Topological Analysis of Longitudinal Networks

Abstract

Longitudinal networks evolve over time through the addition or deletion of nodes and edges. A longitudinal network can be viewed as a single static network that aggregates all edges observed over some time period (i.e., structure of network is fixed), or as a series of static networks observed in different point of time over the entire network observation period (i.e., structure of network is changing over time). By following a topological approach (i.e., static topology and dynamic topology), this paper first proposes a framework to analyze longitudinal networks. In static topology, SNA methods are applied to the aggregated network of entire observation period. Smaller segments of network data (i.e., short-interval network) that are accumulated in less time compared to the entire network observation period are used in dynamic topology for analysis purpose. Based on this framework, this study then conducts a topological analysis of email communication networks of an organization during its different operational conditions to explore changes in the behavior of actor-level dynamics.