Our 5th SIEM research group meeting was conducted during the Association of Japanese Geographers’ 2009 spring meeting. We received a presentation delivered by Dr. Michael Plattner (Trier University). We are grateful to the participation of Prof. Tetsuo Abo (Teikyo University) who is now also a mentor of our research group.
Dr. Plattner introduced to the field of social sciences and geography a new analytical tool, called VennMaker. VennMaker is a new software tool for participative visualization and analysis of social networks. The software program allows for comparative analyses of different individual perspectives. It visualizes changes within a network through time. Every step is stored and can be tracked. VennMaker for the first time combines aspects of quantitative and qualitative network analysis. It has been developed within the cluster of excellence at Trier University and Mainz University in Germany. Dr. Plattner presented case studies focusing on business in culturally distant locations evaluating dimensions, such as business centrality, brokerage of information across cultural distance, and cultural homophily. Investigating corporate, market and living patterns of foreign or international managers’ integration in a host country, he explained about “bridging cultural distance in geographical proximity”. Finally, we discussed the necessary changes to adapt the software for the needs of SIEM members. Please find the presentation attached. Dr. Plattner asked us to let you know about the link of his contribution to the German national atlas http://aktuell.nationalatlas.de/. If you are interested in receiving more information about this new analytical tool, please do not hesitate to mail Dr. Plattner (plattner AT trier-u.de).
