Network analysis of Game of Thrones family ties by Shirin Glander.
From the post:
In this post, I am exploring network analysis techniques in a family network of major characters from Game of Thrones.
Not surprisingly, we learn that House Stark (specifically Ned and Sansa) and House Lannister (especially Tyrion) are the most important family connections in Game of Thrones; they also connect many of the storylines and are central parts of the narrative.
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The basis for this network is Kaggle’s Game of Throne dataset (character-deaths.csv). Because most family relationships were missing in that dataset, I added the missing information in part by hand (based on A Wiki of Ice and Fire) and by scraping information from the Game of Thrones wiki. You can find the full code for how I generated the network on my Github page.
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Glander improves network data for the Game of Thrones and walks you through the use of R to analyze that network.
It’s useful work and will repay close study.
Network analysis can used with all social groups, activists, bankers, hackers, members of Congress (U.S.), terrorists, etc.
But just as Ned Stark has no relationship with dire wolves when the story begins, networks of social groups develop, change, evolve if you will, over time.
Moreover, events, interactions, involving one or more members of the network, occur in time sequence. A social network that fails to capture those events and their sequencing, from one or more points of view, is a highly constrained network.
A useful network as Glander demonstrates but one cannot answer simple questions about the order in which characters gained knowledge that a particular character hurled another character from a very high window.
If I were investigating say a leak of NSA cybertools, time sequencing like that would be one of my top priorities.
Thoughts?