Why is interactive exploration useful?
From the discussion in #27:
Why aren't network scientists using cc-webgraph (more)?
cc-webgraphs are an incredible resources for researchers, but they are under explored. After attempting to encourage other researchers to take advantage of the webgraph framework and cc-webgraph, I chalk this down to the following problem:
Interfacing with the Webgraph library (relying on bash / java knowledge) implies a level of systems knowledge that is rare in the world of data and network science researchers.
To help those without systems knowledge explore the cc webgraph, I decided to make a quick no-code webgraph exploration app. You can download the graph that you construct in the visualizer in some basic formats.
Why build a Gephi plugin?
Another "nice to have" for making it easier for network science researchers to analyze webgraph data would be a Gephi plugin.
Functionally it would be equivalent to the interactive demo linked above, but without the need for self-hosting a webapp, and using a tool that folks are already familiar with. Another bonus is that, as Gephi is written in Java (and the plugin system is managed with maven), it would work really well with the existing architecture of cc-webgraph.
Is a bespoke Gephi plugin redundant?
That being said, there is already a neo4j plugin for Gephi that allows users to query using cypher (instead of a UI based exploration as I had been imagining). Given the efforts to build cc neo4j webgraphs, this risks some redundancy.
Either way, Gephi integration of any kind would be a huge plus. Any thoughts on which approach would be best? From my understanding, neo4j graphs either take up a lot of disk space. But they can also be queried via REST API if hosted online. I'm not sure how this compares to using jshell with the existing webgraph format.
Why is interactive exploration useful?
From the discussion in #27:
Why build a Gephi plugin?
Another "nice to have" for making it easier for network science researchers to analyze webgraph data would be a Gephi plugin.
Functionally it would be equivalent to the interactive demo linked above, but without the need for self-hosting a webapp, and using a tool that folks are already familiar with. Another bonus is that, as Gephi is written in Java (and the plugin system is managed with maven), it would work really well with the existing architecture of cc-webgraph.
Is a bespoke Gephi plugin redundant?
That being said, there is already a neo4j plugin for Gephi that allows users to query using cypher (instead of a UI based exploration as I had been imagining). Given the efforts to build cc neo4j webgraphs, this risks some redundancy.
Either way, Gephi integration of any kind would be a huge plus. Any thoughts on which approach would be best? From my understanding, neo4j graphs either take up a lot of disk space. But they can also be queried via REST API if hosted online. I'm not sure how this compares to using jshell with the existing webgraph format.