Call: "The visualization of personal networks"

The Sunbelt 2022 call for papers is open! We invite proposals for a session on "The visualization of personal networks", which I co-organize with Vincent Lorant of UCLouvain.

Personal network data collection methods allow describing the composition and the structure of an individual's (hereafter ego) social network. This method has been implemented in different domains such as migration, drug use, mental health, aging, education, and social welfare. Over the last years, these data have also been used to provide respondents with visualizations of their personal network, using different algorithms providing customized results through computer assisted data collection. Giving back results to ego provides them with valuable information. Visualization gives feedback to the respondent, improves data validity and may trigger behavioral change, for instance in vulnerable individuals or groups. Yet, visualization is not a free lunch. Recent research has evidenced the ethical dilemmas of providing such feedback to individuals: ego's social life is being exposed, the researcher may be exposed as well, and such feedback may imply some contractual exchanges or therapeutic implications that require attention.

This session aims to describe the implications of different visualization approaches to personal networks with different populations. We welcome qualitative and quantitative papers addressing issues related to the implementation of visualization or reports of personal networks in terms of techniques, levels of respondent's satisfaction with visualization, conditions under which visualization is recommended or discouraged, and effects of the personal network visualization for the respondent.

More information on the conference and the submission process is available here: https://www.sunbelt2022.org/abstracts