useful diagram, but it needs magnification to make it more readable.
Could you provide a bigger version?

[Bill Hansen]

I can't see it well enough to evaluate it. Can you make it much bigger and add some description so that I can interpret the meaning of the connections? That would help me a lot.

[Mark Round]

Thanks, all, for the comments. I've worked out how the fix the formatting issue. Now just waiting for some vendors to provide promised information on their tools.

On the issue of the meaning of the links, I should note that there is a lot of complexity abstracted away in any such representation. Here, any link from a format i to a tool j just means "tool j can read format j" (and vc vs).

[Mark Round]

So - the new format for the picture is pdf - although the default rotation isn't ideal, it should be a huge improvement. All comments, as always, appreciated.