(Towards) Finding Suitable Analysis Techniques for Agent-based Networks Generated from Social Processes

HIV/AIDS has long been understood as the major obstacle in human development, especially in the poorest regions such as the sub-Sahara countries in Africa. However, most people in this region regard other stressors, e.g. food insecurity, high increase in adult deaths, unavailability of irrigation water, lack of grants, etc. as the major causes of their distress. This is part of an ongoing project that attempts to model the complexity that arises as a result of actors’ interactions at the individual and the household level. The model addresses several issues in understanding how such stressors, in particular, HIV/AIDS, affect the community structure. Networks that result from social processes in simulation are dynamic and coevolving in nature. In this paper, we outline some of the important issues that arise in dynamic social networks which result from social processes and other exogenous factors. We suggest a scheme as a way forward in understanding and analyzing such networks that change over time.