STEP 1: Identifying subgroups within your network

You must write a blog post of 750 words about your dataset. The following three parts will be assessed and must be addressed. You should support your responses with reference to existing literature where appropriate.

Your task is to fragment or dismantle the network by removing nodes. To accomplish this task, you should construct an “intervention” that targets nodes according to some specified criterion (e.g., by highest centrality score, highest betweenness score, or particular attributes). You should delete only 5 nodes in total.

Provide commentary on the implications of your findings. What was the impact of your “intervention”? Provide an account on whether or not the “intervention” worked and why/why not.

Generate two network maps of your network using NetDraw that shows the impact of the “intervention” (i.e., before and after the intervention). You can do this by changing node colours, shapes, or sizes where appropriate. You should refer to these nodes in the body of your blog post text, and upload the two jpeg files as an attachment to your blog post. Do not include more than two network maps.

NOTE: Do not attach your reference list as an additional attachment. It should be included in the body of your blog post (it will not count towards your word limit).