Noticia
One of the objectives of datos.gob.es is to disseminate the data culture. To this end, we use different channels to disseminate content such as a specialised content blog, a fortnightly newsletter or profiles on social networks such as X (formerly Twitter) or LinkedIn. Social networks serve both as a channel for dissemination and as a space for contact with the open data reuse community. In our didactic mission to raise awareness of data culture, we will now also be present on Instagram.
This visual and dynamic platform will become a new meeting point where our followers can discover, explore and leverage the value of open data and related technologies.
On our Instagram account (@datosgob), we will offer a variety of content:
- Key concepts: definitions of concepts from the world of data and related technologies explained in a clear and concise way to create a glossary at your fingertips.
- Informative infographics: complex issues such as laws, use cases or application of innovative technologies explained graphically and in a simpler way.
- Impact stories: inspiring projects that use open data to make a positive impact on society.
- Tutorials and tips: to learn how to use our platform more effectively, data science exercises and step-by-step visualisations, among others.
- Events and news: important activities, launches of new datasets and the latest developments in the world of open data.
Varied formats of valuable content
In addition, all this information of interest will be presented in formats suitable for the platform, such as:
- Publications: informative pills posts, infographics, monographs, interviews, audiovisual pieces and success stories that will help you learn how different digital tools and methodologies are your allies. You will be able to enjoy different types of publications (fixed, carousels, collaborative with other reference accounts, etc.), where you will can share your opinions, doubts and experiences, and connect with other professionals.
- Stories: announcements, polls or calendars so you can stay on top of what's happening in the data ecosystem and be part of it by sharing your impressions.
- Featured stories: at the top of our profile, we will leave selected and ordered the most relevant information on the different topics and initiatives of datos.gob.es, in three areas: training, events and news.
A participatory and collaborative platform
As we have been doing in the other social networks where we are present, we want our account to be a space for dialogue and collaboration. Therefore, we invite all citizens, researchers, journalists, developers and anyone interested in open data to join the datos.gob.es community. Here are some ways you can get involved:
- Comment and share: we want to hear your opinions, questions and suggestions. Interact with our publications and share our content with your network to help spread the word about the importance of open data.
- Tag us: if you are working on a project that uses open data, show us! Tag us in your posts and use the hashtag #datosgob so we can see and share your work with our community.
- Featured stories: do you have an interesting story to tell about how you have used open data? Send us a direct message and we may feature it on our account to inspire others.
Why Instagram?
In a world where visual information has become a powerful tool for communication and learning, we have decided to make the leap to Instagram. This platform will not only allow us to report on developments in the data ecosystem in a more engaging and understandable way, but will also help us to connect with a wider and more diverse audience. We want to make public information accessible and relevant to everyone, and we believe Instagram is the perfect place to do this.
In short, the launch of our Instagram account marks an important step in our mission to make open data more accessible and useful for all.
Follow us on Instagram at @datosgob and join a growing community of people interested in transparency, innovation and knowledge sharing. By following us, you will have immediate access to a constant source of information and resources to help you make the most of open data. Also, don't forget to follow us on our other social networks X o LinkedIn.
Blog
Two decades ago they did not exist, but in recent years, social networks have become an important part of our lives. 29 million Spaniards actively use these services, according to data compiled by EPData. On average, users spend almost 2 hours a day connected to them.
This data makes social networks a fundamental source of information for understanding our environment. However, this information is not usually structured; it is necessary to resort to network analysis tools to analyse the data and draw conclusions.
What is network analysis?
Network analysis is the process of representing, analysing and extracting meaningful patterns from social media data. It is a methodological and theoretical approach to observe relationships between people, countries or organisations in order to describe behaviours, structures or mechanisms of influence.
The application of network analysis has increased in recent years due to the proliferation of related contexts and its use in multiple disciplines, such as mathematics, anthropology, health, sociology or marketing, among others.
Network analysis tools allow us to study the intrinsic characteristics of social networks such as the degree of centrality, density, intermediation or closeness between members of a network. In this article we will gather information on two useful tools to tackle this task.
Two examples of network analysis tools
Gephi:
Functionality:
Gephi is an interactive exploration and visualisation software for all types of complex, dynamic and hierarchical networks and graphs, with a modular architecture.
Main advantages:
No programming skills are required to work with Gephi. It can handle large networks (up to 50,000 nodes and one million edges), by partitioning and sorting the graphs. It also supports multiple input formats, common in network analysis, such as GDF (GUESS), GML, Pajek NET, GEXF or GraphML, among others.
Another of its advantages is that it offers a set of statistics associated with network analysis and allows the export of the reports and graphs generated.
Do you want to know more?
- Support materials: On the Gephi website you can find official tutorials and documents produced by the user community, in text or video format. There are documents in several languages, including this one in Spanish, which shows a practical example for users to recreate.
- Repository: There are several repositories on GitHub with resources and tools for Gephi.
- User community: Gephi discussion groups can be found on Stackoverflow.
- Social media: The Twitter account @Gephi shares news and trends in a friendly way. Gephi also has a company profile on LinkedIn.
NodeXL:
Functionality:
NodeXL is a Microsoft Excel extension for graph analysis and representation. It works by displaying graphs from a given list of connections, providing capabilities for analysis and discovery of patterns and relationships between data.
Main advantages:
This tool features direct connections to analyse online social media, and includes connections to query the Twitter, Flickr and Youtube APIs. In addition, it allows automation of tasks.
Do you want to know more?
- Support materials: On the official website of the Social Media Research Foundation, the home of NodeXL, there is a space for tutorials in text and video format. Among other things, we find information on how to work with lists of Twitter users, create a semantic network using the text analysis function or establish video recommendation networks on YouTube. On Slideshare you can also find tutorials such as this introductory one. NodeXL also has a Youtube channel and a blog with examples of use.
- User community: On the official website there are forums where users can ask any questions they may have.
- Social media: The Twitter account @smr_foundation reports on events, webinars and news about the tool. You can also follow the director of the Social Media Research Foundation on LinkedIn, who shares helpful content and use cases, among other things.
The following table gives an overview of the tools mentioned above:
If you want to share your experience with these or other tools, let us know in the comments section.
This article is the latest in a series of tools for data processing, analysis and visualisation. Other issues in the series are:
- The most popular data analysis tools
- The most popular data conversion and data cleaning tools
- The most popular data visualisation tools
- The most popular data visualisation libraries and APIs
- The most popular geospatial visualisation tools
You can find information on all of them in the recently updated report "Data processing and visualisation tools".
Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.