Rhetorical dimensions of social network analysis visualization for public health

This presentation describes how social network analysis (SNA) can be applied and used in technical communication. We focus on using SNA diagrams for public health communication. SNA diagrams convey the dynamics of the transmission of disease and other complex networked relationships. We discuss three key connection patterns of relevance to public health applications: degree centrality, Eigenvector centrality, and betweenness centrality. This is followed by an overview of existing literature on disease transmission patterns and SNA. Using Gephi, an open-source software package, simple and clear renderings of the three centrality patterns are illustrated. We then describe how technical communicators can appropriately emphasize key features using visual rhetoric, and discuss the need to be mindful of how any graphics producing technology has its own built-in biases that may have rhetorical effects.