Documentation
Download and Installation instructions
The easiest way to install SoNIA is to download the most recent version of the install_sonia.jar file from sourceforge and run the installer.
The installer is currently broken because some of the dependent libraries have moved. The wiki has instructions on how to manually install SoNIA.
After clicking install, it will ask you to select a directory for installation, and then download the corresponding version of SoNIA and the required Colt, FreeHep, and JavaSWF libraries from their respective websites. It will also display the license agreements, and gives the option at the end to open a website to download the (optional) QuickTime installer from Apple. Run the (optional) Quicktime installer. SoNIA is a Java application, so you must have a current version of java (1.5+) installed on your system.
Quick Start Documentation
How do I make a movie in a hurry? What does this button do? Check out Dan's Intro Lab
Input Formats
How do I get my data into a file which sonia can read? Check out the list of input formats and specifications on the SoNIA documentation wiki.
User Manual
err, coming soon. Take a look at Dan's Lab above. Or look for details on the documentation wiki.
Theoretical Overview
These pages give a more in depth look at the concepts behind SoNIA and dynamic network visualization. They have been constructed mostly from the material in papers we have written about SoNIA especially:
- Skye Bender-deMoll and McFarland, Daniel A. (2006) “The Art and Science of Dynamic Network Visualization.” Journal of Social Structure. Volume 7, Number 2..[draft PDF]
- A pdf of Skye's short talk about visualization using SoNIA presented at the 2004 social networks conference in Piran can be found here.
Layout techniques
A short summary of the different kinds of layout algorithms used in SoNIA
Forums & Lists
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sonia-users mailing list
This is the best way to get intouch with the authors and other users to answer your questions and problems -
sonia-user archive
A web form which allows you to search the list archives to see if your question has already been asked -
Forums
Web based discusion forum for SoNIA and dynamic network visualization -
Bug Tracker
The best way to report errors and issues with the software
Wiki
Yes, there is now a wiki documenting SoNIA. Hopefully this will help keep things more up to date. If you would like to contribute to the wiki you need to get a SF.net account and send a request to skyebend to be added as an editor.
JavaDoc
If you want to understand the structure of the program, the auto-generated documentation of the code is located here.