Network Science Week 1:
The What and Why of Networks

Discussion Prompt

Part 1:  Introduce yourself to the class and me.  Here are some suggested items to include:  (a) why you are taking this course, (b) if there is anything you are especially interested in learning in this course, (c) what your major is or what field you are acquiring expertise or are already an expert in.  Feel free to include any other information you'd like us to know.

Part 2:  Your response to one of the following prompts:

1. In what ways does the classification of types of networks into technological, information, social, and biological networks fail to some degree?
   
   Give specific examples (either from the text or of your own imagination) of networks that either fall into more than one category, none of the categories, or expose some other issue with the classification scheme.
   
   

2. Describe a network with which you have interacted in your professional or personal life.  For example, you might be represented as a vertex in such a network, you may have created a network at some point, or you may have observed the network “in the wild.”
   
   Make sure to describe the network clearly and completely making sure to include: what the vertices represent, what defines an edge, whether there can be multi-edges, self-loops, or if the edges are directed.
   
   

3. Choose a network encountered in Chapter 1 and predict what you think is one of the most important properties of that network.  For example, you might think that the degrees of nodes in a social network will be most important because knowing who has the most connections is critical for some reason.
   
   This question is open-ended/vague for a purpose – there’s no right answer.  I want you to think about what we learn from networks and how the network properties introduced in chapter 1 play into our understanding of a network.