Understanding complex problems using concept maps

For many years I've posted articles describing the information-based problem solving strategies that I've piloted since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011. 

Since 2005 I've communicated my ideas using concept maps, created using free cMapTools.  Below is one of those. Open the map at this link. 

This map includes three elements.

1) The "mentoring kids to careers" graphic focuses on the 10-16 years of age-specific support needed to help kids living in high poverty areas move through school and into jobs and careers.

2) There's a small inset of a map of Chicago, with high poverty areas highlighted.  In my last article I focused on using maps to understand where help is needed and to guide distribution of resources to all of these places.

3) The right side of the concept map shows many of the challenges that kids, families and schools in high poverty areas face. Each of these needs to be understood, then addressed. 

What my maps do not have is a narration on the maps that explains what the viewer is looking at. That could be fixed with an audio narration, or perhaps by using a different tool than cMapTools.  Below I'm pointing to some options.  I've tried to explain some of the maps with articles like this one and, this one. 

In the lower left corner of the concept map shown above, I wrote, "This information focuses on challenges facing youth in the United states.  What would this map look like for youth in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Central and South America?  Create your own version!"

Someone did! But I don't think this was inspired by my work.

Yesterday, I found Pierce Gordon who has used a different visualization tool, called KUMU.io, to create a visualization that focuses on Systems Thinking and Youth Unemployment in Botswana, Africa.  The graphic below is from that presentation.

I was alerted to this through a post I saw on Twitter (X). 

We recently ran across a Kumu project by Pierce Gordon which looks at youth unemployment in Botswana from a systems lens.
He created a powerful presentation showcasing the forces at play, as well as providing a cool intro to #systemsthinking!#kumunity #youthunemployment #SADC pic.twitter.com/PC6sNCFKgy

— Kumu (@kumupowered) July 16, 2024

This Twitter (X) post includes a video that provides a quick overview of the analysis.  I encourage you to view it.

Then visit the KUMU page on LinkedIn where they announced the presentation and provided this link to the KUMU project shown in the video. 

Here's another systems map, shared with me by Pierce Gordon. It is an "interactive Youth Employment System Map. Designed in 2021. It is the first attempt to map the youth employment system in England. It provides a visual representation of the barriers and opportunities young people from marginalized backgrounds face as they seek good jobs."  Visit this page and then follow the link to the causal loop map. There are great explanations for how to use this, and why.  

Spend as much time as you can to look at these presentations, then connect with Pierce, or Kumu, or both and learn how you can make similar visualizations. 

Then, take a look at some of the past articles I've posted about mapping complexity.

This graphic by Christian Sarkar was included in my Nov. 17, 2022 post.

In this 2018 article my headline was "Wicked Problems. Getting "Everyone" in the Room. Who cares?   

When we started building our list of Tutor/Mentor programs  in 1993, we also began building a list of others who were already involved, or needed to be involved.  I can't tell you how many meetings I've been in when business, philanthropy, media, entertainment, sports and/or political leaders were not participating.  

Below is one of my concept maps that visualizes the talent and skills needed in a big, or small organization.

This concept map shows talent and skills. In the blue box at the top is a link to a similar map, that shows organizations.  If you don't have these skills in your tool box, or a representation from all of the stakeholders in the ecosystem, you'll have a tough time getting anything done, let alone changing complex systems.

Back in 1973 when I began volunteering as a tutor at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago, I realized I knew little of "being a tutor" so I started searching beyond my own program's training materials for other people who I could learn from.  As I did this, I began collecting names and addresses. When I became a program leader in 1975 I expanded this search, reaching throughout Chicago and the country to find people involved with volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

When an executive a Wards said in 1976 "Dan, you don't know much about leading a tutor/mentor programs. Why don't you invite other programs to lunch and see what you can learn."   I did. They came. We all shared and learned.  

I kept doing that for the next 46 years.  I found out that by keeping a list, I was the only one who could effectively "invite" people to gather, or could "knowledgably" speak about the availability of organized tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.  

Building and maintaining a list is a huge, on-going challenge.  That's another story. 

But why do this?

At the top of the graphic at the right I show outcomes that "we all want" for kids.  At the bottom I show the need for an information base which should include "who is involved, and who needs to be involved". View this graphic in this article. 

The Botswana article and the Youth Employment in England map both focus on "System Thinking".  This is what I hope you'll focus on.  

In the past, I've posted many articles focused on Systems Thinking. Here's one.  I've also pointed to KUMU.io in several articles. 

Another concept mapping tool that I've written about is NodeXL.  I point to it in this article, titled, "Building Networks - Understanding Who is Involved."

In my past articles you'll see how I've been influenced by the work of Gene Bellinger, who I met on LinkedIn many years ago.  He posted this article yesterday, showing a causal loop diagram created using a tool, called "the brain". The question this addresses is "If the current societal tendency is toward collapse or dystopia what might a third attractor look like?"  

I've recognized the potential value of Kumu, and these other tools, but because all of my concept maps were made using cMap Tools, I have not been willing to recreate them using any of them.  But, as I wrote above, I've invited others to take on that task.

Visualizations like the those I've shown in this post should be available in every metropolitan area in the world, as well as other geographies.  They address the "what do we know and what do we need to know" questions as well as "who is involved".  That should lead to, "who is missing, and how do we get them involved."

They should also focus on on-going actions that repeat over many years, and in many places. If you view my 4-part strategy map you'll see that all the information I point to in this article is just part of Step 1.  Step 2 and 3 focus on getting more and more people to look at this information and understand it.  Step 4 focuses on how people use this information in many places to help kids move through school and into jobs and careers.

There is a lot of information in this article, on my blog, and in the websites I point to.   It's too much for casual learning.  But if cities and countries are going to invest millions, or billions, of dollars in solving the complex problems we face, I feel they should invest a small percent in building an information base.

Looking at what I'm sharing should be part of their research.  Appoint someone from your team to follow these posts on LinkedIn and learn how concept maps and causal loop diagrams can support your planning and problem solving. 

One final thought. While the visualizations I'm point you to are fantastic, there needs to be a long-term, on-going effort, to share these and engage the public in using the information to help people in places where the maps show help is needed. I've been doing that on this blog since 2005.

If you've been doing work like this already, connect with me on social media (see where you can find me) and share what you're doing. 

If you value the information I'm sharing please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. 

7-19-2024 update - here's another KUMU visualization, titled "Aotearoa Futures Network Map" which explores the futures ecosystem in New Zealand.  click here

7-7-2024 update - Kumu.io is a network mapping tool. Here's a blog article showing how to map changes in a network over time.  Here's an example of a community growing over time. 

8-16-2024 update - here's a post on LinkedIn by KUMU, showing work done in Hawaii in 2022 and 2023 to create an Early Childhood Action Strategy.  Follow the links in the article to the project pages and KUMU visualizations. 

10-21-2024 update -  here's a post by Gene Bellinger where he talks about how he began creating systems thinking models.  His work has influenced my thinking since we met on-line more than 13 years ago.

11-18-2024 update - "Unlocking the Power of Systems Thinking. A Practical Guide to Systems Mapping" - article from the Kumu blog.

12-11-2024 update - Here's another KUMU systems map. This describes the problem of recidivism in Alameda County, California.  Click here to view the presentation.

9-29-2025 update - This KUMU map shows people who won INSNA awards in past years. It's an example of using KUMU for social network analysis.  View LinkedIn article.  View KUMU map.

5-13-2026 update - NodeXL has released a new version that enables you to import X (Twitter) data directly into NodeXL, using Apify to map conversations, discover influential voices, etc. See description in this blog article 

Understanding participation in movement building

This is a graphic I've used since 1990s to show how I and everyone else can help draw people to the information available in web libraries, or in face-to-face conferences, that focus on helping youth in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives with jobs that enable them to raise their own kids free from poverty.

I do this almost every day, using social media, my blogs, my websites and email newsletter. In the 1990s I also had a printed newsletter and a PR firm helping generate media stories.

Yet, the big questions always have been a) who is attending?; b) what networks are they part of? and c) what geography do they represent?.  

I've posted many articles about network building and network analysis on this blog.  Please review some to understand how I've struggled with this for so many years.

 

In some of these I've pointed to NodeXL, which is a tool that can be used to understand who's participating in a Twitter or Facebook conversation that takes place within a defined period of time. 

Today I saw the Tweet below.

Many thanks to @marc_smith for sharing this map of tweets and retweets using #RCGPAC hashtag (from NodeXL interaction map shared earlier today)
Featuring the following & many others@shaunlintern@emahase_@zubhaque@rcgpac@cmo_england@devisridhar@martinrcgp@rcgp@drgandalf52 pic.twitter.com/1351UMyUiP

— Dr Graham Mackenzie🇪🇺 (@gmacscotland) October 16, 2021

What's exciting about this is that it looks like NodeXL has added a spatial analysis feature to their tool. Thus, you can not only create the traditional network analysis map showing who's connected to who in a conversation, now you can create geographic maps showing where participants come from. 

I've connected with Dr. Graham MacKenzie in the past and feel he's doing some of the best work in showing an analysis of the NodeXL maps, helping me and others make sense of what the maps are showing.  Today  he shared with me this link, which points to a collection of articles that he has written.

I have been reaching out to universities for many years with the goal of creating a Tutor/Mentor Connection research/action program on various campuses where students would do everything I have been trying to do, to support the growth of mentor-rich youth programs in the area surrounding each campus.  While I've had help from many interns I've never been able to form a long-term partnership.

Here's another graphic I've used often. It shows that teams of people with a wide range of talents and networks are needed at the program level, neighborhood level and city, state and federal level, to build and sustain mentor rich programs in all the places where they are needed.

These teams need to be involved in an on-going planning/action cycle that builds public will and the flow of resources needed to power all of the youth and family serving organizations that are needed.  

Learning to use NodeXL and other network analysis tools to understand how well leaders are able to attract needed talent, and keep people involved and the network growing over many years, would be a valuable skill.  It's one that students working in a university T/MC could be learning.

I encourage you to follow NodeXL, Mark Smith and Graham MacKenzie on Twitter so you can see the work they do as they do it.   I hope you'll also follow me, @tutormentorteam.

Using Celebrity Power More Effectively

This week the 2019 Obama Summit was held in Chicago. I was not invited to attend but followed on Twitter. Many sessions were live streamed so I and others could have been almost in the room. In addition, we could have been Tweeting and interacting using the #ObamaSummit hashtag.

If you did, you would be included on this map created by NodeXL, which is a product of the SMR Foundation. This represents Tweets of 6,463 Twitter users using #ObamaSummit between October 21 and October 30, 2019.

to view map, click here

The map is interactive so you can zoom in and click on any of the nodes to see who was Tweeting. In the information provided below the map you can see who the most influential Tweeters were, which included President Obama, Michelle Obama, Ava DuVernay, and many other high visibility people.

click to enlarge

I created a few screenshots to illustrate this.

This graphic shows the cluster at the far left of the NodeXL map.

I used my marker to point to the node that is President Obama's Twitter account (#1).  If you zoom in closer you can click on any icon to see who that person is. Double click and open that person's Twitter profile. You can then follow them, add them to a list, or just scroll through their posts to see what they are saying on Twitter.

click to enlarge

The middle cluster (3-1) features Michelle Obama's Twitter account in the middle.  At the bottom of this cluster (2-1) are Twitter accounts of Oprah Winfrey,  FLOTUS44 (Michelle Obama) and Kerry Washington.

The cluster to the far right features Ava DuVernay @ava in the middle. There are many, many other highly visible people within these clusters, plus far less visible people like myself.

Unfortunately there are also some "haters" who are using the hashtag to post their own views.

I'm not an expert in doing an analysis of these maps so invite any who do have that skill to do their own analysis of this map, then post it to Twitter. I'll update this article with a link to your analysis (more than one would be welcome). I would really love to see one by the Obama Foundation!

The most frequent website referred to in all of these Tweets was The Obama Foundation.  I've visited the web site and in the Mission section are a few featured initiatives.  That means any who were motivated by this year's Obama Summit, who visited the website, might be motivated to click into any of these initiatives and learn ways they could use their own time, talent or dollars to help, or find ideas and resources that enable them to help a similar organization in another place.

As far as that goes, it's good.  It does not go far enough.  As former Commander-in-Chief I hope President Obama has a basic understanding of the value of maps, as used by military commanders to put troops and supplies in all places where an enemy is concentrated.

Thus, I'd want to find a map on his web site, or maybe even a collection of maps, such as I show in the concept map below (from my collection).  If you look at the 2019 Obama Summit page, you see a theme of "Places Reveal our Purpose" but not one map! Maybe maps are embedded in some of the presentations. I don't know.

Click here to open and view map. Open the links at the bottom of each node.

This concept map shows a) work the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC has been doing since 1993 to draw resources (attention, volunteers, dollars, ideas, etc) to youth tutor, mentor and learning programs in the Chicago area); b) work others do to collect and share information that shows where people throughout the US need extra help; and c) the United Nations Global Goals, which point to places throughout the world where extra help is needed.

The data map could be just one link, or story, in a resource section on the Obama website. Including this would enable the site to serve more as an intermediary, connecting everyone who was paying attention to #ObamaSummit this week, or in future weeks, to places throughout the world where those people can get involved.  A narration of this data map could have been one of the featured presentation at the ObamaSummit. 

Now look at the graphic I show below.  I created this several years ago when Mr. Obama was President.  The photo shows him when he was a speaker at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago in 1999....which the Tutor/Mentor Connection organized.

Attention needs to be continued throughout year to increase flow of resources.

This graphic was created when the I had the resources to organize May and November conferences and an Aug/September volunteer recruitment campaign in the Chicago region, and when I had more resources to collect and share information about youth tutor/mentor programs in the region. You can read about the quarterly event strategy in this PDF and in this Collaboration Strategy PDF.

In addition, the graphic illustrates that if highly visible people use their websites, social media and personal appearances to point to web sites with maps and information about every youth program in a geographic region, volunteers and donors will be more motivated to provide the on-going time, talent and dollars each program needs to constantly improve and become great at helping kids through school and into adult lives.

By using a map this strategy aims to distribute needed resources to all poverty areas, not just highly visible programs, or highly visible places. 

Anyone can be the YOU

President Obama emphasized the power of telling stories during this year's #ObamaSummit and on his web site.  I want to emphasize that if those stories point to maps of Chicago (or other places) that show where poverty is concentrated and were youth programs are located they can serve as advertising to draw volunteers and donors to all of those places....if they are repeated throughout the year.

That's really important. Calling attention to a program or place just one or two times a year is not what traditional marketers do to draw customers to their products, services and retail stores.  

Furthermore, you don't need to be the President or a movie star to be the YOU in the above graphic.  Anyone can use the resources I point to to support stories they tell every day that show where help is needed, why help is  needed, and who needs help...and to call for actions that deliver needed support to those places.

If the #ObamaSummit organizers post weekly stories on their blog that point to these ideas, then share them on Twitter, they could also ask NodeXL or any other network analysis expert to create maps showing how many people are engaging with them, who those people are, and how they are connecting to each other.

I've been sharing ideas like this on this blog since 2005 and on the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net web site since the late 1990s. They are now available for anyone who wants to expand their thinking on ways to help youth in poverty move through school and into adult lives, and to draw people together to solve any of the complex problems we're facing.

I hope you'll take a look. I'll look forward to connecting with you on Twitter, Facebook and/or Linkedin.

I'm trying to scare up some resources to support Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here if you want to help.

10-16-21 update - I pointed to NodeXL in this any several other articles on my blogs. Dr Graham Mackenzie, GPST3, Edinburgh, Scotland, has been doing some interesting work using NodeXL to understand participation in events. Here's a link pointing to a collection of his articles.   

Know the Network. Nudge the Network.

I started leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in 1975 while starting an advertising career with the Montgomery Ward Corporation in Chicago.  What I learned over the next 15 years was that leaders constantly need to be reaching out to people with different talents and networks to help them do the work needed to sustain and grow the organization.

As I was learning this by running a volunteer base program I was also learning this from how we used weekly national advertising to attract customers to our 400 retail stories located in 40 different states. The graphic above visualizes the idea that it takes teams of people with different talents to help youth tutor, mentor and learning programs thrive. In a big city like Chicago, it takes many of these programs to reach just a fraction of the 200,000 or so kids who could benefit.

Talent needed - click here

At the right is a concept map that visualizes the talent needed to help an organization thrive.  Each of these nodes should link to social media or Linkedin profiles of people who are providing that talent in support of the organization's mission.

In the blue box at the top of this cMap is a link pointing to a similar map, which shows networks, rather than skills.   You need a mix of talent representing different networks.

Finding and recruiting people to fill these roles is an on-going challenge, that is especially difficult for smaller organizations who don't have major civic and/or business support.

I participated in two Twitter chats today which were in support of events held in Chicago which each attracted at least 200 civic and business leaders.  One was hosted by the Metropolitan Planning Council, with the Raj Chetty (see my July article) as keynote speaker. I show one Tweet from that event,  using #MPCLuncheon as the hashtag.

Opportinity (defined as upward mobility) is distributed unevenly across the US. Lessons from Raj Chetty @OppInsights at #MPCLuncheon @Metroplanners pic.twitter.com/QiAjCbYp8b

— Juan Sebastian Arias (@_jsarias) September 19, 2019

The second, held during the same time frame, was live streamed by the City Club of Chicago.  Here's a Tweet that announced the event.

Live at 12:20PM with our panelists @MaryAnnAhernNBC , Fr. Michael Caruso & Tony Harris on "A discussion of 150 years of @StIgnatius College Prep in Chicago" at https://t.co/7VWvNaDpx4 #watchnow pic.twitter.com/UD8GBztms2

— City Club of Chicago (@CityClubChicago) September 19, 2019

For several years I've been encouraging event organizers to be more active in encouraging participants to connect on Twitter using a common hashtag.  At the same time I've also encouraged them to use network analysis tools like NodeXL to create a graphic showing who did participate and how they are connected to each other.

Today I posted a Tweet at the start of the event encouraging Metropolitan Planning Council organizers to do this.

Looking forward to Tweeting #MPCLuncheon #MakingPositiveChange w/ keynote from Raj Chetty today.

With so many in attendance at your event I'd hope to find 100 or more also Tweeting. Will you encourage that? A SNA map by @NodeXL could show participation.

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 19, 2019

Then later this afternoon I received a message from NodeXL with a map that they created showing participants in the #MPCLuncheon event. I show it below.

You can see this actual map, and view an interactive version, at this link.   

I think there are 25 nodes (Twitter users) on this map. That's far short of the 150-200 who were at the actual lunch event, or the potential audience who could have been following on line.  To make a comparison, visit the NodeXL gallery and view their collection of maps. Many with several hundred nodes. 

Update:  Here's an updated NodeXL map, from 9-20-2019 showing 43 users.  click here

I've posted several articles in the past showing how network analysis can help community organizers build a better understanding of who is participating in their events, and thus, also a better understanding of who is missing.

Connect those who can help
with those who need help.

Using this information I feel organizers can nudge the network to do learning, network building, donating, volunteering, voting, etc. and other things needed to build and sustain an effective organization.

They can also reach out to add new people based on what talents and networks are missing from their ecosystem.  Furthermore, they can use these maps to demonstrate a growing (or shrinking) participation over months and years.

I'll share this article on social media with the goal that some of the people who see it will a) embrace the idea and build it into future activities; or b) show me blog posts that illustrate how they are already doing this type of work.

Maybe some will even add me as a consultant to their planning teams to help them think through network building and engagement strategies like this.

Thanks to Valdis Krebs for the "Know the network. Nudge the Network." phrase.

If you've found value in this article please consider a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here to learn more. 

OnTheTable2016 participation map

I asked Marc Smith to create a Node XL map showing participation in May 10th OnTheTable2016 which I wrote about yesterday.

This Tweet was created about 4pm on May 10 showing participation up to that point.

@tutormentorteam #onthetable2016 #yourvoicematters > NodeXL https://t.co/xemJCBqAlp@chitrust@dregan@cherylhughes20@danoash@evanstonlive

— Nodexl Project (@nodexl) May 10, 2016

This tweet includes the map produced mid-afternoon, May 11.

#onthetable2016 by NodeXL https://t.co/J8AtW4WU1V@chitrust@danoash@dregan@cherylhughes20@tomdart@evanstonlive@chipublib@jeanwestrick

— Marc Smith (@marc_smith) May 11, 2016

Compare the two maps and see the increased participation resulting from another 24 hours of gatherings and social media reporting.  To help leaders learn to use network analysis maps, I created this blog article as a tutorial for using NodeXL.

It will take quite a bit of work on the part of volunteers, interns or staff to draw information out of this map and make sense of it. However, my goal in sharing this is to encourage event organizers to find ways to engage people over and over for many years, so there is deeper engagement and more commitment to providing time, talent and dollars to solve complex problems.  The graphic below is from this page on my web site where I talk about network building and network analysis.

I've been focusing on network building for over 20 years. I started writing this blog in 2005, so if you look at the tags to the left, you can find categories like network building, network analysis, learning, complex problems, etc.

In many articles I read about education reform and poverty fighting, as well as challenges facing non-profits, I see a frequent criticism that resources are not applied long enough for an idea to take root and have impact. In my 35 year leadership of a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program I realized that it takes many years for a program to recruit and build an army of volunteers and a tradition and learning culture. It takes eight years of continuous support for a youth in 3rd grade today to be finishing high school eight years later, or finishing college and/or entering the workforce, 4 to 6 years after that.  

Few donors, media or other public figures support single organizations for that length of years, and if you look at the map of the Chicago region, or the large numbers of youth living in poverty, you'll realize that the city needs hundreds of programs providing long-term support, spread throughout the region. 

Thus, I write articles focused on building and sustaining public will. 

I write other articles focused on building and sustaining funding support for programs in different poverty neighborhoods....because this needs to be part of any conversation about reducing violence, poverty and inequality.  

My efforts for over 20 years, since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection, have been to provide information that leaders could use to make the commitment shown in the strategy map below, then sustain that commitment for a decade or longer.

 
When you look at one of the NodeXL maps in the future, you should be able to click into web sites for a growing percent of people, representing all parts of the region, and everyone who we consider "part of the village" and see a version of this map, indicating their commitment to the strategy.

I can't make that happen by myself, but leadership from The Chicago Community Trust, a series of mayors, and leaders of business, sports and media, could, if they focused part of their weekly attention and resources on this goal.

If you spend time reading the articles on my blog and web sites, and using the ideas in your own efforts, perhaps we will see evidence of network mapping and network building being applied in 2017 and beyond.

Use NodeXL data to build network focused on common goals

Last September I saw a post on Twitter and followed it to a NodeXL map, that created a visual history of conversation around specific Twitter hashtags, over a defined period of time. I created a map, then wrote a tutorial on how to  use NodeXL in this blog article. 

Last week the National Mentoring Summit was held in Washington, DC, with nearly 1000 people from around the country participating. While I've attended these in the past (see articles here and here), I didn't have the money to attend this year. So I participated by following some of the sessions via a live feed, and by interacting using the #mentoringsummit2016 hash tag.

If you've read any of the articles on this blog you'll know that my goal is to connect the entire "village" of people who need to be involved making needed tutoring, mentoring and learning organizations available in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other cities.  To do that, thousands of people need to be connected to each other, to information the can use, and to individual locations where youth and volunteers connect in organized programs.

Intermediaries, such as the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, can help establish these connections. That's why I'm writing this article. It's what I do every day.

While conferences that gather a thousand people are great, and offer dozens of workshops to learn from, the reality is that you can only attend one workshop in each time frame, and in a big group, you only meet a few people, and get to ask one question...at the most.

Thus, I'm committed to online learning and network building as a way to connect with more people, and dig deeper into information that's available.  See articles I'ved tagged as MOOC and Learning. 

Thus, my work last week intended to build my own list of Twitter followers, and visitors to my own web sites, but to help others build their own networks at the same time.

Last week I asked Marc Smith, of NodeXL if he'd create a map using #mentoringsummit2016, which he did. Here's the link to the graphic shown below.

I encourage you to read the tutorial article I referred to above.  However, if you open the link, you can enlarge the graphic to the point where you can run your mouse over the nodes and see the Twitter name of each node. On this map you see four major clusters and several minor. The lines represent ties connecting people on the map with each other.  If you scroll down below the map you can find the top 10 influences, you can find web sites referred to most often, and as you scroll further down you can find more people who were most active in Tweeting, reTweeting and commenting.  

If you're trying to build your Twitter network, you would want to follow the people who were most active. If you want to build your influence network, you'd want to reach out and connect to these people throughout the year, while following the links they point to in their own Twitter posts, and reTweeting these to your own network.

When I started using the Internet in 1998 there was great optimism that this was a low-cost way for people without big advertising dollars to reach out and build a network of people who shared a common purpose, and who might help each other.  As we head into 2016 the optimism is somewhat reduced as Facebook, Google and others install controls on their platforms that make each message you post visible to only a small fraction of your followers and people who care about the same issues. 

Finding ways to use network analysis tools like NodeXL to help you find and connect with others who share your own goals is a strategy any of us could deploy on a regular basis to help build our network and our own visibility and influence.

I hope to hear stories from some of the tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other cities of how they might be doing this, and how they may be engaging their own students, volunteers, staff and supporters in on-line learning, network building and program support efforts.

Jan 12, 2018 update. Here's a link to a NodeXL map of the National Mentoring Month #Promise Chat, held on Jan 11, 2018. 

Building Networks - Understanding Who Is Involved

On Nov. 3 and 4 I participated in a two day event called City/Cité: A Transatlantic Exchange, that was an exploration of inequality, race and the state of Urban Democracy in the United States, France and beyond. Speakers were from both sides of the Atlantic. As the event unfolded attendees were encouraged to use Twitter to share what was happening in one small Chicago space to others in Chicago and throughout the world who are concerned with the same issues.

A couple of months ago I learned of a network analysis mapping tool called NodeXL, which enables mapping of Twitter and Facebook hashtags, to create a visualization showing participation over a defined time-frame. I posted a tutorial on the MappingforJustice blog so that I could learn more about this, and so others could do their own learning.

This morning I asked Mark Smith, from NodeXL to create a map using "#citycite_Chicago OR #urbandemocracy", the two main hashtags for the event. That map is shown below and at this link.

Because of the small number of Tweeters, there are no dense clusters on this map. However, you can see how some people were the center of larger groups, who retweeted or commented on their own Tweets. Lines from one node to another, and from one cluster to another, show connectivity between different people. Since this is a small group, and I was active, you can see @tutormentorteam in the upper right cluster on the map.

Below is another NodeXL map, showing Twitter activity during the Independent Sector conference, which was held in Florida, attracting a huge crowd of participants. Some sessions were live streamed (and archived), meaning people who could not make it to the conference could still participate. Independent Sector(@indsector) promoted the conference via Twitter and encouraged active Tweeting the day of the event, using "#ISEmbarks OR #embarkstream" hashtags. The map of Twitter activity is shown below. The link is here.

This graph "represents a network of 1,451 Twitter users whose recent tweets contained "#ISEmbarks OR #embarkstream", or who were replied to or mentioned in those tweets, taken from a data set limited to a maximum of 18,000 tweets. The network was obtained from Twitter on Wednesday, 28 October 2015 at 21:00 UTC."

This is a much larger group of users than who participated in the City/Cité event. The map shows a few large clusters connected to each other, and many smaller groups.

I'm part of the big cluster at the lower left part of this graph, toward the right side of the main cluster. This graphic illustrates how you can enlarge the graphic to view different sections, and shows my @tutormentorteam node.

I'm just learning to use this, and don't have a lot of time to focus on the tool, or to create maps to analyze, and create map stories, about individual events. Thus, I encourage you to read the tutorial I posted to learn ways to use NodeXL and similar network analysis tools.

One way that I feel is really important is for event and movement organizers to build an understanding of how many people are connecting to each other as a result of the event and its on-line conversations. While the issues of race and poverty and inequality are really important, the City/Cité event this week did not draw nearly the number of Twitter participants as did the Independent Sector's focus on philanthropy.

However, these are connected issues. In my own opinion, there should be some evidence of people who focus on race, poverty and inequality being involved in both of these events.

Another way anyone can use these graphs is to look at who the main influencers are. These might be people you'd want to follow on Twitter, and build a relationship with. You can enlarge the graph, and move your mouse over each node, or each cluster, to identify more participants, and find more people you'd want to connect with.

In yesterday's discussion of race, poverty and inequality one speaker ended his comments saying "The real challenge is making more people care". I agree. However, part of that challenge is attracting people to conversations that focus on these issues, and then mapping participation so you know who is there, and who is missing.

The graphic below visualizes this challenge. How do a few of us multiply, over and over, to the point where we have a critical mass of people who are giving time, talent and dollars to reduce inequity, reduce poverty, improve opportunity, reduce racism and violence, etc.? How do we engage people who don't live with these issues every day, who live in areas of wealth, privileged and affluence, and deal with their own problems every day, giving very little consistent attention to the problems of others. Once we get someone's attention, how do we connect them with the vast amounts of information they could use to support growing involvement? How do we keep them involved, and expanding their knowledge and commitment, for decades?

Social network analysis maps, Geographic Maps, and concept maps could begin to show who is involved, and provide paths that connect people with each other, and with ideas.

I've been trying to do this since 2010. This graphic is from a set of blog articles showing participation in 2008 and 2009 Tutor/Mentor Conferences. In this article you can see work done by students who were part of a 2015 Information Visualization MOOC hosted by Indiana University. Each of these were short term projects. This type of work requires on-going involvement, mapping lots of events, not just the ones I've hosted.

Every day someone in Chicago, or in other parts of the world, is hosting an event focused on issues that are important to me and others. Many of these are beginning to have an on-line component. If organizers of face-to-face events think of network-building as a goal, and focus on strategies that keep people connected to each other after an event ends, more might begin to add online activities into their strategies, and use hashtags, network analysis and mapping tools, and newer technologies to know the network, nudge the network, and build the network so it reaches a scale that can solve some of the complex problems that bring us together in the first place.

Read Network Analysis articles on Scribed. Here, Here and Here