On these pages I want to provide background information to the displayed metrics in the dashboard. The information is based on the contents of my master thesis Measurement of Social Capital in Enterprise Social Networks: Identification and Visualization of Group Metrics. I collected metrics from the literature and built a comprehensive metric repository, that can be used to analyse Enterprise Social Networks. In total 62 metrics were found, but here only most important ones are displayed -- namely the metrics that are also calculated and visualised in the dashboard. Originally all of these metrics were applied to individual users in a network, but with my methodological approach it is possible to apply the metrics to groups.
In the menu on the lefthand side, there are three navigation groups:
The metrics in this wiki are described in the same order. First the sources of the metric and its description are mentioned. It is determind if the metric is of global or ego-centric scope. The scope specifies whether a metric is relevant for an individual node and its neighbourhood (ego-centric) or if a metric is relevant for the entire network or group as a whole (global).
Second the calcuation schema for the metric is discussed. This is how the metrics are implemented in the backend.
Third is the interpretation of the metric. All the metrics are interpreted in the context of the Social Capital theory. The interpretation answers the question what a low or high value of each metrics means for the social capital of the group or the network. For example a high number of posts can mean, that a user is very active in the social network, while a low value indicates the opposite. Different authors provide their interpretations on metrics and try to classify users into user roles. These user roles and the metrics' interpretations are discussed against the backdrop of the Social Capital theory.