Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
So,howdoyouinterpret thegraphin
Figure5-23
?
Torecap,thesetofnodes
represents the (anonymous) family and friends of the author, not including
the author. The visual attributes are configured as shown in the legend and
described as follows:
•
Node size
—This represents the number of e-mails the person was
included in (also node label size).
•
Node color
—This represents the overall number of bytes sent, ranging
from a few (yellow) to a large number (red). This is also shown in a very
dark version of the same color for the node label.
•
Label
—This indicates the name of the person (generically anonymous).
•
Edge weight
—This represents the total kilobytes sent between a pair
of people.
•
Edge color
—This represents the most recent e-mail between a pair of
people, ranging from red (very recent) to blue (a year ago).
The topology and the thick edges (many e-mails) show the importance of T.
Schwartz in connecting the left cluster to the center cluster. Schwartz sends
many e-mails, but big e-mails. Schwartz is the primary connector between
the center cluster (direct family) and the left cluster (a set of in-laws and
cousins).
Note that B. Adkins (shown large at the bottom) is also in a similar bridging
position to Schwartz, but B. Adkins' role is different. Adkins is large because
Adkins sends a lot of e-mails to the author (who is not otherwise shown
in this graph). However, Adkins rarely copies other people (all the lines
are thin and the color is close to yellow). Adkins is simply communicating
a lot of short e-mails directly with the author—that is, Adkins is a
point-to-point communicator
, not a
broadcast communicator
.
J. Armstrong and T. Duncan (and, to a lesser extent, R. Broussard) connect
the central cluster to the right cluster (another set of in-laws). This is the
side of the family that likes to send bigger e-mails, as shown by the orange
node color indicating larger e-mails than the yellow e-mails. (Armstrong
and Duncan often send photos of family gatherings.) The Duncan/
Armstrong side has also been active more recently, with edge colors closer
to red. Unlike Schwartz and Adkins, the Duncan/Armstrong pair both
communicate fairly heavily.
