Talk:Network theory in risk assessment

This article earns a "Wow!" from me. Carol, 570cjk

Virginia -- you are using the terms risk assessment (title), risk analysis (figure 2), and risk management (figure 3) somewhat interchangeably so I am uncertain at what level you are proposing to apply network theory. Be more specific in your definitions and language around risk. A great primer on network theory but very little in terms of bringing it back to the process of risk assessment (or analysis). You might want to look through a few issues of the journal Risk Analysis and I think you will find some actual examples of network theory applied to questions of risk (not an unusual approach). With examples at hand, I think you might have a better idea of how to direct your Wiki.570jdw (talk) 20:04, 8 November 2011 (UTC)


 * took me a while to find this tab. shame on me. I just browsed the journal a bit and found at least three that I think are fit to be examples and I will put those in the first section sometime this week. thanks. 507WVS (talk) 16:02, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Virginia -- I understand your comparison of epidemiology to a social networ, however diseases spread by living agents like viruses, bacteria, prions and non living agents such as fomites, water, air. It is a study of disease, it's spread, trace outs or trace backs to the source, investigations and data collection with regards to high risk and low risk suseptible populations. I don't know if I would compare it to a computer virus. 570nlh (talk) 20:08, 10 November 2011 (UTC) nlh570


 * I was not the original person making that comparison. The author of my network theory book did. In fact, computer virus spread also has all those characteristics you mentioned above (for example high risk population would be those won't use antivirus program and low risk would be those armed with every single arsenal available plus isolated computers; to trace back a virus spread, investigators traces through computer usage online, IP address and online pathways. Terminology may be different, but the idea behind is very similar. The "immunity" of a computer would depends on its operation system and how good its antivirus software is. 507WVS (talk) 11:36, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Very interesting topic and presentation, I like it! I'd suggest including reference to Process Flowcharts which are related I believe in many ways to what you've called networks. Maybe I'm missing something though....  At any rate, you could include a section at the bottom of 'see also' and link to Flowcharts and process diagrams. As you state, these tools are applicable to any industry / application. Nice work! I'll try to get a 'see also' section added. (570wac (talk) 22:36, 10 November 2011 (UTC))

Virginia -- This is such an interesting aspect to include on risk assessments. I was only thinking about drugs, but you addressed the system of thinking. As someone unfamiliar with network theory, I had trouble following along with the exa — Preceding unsigned comment added by 570csc (talk • contribs) 02:43, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Very interesting topic, I made some grammatical edits and added some hyperlinks. Also, you might consider condensing and combining some sections as there is good coverage in wikipedia on a number of them. I see you did include a 'mainpage' link for most of them. (570ajk (talk) 04:20, 14 November 2011 (UTC))

Hi Virginia – Quite interesting and visually appealing. I think I see the points you are making here. What would help me be clearer is if you used scenarios to help explain the terminology. In a risk assessment, how is the degree connected to the analysis or used in the decision-making process? How might a hub showing association be different than one demonstrating causal relationships? In my opinion, you may not need to utilize all the terms currently in basic terminology. 570mpp (talk) 23:03, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree...very interesting topic! I don't have much to add but I also agree that some scenarios might better help explain some of the terminology. -Joe 570jby (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:05, 9 December 2011 (UTC).