Social network analysis

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“Who’s in the know” - using Social Network Analysis to support adaptive

communities

NSW Adaptation Approach

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Regional Vulnerability

and Assessments

Stakeholder Engagement & Capacity

Building

NSW Relevant climate

Information

www.ClimateChange.environment.nsw.gov.au

Regional Engagement

People engaged – 600+

Pop. represented – 73%

LGA’s covered – 61%

Building Adaptive Capacity

Providing tools and resources to minimise impacts of climate change in local communities

Including grants…..

Building Resilience to Climate Change grants· Grants of between $15,000 - $80,000 are available to respond to

a previously identified climate change risk or vulnerability, via:- climate change risk assessment, meeting Australian standards; or

- a climate change vulnerability assessment (peer reviewed methodology)

· Round 2 focus on proposals that- Address water supply or security

- Adapt priority infrastructure

· Collaboration with councils, regional organisations, researchers, private sector is encouraged.

· www.lgnsw.org.au/policy/climate-change/building-resilience

Adaptation Research Hub

$2.75 million leverage fund generating $6 million in collaborative research over 3 years in key research areas:

· Biodiversity – Climate Futures at Macquarie and CSIRO

· Adaptive Communities – Institute for Sustainable Futures and CSIRO

· Coastal processes and responses – Sydney Institute for Marine Science and ACCARNSI

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Social networks

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set ties between these actors

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Benefits of Social Networks

· More flexible than top-down communication strategies.

· Information is likely to be trusted and accepted.

· Information can spread quickly (e.g. social media).

· But, very limited evidence or proof of their application.

Social Network Analysis

· People/Entities are represented as nodes.

• People / Entities are represented as nodes.• Connections are represented as edges/lines.

Connections may be kin, work, acquaintanceship, friendship, co-authorship, knowledge etc.

SNA Allows for analysis using mathematical graph theory

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Social network analysis

Data Sources

Archival Data

Ethnographic / Interview Data

Historical Data (e.g., meeting minutes)

Survey Data

Social Media (e.g. Twitter feeds)

SNA Software (examples, many options)

UCINet

KeyPlayer

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Describing the structure of social networks

Centrality - Density - Betweeness

Centrality: How many ties a specific node has.

A high degree of centrality occurs when an individual has considerably more ties with other actors than other individuals within the networks.

These ‘highly connected’ individuals are important for the diffusion of information throughout the network.

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Density (a measure of cohesion):

the number of links divided by the number of nodes in the network.

density of a networks typically grows over time, as individual actors increase their interactions

networks exhibiting a high density may contribute to the strengthening of trust between individuals and/or groups and thereby also increase the possibility for social control

high density may also benefit the spread of information throughout a network by increasing the accessibility of information

Betweeness:· the extent to which each node contributes to minimizing the

distance between nodes within the network.

· That is, this measure can be used to identify the actors that contribute most to linking the network.

· These actors are critical to ensure shared learnings and cooperative action.

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Adaptive Communities Node Case study

Aim

To look at the process by which science, policy and communities interact by developing an understanding of how formal networks of stakeholders interact with informal networks to convey information at the local scale.

Goal

To understand how decision-makers can better engage with communities to improve to acceptance and uptake of climate adaptation policies/programs/strategies?

Shoalhaven Council

· Encompasses 4,531km2 including national parks, state forest, bushland, beaches and lakes.

· Population: 97, 694 people with a density of 0.22 people per 0.01km2 (ABS, 2013).

· Main sectors of employment are manufacturing, government (including Defence), retail and tourism.

· Rural land primarily dairy farming, nurseries, and a growing number of more intensive agricultural activities.

· Strong cultural history with links to indigenous communities, the Wodi Wodi and Wandandian Aboriginal people.

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Methods

· Qualitative Social Network Analysis (semi-structured interviews)

Where do you get your climate information?

Who do you share climate information with?

• Participants identified through purposive snowballing

• 24 participants were surveyed:

12 from government agencies (formal networks)

12 from key climate community groups/members (informal networks)

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Results: Where do you get your climate information

· 24 participants identified 165 ‘entities’

45 government entities (local, state and/or federal)

25 community based organisations

23 mass media entities (e.g.- tv, radio, newspaper)

16 ‘other’ (e.g.- mother, father, neighbour, etc.)

14 Non-government organisations

12 mass communication channels (e.g.- internet, mobile)

12 international entities

6 research organisations

5 social media outlets

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Results: Where do you get your climate information

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· Each node had ties to 2.5 alternative nodes (average)

· Three key players:

Bureau of Meteorology (#6)

ABC Radio (#14)

Sydney Morning Herald (#76)

• 84.2% coverage (n=139 distinct persons

Results: How do you share climate information

· 24 participants identified 194 ‘entities’

79 Community based organisations

47 Government (local, state or federal)

32 Other (father, mother, neighbour, etc.)

15 Non-government organisations

7 mass communication (internet, mobile)

6 mass media (tv, radio, newspaper)

5 social media

3 research organisations

Results: How do you share climate information

· Knowledge disseminated in dense clusters

· Knowledge primarily shared with local profession and geographical group

· Network far more fractious

· Three key players:

Local radio and 2 community members

Key findings

· Community members access climate information from a wide variety of sources, however….

· They don’t really share what they learn

· Only a few key players; Limited functional redundancy??

· SNA works!!!

Implications· SNA can be used to identify key

nodes/individuals to disseminate climate information

· Provides OEH with critical information about how to engage communities in climate adaptation;

Trusted source of information

Broad coverage and quick (links with emergency services)

• Potentially identifies cost effective means of community engagement

In seeking to increase acceptance and uptake of climate change and adaptation strategies/policies/etc;

• Build climate resilient and adaptive communities.

• Increase public safety (i.e. fires, storms, etc.)

• Social connectness /cohesion

• Economic benefits (i.e. industries sustained and/or enhanced)

Benefits extend beyond climate to any area where community engagement is important!!

What next?

· Upscale: how does this translate to other areas/communities?

Bega complete, 31 interviews, SNA currently underway

Another area (inland)

Also SNA-ing the NSW Adaptation Hub

· Qualitative understanding: what drives patterns?

· Finding efficiencies: what role for modern technologies (social media, micro-sites, etc.)

· State (or even national) plan of engagement???

· Working with OEH to trial and monitor new community engagement strategies.

Two reports on:www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/institute-sustainable-futures/our-research/major-projects/nsw

An Introduction to Social Networks for Engaging the Community in Climate Policy.  

A preliminary assessment into the utility of social networks for engaging local communities in climate adaptation policy

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Social Network Analysis – Who’s who in climate and water communication?

Participate in a SNA

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NSWOEH

to0427 541 357

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

· Research Team

- Chris Cvitanovic

- Rebecca Clunn

- Thomas Measham

- Brent Jacobs

- Anne-Maree Dowd

- Ben Harman

· OEH, in particular Chris, Storm, Polly

· Natasha Kuruppu and Sam Sharpe

· Shoalhaven city council

· All of our participants

· Further reading: Hub Reports on your thumb drives

www.climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.auHeather.Stevens@environment.nsw.gov.auSuzanne.Dunford@environment.nsw.gov.au