The following are definitions of key terms used in the study of social networks, social network analysis, resiliency science, and research translation used during this workshop.

Resilience. The response to stress at individual, institutional, and societal levels categorized as the characteristics that promote successful adaptation to adversity.

Social network. The interactions between people and organizations, including who knows, works with, or communicates with whom, that can be mapped. The data and information found on tools such as Facebook and the Enron Email Corpus are examples of social networks.

Social network analysis. The process of analyzing a social network and identifying key actors, groups, vulnerabilities, and redundancies as well as the changes in these variables.

Social networking. The process of creating, maintaining, or altering one’s network and to one’s advantage by using the network to gain resources or influence, or to mobilize activity.

Social network analysis tools. The set of tools, technologies, metrics, models, and visualization techniques used for social network analysis. These may include data extraction tools, link analysis, statistical techniques, and graph theory techniques using programs such as AutoMap, ORA, UCINET, and Pajek.

Social network theory. The set of theories for forecasting, reasoning about, and understanding how social networks form, are maintained, and evolve, and the role of variables such as social networking tools, media, and stress in affecting the emergence, utilization, management, and change in social networks.

Social network tools. A set of computational techniques that enable individuals and groups to engage in social networking by monitoring and interacting within the networks with which they are connected. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are examples of social networking tools.

Translation research. The research aimed at enhancing the movement of research results from the scientific to the applied realms.