Simplifying complex network data collection.

Network Canvas provides free and open-source software for surveying networks, designed around the needs of both researchers and their participants.

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A selection of tools to facilitate your research

We provide a complete end-to-end workflow for networks research, with an app for survey design and for interviewing. Using these tools, researchers can easily design, capture, and export network data.

Architect

A desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux) tool for visually designing Network Canvas interviews. Architect allows subject experts to focus on the design and implementation of their study, without needing to learn complex new technology.

Interviewer

A desktop/tablet app for administering Network Canvas interviews in the field. Interviewer provides minimalist, participant-centric interfaces for all the data collection tasks associated with personal network interviewing.

Fresco

Bringing Network Canvas interviews to the web! Fresco is a pilot project that allows researchers to conduct Network Canvas interviews in a web browser.

A selection of tools to facilitate your research

We provide a complete end-to-end workflow for networks research, with an app for survey design and for interviewing. Using these tools, researchers can easily design, capture, and export network data.

Architect

A desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux) tool for visually designing Network Canvas interviews. Architect allows subject experts to focus on the design and implementation of their study, without needing to learn complex new technology.

Interviewer

A desktop/tablet app for administering Network Canvas interviews in the field. Interviewer provides minimalist, participant-centric interfaces for all the data collection tasks associated with personal network interviewing.

Fresco

Bringing Network Canvas interviews to the web! Fresco is a pilot project that allows researchers to conduct Network Canvas interviews in a web browser.

A selection of tools to facilitate your research

We provide a complete end-to-end workflow for networks research, with an app for survey design and for interviewing. Using these tools, researchers can easily design, capture, and export network data.

Architect

A desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux) tool for visually designing Network Canvas interviews. Architect allows subject experts to focus on the design and implementation of their study, without needing to learn complex new technology.

Interviewer

A desktop/tablet app for administering Network Canvas interviews in the field. Interviewer provides minimalist, participant-centric interfaces for all the data collection tasks associated with personal network interviewing.

Fresco

Bringing Network Canvas interviews to the web! Fresco is a pilot project that allows researchers to conduct Network Canvas interviews in a web browser.

Learn more

Our goal is to build a suite of tools for the research community that is high quality, free, safe for research, and built to last. Watch our project video to learn more about why we created Network Canvas, and visit our YouTube channel for more videos.

Design Principles

Underpinning all Network Canvas software is a set of five design principles. These principles are derived from our observations and experiences regarding the problems facing researchers wishing to design and conduct personal networks research.

Projects

We have a number of ongoing projects which aim to either evaluate and enhance the software, provide new methods of deployment, or to create entirely new ways of collecting network data.

Partner Services

A project to map the needs of Partner Services, and evaluate the utility of Network Canvas as a public health tool to aid disease investigation and increase data quality.

Fresco

Bringing Network Canvas interviews to the web! Fresco is a pilot project that allows researchers to conduct Network Canvas interviews in a web browser.

Studio


Taking Network Canvas to the cloud for the first time, Studio will enable remote interview deployment and collaborative protocol building in a browser, while also providing a data analysis API.

Taking Network Canvas to the cloud for the first time, Studio will enable remote interview deployment and collaborative protocol building in a browser, while also providing a data analysis API.

Grants Using Network Canvas

We are proud to say Network Canvas is being actively used in a number of federally funded grants in the United States, across a diverse set of research contexts, institutions, and funding bodies.

Core Team

Our project team comprises individuals across a variety of disciplines and specializations.

Kate Banner

Northwestern University

Michelle Birkett

Northwestern University

Caden Buckhalt

Northwestern University

Noshir Contractor

Northwestern University

Bernie Hogan

University of Oxford

Patrick Janulis

Northwestern University

Joshua Melville

Northwestern University

Gregory Phillips II

Northwestern University

Contractors

We develop our software in collaboration with a talented group of contractors.

We develop our software in collaboration with a talented group of contractors.

If you have a skills in Design, User Experience Research, NextJS/React/Tailwind, or other relevant technical skills, please feel free to contact us!

If you have a skills in Design, User Experience Research, NextJS/React/Tailwind, or other relevant technical skills, please feel free to contact us!

Mirfayz Karimoff

Fullstack Developer

Previous Contractors

  • Jabulani Mpofu - Worked with the team during the start of the Fresco and Studio projects.

  • Jamie Chung - Played an important role in bootstrapping the project, and establishing our styling system.

  • Sunjay Kumar - Implemented several features within Interviewer.

  • Bryan Fox - Made significant technical contributions across all aspects of our software.

  • Rebecca Madsen - A key long-term collaborator and expert in finding and fixing quality issues within the software.

  • Steve Mckellar - Senior developer and key long-term collaborator who played a vital role in designing and implementing Architect, as well as implementing testing strategies.

  • Matt Meshulam - Established our dev-ops workflow for deploying and managing our infrastructure.

Scientific Advisors

jimi adams, Rich D'Aquilla, Mike Bass, Martin Everett, Abel Kho, Carl Latkin, Brian Mustanski

Interns

We have been fortunate to work with several talented interns since our project began. Please contact us if you are interested in interning with our project.

We have been fortunate to work with several talented interns since our project began. Please contact us if you are interested in interning with our project.

Xiaowei (a Computer Science undergraduate at Northwestern) helped our team to explore enhancements to the user experience of Architect.

Xiaowei Chen

Summer '22 Intern

Anika used her knowledge of psychology and music production to develop interaction sounds for the Interviewer app. She also helped create content for the Studio project website.

Anika Wilsnack

Summer '23 Intern

Institutions

The software is being developed by a team of researchers and developers based at Northwestern University and the University of Oxford, as well as several external contracted developers. We are grateful for the prior and ongoing funding from the National Institutes of Health that make this work possible.


The intellectual property and copyright associated with the software is controlled by a registered not-for-profit, the Complex Data Collective, comprising the core project staff.

What next?

Want to learn more?

We have created extensive documentation, covering all aspects of creating, deploying, and managing a study using Network Canvas.

Want to learn more?

We have created extensive documentation, covering all aspects of creating, deploying, and managing a study using Network Canvas.

Looking for help?

We have also recently launched a community website, where you can ask questions, report bugs, share your work, and get help from other researchers.

Looking for help?

We have also recently launched a community website, where you can ask questions, report bugs, share your work, and get help from other researchers.

Keep in touch

If you would like to stay in touch with the project, and find out about events and releases as soon as they happen, we encourage you to join our mailing list, and to follow us on Twitter. We are considerate email partners, and will only ever use this list for important announcements.

Keep in touch

If you would like to stay in touch with the project, and find out about events and releases as soon as they happen, we encourage you to join our mailing list, and to follow us on Twitter. We are considerate email partners, and will only ever use this list for important announcements.

Want to collaborate?

If you are interested in a formal academic or consultancy-based collaboration, please see our documentation article on the subject. Unfortunately, we're unable to offer unpaid consultancies due to limited bandwidth of a small team.

Want to collaborate?

If you are interested in a formal academic or consultancy-based collaboration, please see our documentation article on the subject. Unfortunately, we're unable to offer unpaid consultancies due to limited bandwidth of a small team.