Date: 8th – 11th October 2024
Venue: Doblerstr. 33, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Organized by: Michael Herrmann (Tübinger Forum for Science and Humanities) and Dr. Helena Atteneder (Institute of Media Studies, University of Tübingen)
Human societies constantly change at many levels, from individuals to communities and nation states. Historically and at present societies have become more or less polarised, more or less cooperative, more or less integrated. To understand and perhaps even predict these trends and their consequences, there is a complex interaction between the individual, the social and the structural. Network as a basic principle structuring society, as a metaphor for human interaction, is a relevant subject for various research disciplines, long before Castells developed the "network society" as a relevant label for a certain form of social organisation.
Complex networks – ranging from the Internet to different (online) social networks – influence our lives. From communication networks, social networks, biological systems, neural networks, to technological networks such as the internet: many of these networks are similar in the sense that they share basic properties. It is thus important to understand these real-world networks itselves and the factors which influence its dynamics. Computer-intensive mathematical modelling approaches quantify and infer potential regularities and patterns in order to uncover a correspondence to the real world target system. How can we use networks as a tool for both theoretical and empirical investigations?
