Automating Force Based Layout Scaling And Network Visualization For Media Source Networks From MediaCloud Topic Graphs

Media source networks generated from Mediacloud topic graphs are currently visualized using software like Gephi with Force based layouts, however scaling the graph by expanding and contraction to reveal the network structure takes trial and error and domain expertise. Since python libraries like networkx don't have extensive support for network visualizations like Gephi, visualizing high dimensional networks become very hard. Multiple issues like node overlaps, label overlap , lack of utility functions, having a bad layout complicate the task of coming to a good network visualization.

To solve it we implement Mediaviz, a network visualization library which has been deployed as a package into pip. It provides functionalities for force based layout such as force atlas 2, automatic scaling to prevent node overlap, Gephi like features for network filtering, coloring, node resizing, prevention of label overlap and community visualization. Mediaviz uses force atlas 2 layout as default and scales the layout automatically for graphs with 100-1000 nodes that has a power law linking structure, but it can also be used with other layout algorithms.