Piecing together ‘big pictures’ with social network analysis and digital tools

Abstract

Abstract When considering the ‘big picture’ in the history of science, what or who is considered important depends upon the focal point of the analysis. Social network analysis, equipped with digital methods, offers historians a way to help generate alternative perspectives for analysis by revealing elusive patterns obscured by the apparent ‘centre/periphery’ dichotomy or ‘great-men’ narratives. The presented methods are focused on studying connections, relationships and structural characteristics in networks and can thus help bridge global and local perspectives and suggest new historical lines of argument. This point is illustrated with a case study of Polish oil prospectors working in Argentina in the 1880s, which problematizes the narrative of the formation of transnational networks based on this mineral resource. The article discusses the place of digital methods within historical research, arguing that good skills in the interpretation and communication of outputs produced through digital research methods, coupled with familiarity with their associated theories, strengths and weaknesses, are indispensable.