Social Network with Rich Edge Semantics (Zheng, Q. and Skillicorn, D.; 2017) [Book Reviews]

The main topic of this book is the analysis and understanding of the social networks formed by social networks. Much of the attention is put onto the understanding of rich semantics of the social relation that can be symmetric, asymmetric, positive, negative, or even evolving over time. The book is organized into 10 chapters that cover some of the following topics: the concept of a social network and its core model based on layered graphs; detailed concepts relating to graph theory and social networking; layered graph approach to social networks; applying the layered graph approach to more complicated relationships; applications of layered approach modeling to various learning systems; and relationships that can be both directed and signed. The book is well organized and self-contained; however, each chapter extends the preceding ones with some aspects. Thus, it is recommended to read the book in the order as written, especially if a reader is unfamiliar with the topic. More advanced readers can pick just the interesting chapters. It must be noted that the book covers a classical spectral graph analysis with little to no information about alternatives, such as deep learning in social networks. In my opinion, the reader who will benefit most from this text is a practitioner faced with the problem of knowledge discovery from some data regarding social interaction. The models described in the book allow for realistic relationship modelling. Many practical examples and supplementary MATLAB codes makes it easy for a reader to begin with their own analysis. MATLAB code can also be appreciated by a reader who prefers reading the code rather than dealing with the mathematical formulas.