Copyright and Trademarks

Getting Started with NetMiner

Version 3.3

April 2008

Copyright 2000-2008 by Cyram Co., Ltd.

Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Cyram Co., Ltd.

The information in this publication is provided for information only and is subject to

change without notice. Cyram Co., Ltd. Assume no responsibility or liability for any loss

or damage that may arise from the use of any information in this publication. The software

described in this book is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in

accordance with the terms of that license.

NetMiner is a registered trademark of Cyram Co., Ltd. CYRAM and CYRAM logo are

registered trademarks of Cyram Co., Ltd.

Cyram Co., Ltd.

B111, Seoul National University Research Park Innovation Center, San4-2, Bongchun7-

Dong, Gwanak-Gu, Seoul, Korea, 151-818

Tel: +82-2-886-6077

Fax: +82-2-886-6104

Electronic access: http://www.netminer.com/

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How to cite the Program

If you are to cite NetMiner 3, you need to follow the convention as follows. You can check

it in NetMiner Main Menu: “Help >> About NetMiner 3”.

Cyram (2008). NetMiner 3.3.0. Seoul: Cyram Co., Ltd.

Technical Support

The NetMiner Help file contains all of the information you'll need to use NetMiner. To

access Help, select Help from the NetMiner menu bar, then Contents and Index from the

drop-down menu.

Cyram is committed to providing a reliable, high-quality product that is easy to use. If you

have any problem installing or using NetMiner, we want to know about it. You can contact

Cyram by mail, phone or fax. Cyram also provides electronic support through the World

Wide Web and e-mail (recommended).

Cyram Co., Ltd. B111, SNU Research Park Innovation Center, Bongchun7-Dong,

Gwanak-Gu, Seoul, Korea, 151-818

Tel: +82-2-886-6077, Fax: +82-2-886-6104

Email: netminer@cyram.com, Web: http://www.netminer.com/

In any communication with Cyram regarding a problem with NetMiner, please clearly state

the following:

- The product version number

- Your name and e-mail address

- Your hardware and software configuration. (ex. O/S, JRE version, RAM, CPU, etc.)

- A description of the problem, and what you were trying to do when the problem occurred

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Contents

I. Introduction 5 • What is NetMiner 3 6

• System Requirements 7

• Installation 7

• About this Document 8

II. Getting Started 9

Overview 10

1. Sample Data Used in This Guide 10

2. Launching NetMiner 13

3. Importing Data 14

4. Editing Data 21

5. Drawing Network Map 25

6. Styling Nodes by Node Attribute 26

7. Saving Network Map 28

8. Performing Data Analysis 28

9. Using Output Results 29

10. Saving Project ans Exit 32

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I. Introduction

1. What is NetMiner 3

2. System Requirements

3. Installation

4. About this Document

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What is NetMiner 3

Cyram NetMiner 3 is an innovative software tool for Exploratory Network Data Analysis

and Visualization. Its unique feature lies in the integration of standard social network

analysis (SNA) methodology with modern network visualization (or graph drawing)

techniques in the spirit of exploratory data analysis (EDA).

Cyram NetMiner 3 allows you to explore your network data visually and interactively, and

helps you to detect underlying patterns and structures of the network.

Cyram NetMiner 3 can be used for general research, teaching and professional analysis in

social networks. Also, it can be effectively applied to various business fields, where

network-structural factors have great deal of influences on the performance: e.g. intra- and

inter-organizational, financial, web, criminal/intelligence, info-metric, telecommunication,

distribution, transportation networks.

Main features in NetMiner 3 include:

- Expressive Network Data Model

- Large Network Data Analysis

- Exploratory Network Analysis

- What-if Network Analysis

- Comprehensive Network Measures and Models

- Workflow Management for productivity

- Powerful Data Management

- Interactive Visual Analytics

- User-friendliness

- Built-in Statistical Procedures and Charts

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System Requirements

- Computer/Processor : IBM PC or compatible with Pentium III 600 MHz or higher

processor required

- Operation System : Window 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003

- Memory : at least 512 MB of RAM required

- Hard Disk : 300 MB of available hard-disk space is required

- Display : Super VGA (1024x768) or higher-resolution monitor

- For hardware license key, an USB port is required

- For printed output, an Windows-supported printer that can print bitmaps

Installation

NetMiner 3 installation Process can be classified by Term of Licensing Program:

Perpetual – Hardware Key Driver installation is required before NetMiner 3 software

Installation. USB Slot is required for this Hardware key

Quarter, Semester and Annual – Hardware Key Driver installation is not required. Just

install NetMiner 3 software.

Full installation guide is included in the CD package. You can refer to this guide in the

installation process. You can also fine the full installation guide on the web site:

http://www.netminer.com >> Download >> Documents >> Installation_Guide.pdf

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About This Document

This document is meant to be a guide for the beginner who handles NetMiner 3 for the first

time. Description in this document covers only a part of the full functions of the program.

Functions which we think are important to understand the main concept of the program are

described. This guide is orgarnized in such a way that it can be used by the beginners just

by following the explanations step by step.

Full descriptions about the program are covered in another book “Using NetMiner” and

“NetMiner Module Reference”. You can download it on the web site:

http://www.netminer.com >> Download >> Documents

This document does not cover tutorial for the methodology of network analysis. Rather, it

is meant to be a guide for the software NetMiner.

This document is description of NetMiner version 3.3. It will be updated with software

update. Please visit often NetMiner Web site,

http://www.netminer.com, for updated information.

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II. Getting Started

Overview

1. Sample Data Used in This Guide

2. Launching NetMiner

3. Importing Data

4. Editing Data

5. Drawing Network Map

6. Styling Nodes by Node Attribute

7. Saving Network Map

8. Analyzing Data for Output Results

9. Using Output Results

10. Saving Project and Exit

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Overview

Getting Started handles basic functions of NetMiner 3 for the beginners who are not

familiar to the unique User Interface of this software. This Guide is intended to help the

beginners just to follow the explanation step by step and to have experience about the main

features of NetMiner 3. Getting Started does not give full explanation of every feature of

this software.

You need to download the Sample Data used in this Guide on the following web page:

http://www.netminer.com > Resources >> Data Archives >>

example_for_Getting_Started.zip

1. Sample Data Used in This Guide

In this step, we will first give you some explanation about the sample data used in the

guide. You will import this sample data into NetMiner at the next step. You can create

new data in NetMiner. But in many cases of data analysis, data is prepared as an

external file format like xls, txt, csv etc.

This sample data is cleansed not to give any error message in the process of importing.

As you know, almost every data analysis software requires this kind of data cleansing

process to import external file. NetMiner 3 also requires data cleansing process.

You can check the following data if you unzip and open the folder that contains the

sample data.

- Main Node_employee.xls

- 1-mode Network_work interact.xls

- 2-mode Network_purchase.xls

- Getting Started.nmf

“Getting Started.nmf “ is a NetMiner Project File. All the process explained in this

guide is contained in this Project file. You can open it just by double clicking it. We

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have prepared it for just reference. Other 3 files are Excel files. They are generally

used data types in network analysis. Left side of the underbar (_) in the file name

represents the type of each file and the right side of the underbar (_) represents the

content of each file. Main Node, 1-mode Network Data, 2-mode Network Data is

generally used data types and NetMiner can handle these types of data in an integrated

dataset.

Let’s look at each data.

Main Node_employee.xls: Yellow colored first column represents Nodeset. Nodeset

represents 22 employees. Green colored first row reprints Attribute. White colored

rows represents attribute (Department, Job-ranking, Gender, Education) of each

employee. You may know that this kind of data is not a network data but is very

important for meaningful analysis of network data as blockmodeling. This type of data

may be familiar to almost data analysts. This kind of data is used in the software that

calculates statistical measures.

1-mode Network_work interact.xls: Yellow colored first row and first column

represents same Nodeset. Each node at first column represents source node, each node

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at first row represents target node. We call this kind of network data as 1-mode

network because source Nodeset equals to the target Nodeset. Nodeset in this data

represents 22 employees we have checked in “Main Node_emplyee.xls” file. White

colored each cell represents how often the source node contacts the target node for the

purpose of “work interact” as the title of this file represents.

2-mode Network_purchase.xls: Yellow colored first column represents source nodes

of 22 employees. Orange colored first row represents target nodes of 10 commodities

that the 22 employees purchased. As you know, source Nodeset is not equal to the

target Nodeset. That’s why this data is called 2-mode network data. White colored each

cell represents how many each employee purchased the target commodity as the title of

this file represents. The source Nodeset (22 employees) in this 2-mode network is the

Nodeset that comprises the 1-mode network. We call this Nodeset as Main Nodeset.

The target Nodeset (10 commodities) that comprises the 2-mode network with the

Main Nodeset is called as Sub Nodeset.

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We have check 3 types of data that is contained in the sample data folder. These data

are generally and frequently used types of data for network analysis. Now we are going

to import these data into NetMiner and perform a few analysis and visualization

process. In this guide, do not focus on the detailed functions but just follow the guide

step by step. It is intended to help you to experience some main features of NetMiner.

2. Launching NetMiner

If your NetMiner 3 is installed with default option, you may see the shortcut icon on

the Desktop of your computer as follows.

To launch NetMiner 3, double click the NetMiner 3 shortcut icon or execute the

“netminer3.exe” file in the NetMiner 3 installation folder. If you installed NetMiner 3

at default folder, you may find this file in the following folder:

“C:\Program Files\Cyram\NetMiner3”

You can see the following splash image while the NetMiner 3 is launching.

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This is the first impression of NetMiner 3. Blank project is created. Now it is ready to

import data and perform analysis and visualization process.

3. Importing Data

Step 1. You can see the following dialogue box for Excel file importing by selecting

Main Menu: File >> Import >> Excel file.

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Step 2. Click Browse button at the top area of this dialogue box for selecting Excel file

to import. We are going to import the “Main Node_employee.xls” file for the first time.

Select this file in the file selection dialogue box and click OK. You can see some part

of the selected data to be imported in the Preview area.

Check the Column Header check box at Headers area because the “Main Node

employee.xls” has column header that represents attribute of each node. You can check

it by opening the Excel file in the sample data folder. You will recognize that the color

of the column header changes to gray color as you see in the following screen shot.

Select Main Nodeset in the Data Type area.

Select Current in the Target Workfile area.

Select Insert Newly discovered nodes in the Data Integrity Option area.

Click OK if you have selected the options in this dialogue box as above.

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Step 3. You can see the created Workfile in Workfile Tree area and the contents of the

Workfile in the Current Workfile area.

Step 4. If you double click the Main Nodeset in Current Workfile area, you can see the

imported data in the right side of the program as follows.

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Step 5. Now we are going to import 1-mode Network data and 2-mode Network data

into NetMiner successively. These data will be imported to the current dataset that

contains just one Nodeset data only as the results of what you have done from Step 1 to

Step 4. Through the continual steps ahead all the three sample data will be contained in

a dataset for making an integrated dataset in a Workfile. Detailed description of data

structure of NetMiner is covered in “Using NetMiner - Concepts – Data Structure”.

Launch the dialogue box for importing (Main Menu: File >> Import >> Excel File)

and select options in the dialogue box for importing data as follows.

Click Browse button at the top area of this dialogue box for selecting Excel file to

import. We are going to import the “1-mode Network_work interact.xls” file. Select

this file in the file selection dialogue box and click OK. You can see some part of the

selected data to be imported in the Preview area.

Check the Column Header and Row Header check box at Headers area.

Select 1-mode network data in the Data Type area and select Matrix as a type of 1-

mode network data.

Select Current in the Target Workfile area.

Select Insert Newly discovered nodes in the Data Integrity Option area.

Click OK if you have selected the options in this dialogue box as above.

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Step 6. You can see that the 1-mode network data item is added to the current dataset

by checking the Current Workfile area. If you double click the data item, you can see

the 1-mode network data at the right side of the program. In Workfile Tree area, you

can see that a new item is expanded from the first Workfile. New Workfile is expanded

from the current Workfile automatically when any change occurs in Current Dataset.

This automatic expansion will help the analyst to track the history of the data analysis.

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Step 7. In the same way, you can import the 2-mode network data.

Launch the dialogue box for importing (Main Menu: File >> Import >> Excel File)

and select options in the dialogue box for importing data as follows.

Click Browse button at the top area of this dialogue box for selecting Excel file to

import. We are going to import the “2-mode Network_purchase.xls” file. Select this

file in the file selection dialogue box and click OK. You can see some part of the

selected data to be imported in the Preview area.

Check the Column Header and Row Header check box at Headers area.

Select 2-mode network data in the Data Type area and select Matrix as a type of 2-

mode network data. Leave the Target Nodeset as default selection.

Select Current in the Target Workfile area.

Select Insert Newly discovered nodes in the Data Integrity Option area.

Click OK if you have selected the options in this dialogue box as above.

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Step 8. You can check the imported 2-mode network data as follows. Another item is

expanded in the Workfile Tree area. Double click the 2-mode network data item at

Current Workfile area and the 2-mode network data will be shown at the right side of

the program.

All the three sample data is now imported into NetMiner. Now data editing,

transforming, analysis, visualization etc. can be performed using these data. Quick tour

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of the main features of NetMiner is now starting.

4. Editing Data

NetMiner has useful and powerful editing functions. It has familiar user interface for

editing data like spread sheet software but focuses on the handling of network data.

Current Workfile Area shows the data structure that is composed of sample data we

imported in the prior steps. It is now composed of Main Nodeset, 1-mode Network

data, Sub Nodeset and 2-mode Network data. The name of each item is automatically

named after the title of the source file. The name of each item is so long to handle

conveniently in the analysis process. You can change the name of each data item in

Current Workfile by mouse right click menu “rename” or by F2 function key. We have

changed the name of each item as follows. Try it!

Workfile Tree shows how many data transformation has been in the importing process.

Each expansion of item in the tree structure represents a data addition to the prior

dataset in this case. So the final Workfile may have all the 3 sample data. So this final

Workfile will be enough to handle the 3 sample data in the Workfile in the following

analysis process. Delete Workfiles except the final Workfile as the following picture.

Select the Workfiles and press the F2 Function key or “Delete” menu in the mouse

right button menu.

What we have done to this step is contained in “Getting Started.nmf”. If you have

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failed in some the steps, you can use that file to continue this guide.

Now we are going to edit each data in Current Workfile.

Modifying weight in 1-mode network data: First, let’s look at the imported 1-mode

network data in NetMiner. Double click the 1-mode network data item in Current

Workfile which is designated by red lined box in the following picture.

You can see that there is no link from “Jessica” to “Ann” by checking the cell value

“0” in Matrix View in the following picture. Now let’s modify the cell value as “3”.

Just click the cell and input “3”. We have added new link with weight “3”. It is easy to

change the cell value in Matrix View. NetMiner editing panel has 3 views: Matrix,

Link List and Map. You can change that by selecting the inner tab at the bottom of

the editing panel. Detailed explanation is covered in “Using NetMiner - Concept –

Work Environment”.

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Adding Main Nodeset Attribute Item: Double click the red lined data item which

represents the Main Nodeset of this Workfile, you can see the Main Nodeset and

attributes at the right side of the panel.

Click “Insert Attribute” in the mouse right click menu at the column label area in the

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editing panel. You can see the “New Node Attribute” dialogue box for adding attribute

item.

Input the Attribute Name as “Duration” and select the Attribute Type as “Number”.

Click OK. You can see the new column with the cell value “-999.999” as follows. “-

999.999” means that the value of the cell is Missing Value. Modify each cell value of

“Duration” as number as follows.

Full explanation about the editing in NetMiner is covered in “Tasks – Data Handling –

Editing Data”.

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5. Drawing Network Map

Now, we are going to draw network map. Generally in network data analysis,

visualization gives the intuition about the global pattern of data and some starting

points where to dig up.

Select main menu: Visualize >> Spring >> 2D (CTRL+1).

You can see a user interface is created as follows. It is composed of two parts. At the

left side of it, 22 nodes without links among them are scattered. At the right side of it,

you can see various options for selecting and controlling. We call this left side as

“Output Panel” and the right side as “Control Panel”. Each of the items in the

Control Panel is called “Control Item”. Full description is covered in “Using

NetMiner -Concepts – Work Environment”

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Check the “work_interact” check box in the “Network” Control Item. You can see

new links created among the nodes on the Output Panel. But there will be no change of

the coordinates of the nodes. Press “Run Layout” button in the Control Panel without

selecting any other options. You can see that a network map is drawn according to the

layout algorithm selected in the Control Panel.

Full explanation about visualization is covered in “Using NetMiner - Tasks – Visual

Exploration of Network”.

6. Styling Nodes by Node Attribute

Each node on the network map we have drawn at the previous step represents

employee. You can give each of these nodes different style (shape, color, size)

according to the attribute of each node. For example, we are going to give different

color to the nodes according to the department of each node.

Click the red lined box in the Tool Bar as follows.

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You can see a dialogue box for giving different style to each node according to the

attribute of node.

Select Color tab. And select Variable as “Node Attribute – Department” as follows.

And click Apply button.

You can see the color of each node change as follows. Using NetMiner, you can give

any style to any selected nodes and links. Full description is covered in “Tasks – Visual

Exploration of Network – Styling Nodes and Links”.

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7. Saving Network Map

To save the network map as picture file, click main menu “Map – Capture Map – To

File”.

NetMiner supports BMP, JPG, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) formats for saving

picture.

8. Performing Data Analysis

Now we are going to generate output results. For example, we are going to calculate

the “Degree Centrality” of each node. Degree Centrality is a measurement for

centrality of each node based on “how many direct neighbors a node have”.

Click main menu “Analyze >> Centrality >> Degree” for Analyzing Degree

Centrality. You can see a user interface is created. Output results will be shown at the

left gray colored side. At the right side of it, you can see a few options for selection.

Select “work_interact” in the Input Control Item. Click “Run Main” button at the

bottom of the Control Panel.

You can see the output results are generated at the left side. Each of these outputs can

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be selected by the Inner Tab at the bottom of the output panel as follows. As the

output results of the “Degree Centrality” analysis, “Main Reports, Degree Centrality

Vector, Spring Map and Concentic Map” is generated at the same time. You can check

each of these outputs by clicking the inner tab.

9. Using Output Results

Now we are going to use the output results for another process in NetMiner. We are

going to draw box plot comparing the “In Degree Centrality” value according to the

“Gender”. For this process, we need to add the “In Degree Centrality Vector” to the

attribute of Main Node.

At the bottom of the Output Panel, click the Degree Centrality Vector Inner Tab. Then

click the main menu “Data >> Add Output Table >> Main Node Attribute”.

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You can see the dialogue box for selecting data as follows. Select “In-Degree

Centrality” and click OK.

Now you can check the added “In-Degree Centrality” vector in the Main Node

Attribute data as follows. Double click the employee in the Current Workfile and you

can check the added attribute as follows. Now this added attribute can be used for

another process that requires main node attribute data

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Click main menu “Chart – Box Plot”. We are going to compare the “In Degree

Centrality” according to the “Gender”. So select the control panel option as follows:

Dependant Variable: In-Degree Centrality, Independent Variable: Gender.

Click “Run Main” button. You can check the box plot in the Output Panel at the left

side.

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10. Saving Project and Exit

When you are to exit NetMiner or to open (create) another NetMiner project, you need

to select the saving option as follows. “Untitled Project” will disappear unless you save

it.

You can save your file by selecting “File >> Save (CTRL + S)”.

The extension for the NetMiner Project file is NMF.

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“Unleashing Hidden Power of Networks”

http://www.netminer.com

Tel. +82-2-886-6077

Fax. +82-2-886-6104

Email. netminer@cyram.com

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