Exploring the online networks of international NGOs Slides from the presentation at DISC2015 in Daegu, South Korea.

1. Exploring the online networks of international NGOs
GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY FROM HYPERLINK PERSPECTIVE:
presented by Dipl.-Geographer Harald Meier
Daegu Gyeongbuk International Social Network Conference 2015 / Daegu / October 29th, 2015

2. OVERVIEW
1. Field of Research
2. Method
3. Findings
4. Conclusion
5. Discussion
6. Literature
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3. FIELD OF RESEARCH
Source: The World According to GaWC 2012
Alpha ++ New York, London
Alpha + Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, Sydney
Alpha Chicago, Mumbai, Milan, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, Toronto, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, …
Alpha - Seoul, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Vienna, San Francisco, Istanbul, Jakarta, Zurich, Warsaw, Washington, ...
▪ Global City Research: FRIEDMANN (1986), SASSEN (1991)
▪ World City Network Research: GaWC Research Network (since 1997), TAYLOR (2001)
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4. GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY
Research Questions
(1) In how far is it possible to derive world city network
structures from a group of websites?
(2) How global is global civil society?
„Global civil society is a vast, interconnected, and
multilayered social space that comprises many hundreds
of self-directing nongovernmental institutions and ways of
life that generate global effects” (KEANE 2003 p. 20).
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5. METHOD OVERVIEW
Seed List
Spatial Analysis
Webcrawl
Statistics
Linkscaping
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- create a list of URLs
- (create groups)
- extract network data
- social network analysis
- find suitable framework
- collect locational data
- city network analysis
- 367 international NGOs
- grouped by social movements
- Webcrawls 2010, 2012, 2014
- 150.000 hyperlinks extracted
Finding 1: Low network density
Society / State / Economy
Finding 2: Strong spatial concentration
UIA database
LinkWeazle
Uberlink
NodeXL
???
NodeXL, SPSS
QGIS /Google API
What to do? This Study Tools
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6. INTERNAL NETWORK
Key Finding 1:
▪ Low inter-organizational connectivity
Internal network by social movement 2010
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7. INTERNAL NETWORK
Internal network by continent 2010
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8. EXTERNAL NETWORK
Linkscaping
▪ State
▪ International Institutions
▪ State Institutions
▪ Economy
▪ Social Media
▪ News Media Articles
▪ Society
▪ NGOs
▪ Universities, Political Parties
Linkscapes 2014
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9. WORLD CITY NETWORK
City Network Rankings
▪ External relations of cities in focus
▪ Intercity – international – intercontinental
Key Finding 2:
▪ High spatial concentration
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10. WORLD CITY NETWORK
Linkscape Society 2014: Top 8 Cities
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11. INNER CITY NETWORK
Tools
Mapping: QGIS
Geocoding: Python, Google API
New York Linkscapes 2014 Washington D.C. Linkscapes 2014
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Key Finding 2:
▪ High spatial concentration

12. CONCLUSION
Methodology
(1) In how far is it possible to derive world city
network structures from a group of websites?
▪ The Method works!
▪ Further research needs to be done!
▪ Automation software is needed!
Global Civil Society
(2) How global is global civil society?
▪ Not as global as the term suggest.
▪ Not as networked as one might hope.
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13. FUTURE RESEARCH
Prof. Peter J. Taylor in support of this project:
“It has the potential to open up a huge new research field in
global studies building on the seminal work of Manuel Castells
[…] This is cutting edge innovative research at its very best.”
Future Research at the Digital Space Lab
▪ Civil society networks
▪ Social movements, NGOs, think tanks
▪ Economic networks
▪ Industry analysis, production networks
in search
of financial
support!
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14. DISCUSSION
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15. EXAMPLE: TOURISM INDUSTRY
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16. EXAMPLE: TOURISM INDUSTRY
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17. LITERATURE
▪ CASTELLS, M. (1996): The Rise of the Network Society. Malden, Oxford and Chichester
▪ DEVRIENDT, L. et al (2009): Major Cities in the Information World: Monitoring Cyberspace in Real-Time. GaWC Research
Bulletin 308. Online: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb308.html
▪ FRIEDMANN, J. (1986): The World City Hypothesis. In: Development and Change, Vol. 17 (1): 69-83
▪ Globalization and World Cites Research Network (2014): The World According to GaWC 2012. Online:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2012t.html
▪ GLASIUS, M., H. ANHEIER und M. KALDOR (Hrsg.): Global Civil Society 2005/06. London, Thousand Oaks, Neu Delhi.
▪ KATZ, H. und H. ANHEIER (2006): Global Connectedness: The Structure of Transnational NGO Networks. In: GLASIUS, M., H.
ANHEIER und M. KALDOR (Hrsg.): Global Civil Society 2005/06. London, Thousand Oaks, Neu Delhi. 240-265
▪ PARK, H.W., G.A. BARNETT und I.Y. NAM (2002): Interorganizational Hyperlink Networks among Websites in South Korea.
In: Netcom, Vol. 16 (3-4), 155-174
▪ PARK, H.W. (2003): Hyperlink Network Analysis: A New Method for the Study of Social Structure on the Web. In:
Connections, Vol. 25 (1), 49-61
▪ SASSEN, S. (1991): The Global City. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
▪ SASSEN, S. (2005): The Global City: Introducing a Concept. In: Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. 11 (2), 27-43
▪ TAYLOR, P. J. (2001): Specification of the world city network. Geographical Analysis 33: 181-94
▪ TAYLOR, P. J. (2004): The New Geography of Global Civil Society: NGOs in the World City Network. In: Globalizations, Vol. 1
(2), 265-277
▪ TAYLOR, P. J. (2005): New political geographies: Global civil society and global governance through world city networks. In:
Political Gepgraphy, Vol. 24, 703-730
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