Pajek resources
book

Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek
Wouter de Nooy, Andrej Mrvar, Vladimir Batagelj

Cover

W. de Nooy, A. Mrvar, V. Batagelj: Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, CUP, January 2005.

This is the first textbook on social network analysis integrating theory, applications, and professional software for performing network analysis (Pajek). Step by step, the book introduces the main structural concepts and their applications in social research with exercises to test the understanding. In each chapter, each theoretical section is followed by an application section explaining how to perform the network analyses with Pajek software. Pajek software and data sets for all examples are freely available from this web site, so the reader can learn network analysis by doing it. In addition, each chapter offers case studies for practicing network analysis. In the end, the reader has the knowledge, skills, and tools to apply social network analysis in all social sciences, ranging from anthropology and sociology to business administration and history.

Pajek - the software accompanying the book

The Application sections in the book show how to perform social network analysis with program Pajek.  It uses a particular version of the software, namely PajekBE (book edition), which is identical to Pajek 1.01 and its installation file is named Pajek.be.exe according to the book. Use this link to download the software and consult Appendix I of the book for installation information.
Once you have become accustomed to Pajek, you may want to upgrade to the newest version of the software, which is available from the Pajek download page.

The data sets used in the book

Each chapter uses one or more examples of social networks. The data sets of the examples can be downloaded from the book's data page, which also contains descriptions of the data sets, or you can download a zipped file containing all data files. After you download the zipped data files, extract the data files to your personal network analysis folder (the default folder will be \ESNA with Pajek). For each chapter, a new subfolder will be created containing the data files belonging to that chapter.

You can download here also an empty Access database.

Color illustrations

In Pajek, network drawings use color to identify types of vertices and lines. Since the book is printed in black and white, the colors that you get on your computer screen are not reproduced in the book. For those who like to know the colors of network drawings in Pajek, we composed a document (PDF) containing all relevant figures of the book in color.

Handling (Encapsulated) PostScript (.ps, .eps) output from Pajek

For printing network drawings created in Pajek, (Encapsulated) PostScript is the preferred format because it yields figures of professional quality. For instance, all line drawings in the book are Encapsulated PostScript output from Pajek. However, standard Windows software and printers do not widely support (Encapsulated)  PostScript.
Some useful tools for working with (Encapsulated)  PostScript:
  • GhostScript and GhostView software is a free viewer for (Encapsulated) PostScript, which can be downloaded from Alladin. From GhostView, you can print the drawing on any printer and export it in several graphical formats.
  • pstoedit.exe is a free plug-in for GhostView that enables you to export to Windows MetaFile format, which can be included in most Windows software.
  • Acrobat Distiller, which is part of the Adobe Acrobat software package (not free), translates Encapsulated PostScript to Portable Document Format (PDF), which can be viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Handling Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) output from Pajek

Scalable Vector Graphics are ideal for presenting network drawings in a web browser, but you may need additional software:
  • The SVG drawing is inserted in (actually, referenced by) a HTML page, which is read by a web browser. Recent browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 and higher can display SVG images directly. For older browsers, you need to install a plug in, which can be downloaded from Adobe/SVG.
  • Onscreen editing of SVG images can be done with several software packages, among them Webdraw and Adobe Illustrator.

Handling 3-dimensional Virtually Reality Modeling Language (VRML) models (.wrl) exported with Pajek

Pajek can export neworks in 3D format .
  • With the Export>VRML command, Pajek exports the network to VRML 1.0. For displaying a VRML world in a web browser, you need a plug in, e.g., Cosmo player or Cortona VRML Client.
  • Some plug ins can only read newer VRML models (VRML 2.0 or 97). If so, you need a converter such as the MS-DOS program VRML1TOVRML2.EXE, which is part of the Cosmo Player package. The stand-alone program VRML1TOVRML2.EXE must be run from the MS-DOS prompt with the command:
    VRML1TOVRML2 [name of vrml 1.0 file] [name of vrml 2.0 file]
    Maybe the original vertex names, which are anchor names in the VRML model, may cause problems; if this happens, open the the VRML file in a plain text editor and adjust or remove the anchor names. Do not forget to save the changed file to plain text.
  • If you want to edit a VRML model onscreen, you need special VRML design and editing software.
  • POVRay is a good and free software package for ray tracing a 3D model. We used it to produce the book's cover image.
  • Since POVRay does not understand the Virtual Reality Modeling language directly, you must first transform the VRML 2.0 model to POVRay language, which can be done with the MS-DOS program vrml2pov.exe. In the MS-DOS prompt, issue the command:
    vrml2pov [name of vrml 2.0 file] [name of povray file] For the POVRay file, use the extension .pov. You can open the newly created file in POVRay and render it.

Handling molecule model output (.mol, .kin) from Pajek

  • MDL MOL models are three-dimensional and they are viewed in a web browser and a special plug-in Chime.
  • Kinemages can be viewed with the software program Mage.
20. November 2015 /12. January 2005 / 2. October 2004   Books;   Pajek Wiki