Culturally Infused Social Network Analysis

Social networks are an important way to represent and analyze social phenomena. One aspect that is critical in order to provide relevant and useful analyses is the capability to infuse culture systematically. Cultural elements are typically either lacking or implicitly (and sometimes unintentionally) embedded in social network construction. Thus, current SNA approaches must deal with imprecise, un-realistic, and incomplete data. In this paper, we propose a generic approach to systematically model culture and infuse it into social networks to obtain more realistic and complete social network data sets that can provide insight into the probable intentions and behaviors of the actors in the network. In fact, in this paper we will introduce the concept of culturally-infused social networks, their construction, and their capability to provide fuller and more relevant social network analyses.