About

SIM – Network is an Assignment where you explore the concept of networks, situate your Political Actors in a network, and explain the whether the relationships between the Political Actors in your network are positive, neutral, or negative.

The Concept of the Network

The concept of the status quo is central to any simulation, as you read earlier. Another central concept to any simulation is a network. A network is “an interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or system” (Merriam-Webster (Links to an external site.)).

Example: Your Social Network

For example, a social network consists of you, your family, your friends, and your colleagues. Below is a visualization of this social network.

But, is your social network limited to just your family and friends?

No, your social network extends to the family of your family, or the friends of your friends, or the colleagues of your colleagues. Now, if this is the case, how would the above network image change?

There are several ways the network would change, for example, include:

• From your Mother we can add a line to her sister (or your Aunt).
• From your New Friend, we can add a line to her Father (or your new friend’s Dad).
• From your POSC Professor, we can add a line to his former employer a U.S. Congressman (or my Professor’s old boss)
• From your Writing Tutor, we can add a line to her boss (or the Writing Center Director)

Networks are all around us, and it is important to recognize that you a part of a network.

Example: An Economic Network

Another example is an economic network. Below is a visualization of an economic network as operationalized by the Caterpillar Inc.

The economic network depicted above involves Caterpillar Bulldozers (Links to an external site.). I use this as an example because my 2-year son is interested in these objects.

Now, these bulldozers don’t just appear out of thin air. They are manufactured by the Caterpillar Inc. (Links to an external site.).

However, Caterpillar Inc. may have economic or business relationships with “makers” of components of the Caterpillar Bulldozer.

For example, Caterpillar Inc. may have relationships with steel makers, engine makers, tire makers, and drive system makers. These makers manufacture specific components that the Caterpillar company contracts for.

This is another example of a network.

Example: U.S. Trade Network

Trade is a popular topic in US Government and Politics. The salience of trade is pronounced during times of political conflict between leaders of countries.

Trade consists of imports (items brought into a country) and exports (item sent out of a country).

The United States trades with almost every country in the world. The following document shows an Export.Gov report of year 2018 Exports from the United States to countries all over the world.

You will observe that the document does not feature a “fancy” graphic of a network, like the examples of Your Social Network and An Economic Network have. Rather, the information is presented in table format.

However, with some effort, you could map the connections between the United States and five trading partners.

Instructions

Step 1: Draw a Network of your 4 Selected Political Actors and Denote Relationships

• On a sheet of paper or using computer software (like SmartArt (Links to an external site.) in Microsoft Word or Graph Commons (Links to an external site.)), draw a network of the Political Actors you chose from the prior assignment.
• When you connect one actor with another actor, note whether the relationship is positive (use a plus + sign) or neutral (use a 0) or negative (use a minus – sign).
• Take a picture of your paper and upload the picture or include the picture in a Word document. Or, if you are using computer software, you can take a screenshot and upload the picture or include the picture in a Word document.

Step 2: Denote one of the 4 selected Political Actors as your “Represented Group”

• Recall from SIM – Political Actors, you were asked to clearly state which of the 4 groups you want to represent
• On your drawing, be sure to denote one of the 4 selected political actors as your “represented group”
• A “represented group” is the political actor you would theoretically represent in a more traditional role-playing simulation

Step 3: Five-sentence explanation of your network (1 page)

After you have completed drawing your network, write a 5-sentence explanation of your drawing. Here are some questions to consider helping your write an explanation:

• Why is the connection between two actors positive?
• What evidence have you observed (tweet, blog post, newspaper article, etc.) that supports your declaration of a positive relationship between two actors?
• Why is the connection between two actors neutral?
• What evidence have you observed (tweet, blog post, newspaper article, etc.) that supports your declaration of a neutral relationship between two actors?
• Why is the connection between two actors negative?
• What evidence have you observed (tweet, blog post, newspaper article, etc.) that supports your declaration of a negative relationship between two actors?

Step 4: Submission of Assignment

There are two options to submit this assignment:

1. Option 1: When you click “Submit Assignment” you should see two Tabs. Tab 1 is “File Upload” and Tab 2 is “Text Entry”.
   1. You can use File Upload to upload an image file of your network.
   2. You can use Text Entry to submit your 5-sentence explanation of your network.
2. Option 2: When you click “Submit Assignment” you can use the “File Upload” Tab and upload a Word Document that includes both the image of your network and 5-sentence explanation.