What is a “Supramap?” It seems the world of network analysis is exploding, coming up with new terms nearly as rapidly as this article on the spread of H5N1 avian flu virus: “Supramapping Upcoming Pathogenic Storms” examines the research done by Daniel Janies, associate professor of biomedical informatics at Ohio State and senior author of a study recently published in the journal Cladistics.
Janies’ team mapped the publicly available H5N1 genetic strains by source location in space and time. Then, using super computers, they traced shared genetic mutations to track how one strain probably mutated into another strain. Putting all this data together they were able to create a so-called “Supramap” showing the movement and changes (i.e. mutations) of the virus around the globe.
Now, can you imagine if we could map the changes in attitudes across social systems in time and space? I suspect every marketing executive and politician would would be building supramaps. Certainly the H5N1 supramap shows us that it’s possible, given the right data.
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- Supramap helps track pathogens as they evolve (news.cnet.com)
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