Self-similar community structure in a network of human interactions.
We propose a procedure for analyzing and characterizing complex networks. We apply this to the social network as constructed from email communications within a medium sized university with about 1700 employees. Email networks provide an accurate and nonintrusive description of the flow of information within human organizations. Our results reveal the self-organization of the network into a state where the distribution of community sizes is self-similar. This suggests that a universal mechanism, responsible for emergence of scaling in other self-organized complex systems, as, for instance, river networks, could also be the underlying driving force in the formation and evolution of social networks.
Guimerà
R
R
Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43007 Tarragona, Catalunya, Spain.
Danon
L
L
Díaz-Guilera
A
A
Giralt
F
F
Arenas
A
A
D000465:Algorithms; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D034742:Electronic Mail / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D012922:Social Change; D012944:Social Support