Barry Wellman

I'm excited about networks, especially how social networks, communication networks, and computer networks come together. In Networked: The New Social Operating System which I co-authored with Lee Rainie, we show how the triple revolution -- social network revolution, the personalized internet revolution, and the always accessible mobile revolution -- have come together in the shift from group-centered relations to networked individualism.

I've also developed some concepts, including "the network city", "networks of networks," "the community question", "connected lives," "networked individualism", "personal community", "hyperconnectivity", and "local virtuality".

I'm a sociologist who does his research at the NetLab at the University of Toronto. I founded the International Network for Social Network Analysis in 1977. I've written or co-authored more than 300 articles, chapters, reports and books. I'm a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and I have the highest h-index of citations of all Canadian sociologists. I've received career achievement awards from the International Network for Social Network Analysis, the International Communication Association, the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, and two sections of the American Sociological Association: Community and Urban Sociology; Communication and Information Technologies.