graph TD
Demog["Demographic Surveys<br><code>egoid</code> (N=203)"]
NetSurv["Network Surveys<br><code>sender</code>, <code>receiver</code>, <code>wave</code> (N=11,818)"]
AlterAlter["Alter-Alter Ties<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>alter1_id</code>, <code>alter2_id</code>, <code>wave</code> (N=29,473)"]
EgoNet["Ego-Network Metrics<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>wave</code> (N=804)"]
BTProx["Bluetooth Proximity Networks<br><code>ego1</code>, <code>ego2</code>, <code>week</code> (N=267,629)"]
SpatialMob["Spatial Mobility Metrics<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>study_week</code> (N=16,144)"]
CampusZones["Campus Zones Panel<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>study_week</code> (N=16,144)"]
CommDyads["Call & SMS Communication<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>alter_id</code>, <code>study_week</code> (N=383,895)"]
EmailDyads["Email Interactions<br><code>ego_id</code>, <code>alter_email_id</code>, <code>study_week</code> (N=676,717)"]
Contacts["Saved-Contacts Roster<br><code>ego_id</code>, <code>alter_id</code> (N=30,802)"]
Grades["Course Grades & Credits<br><code>egoid</code>, <code>term</code>, <code>crn</code> (N=5,779)"]
ClassDyads["Classroom Co-Enrollments<br><code>ego1</code>, <code>ego2</code>, <code>term</code>, <code>crn</code> (N=979)"]
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| NetSurv
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| AlterAlter
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| EgoNet
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| SpatialMob
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| CampusZones
Demog -->|"Linked by egoid"| Grades
NetSurv -->|"Aggregated into"| EgoNet
NetSurv -->|"Forms dyadic pairs"| BTProx
NetSurv -->|"Cross-referenced with"| CommDyads
NetSurv -->|"Cross-referenced with"| EmailDyads
NetSurv -->|"Co-presence in"| ClassDyads
BTProx -->|"Weekly temporal sync"| SpatialMob
BTProx -->|"Weekly temporal sync"| CommDyads
BTProx -->|"Weekly temporal sync"| EmailDyads
style Demog fill:#e8f4f8,stroke:#0c2340,stroke-width:2px
style NetSurv fill:#d1e7dd,stroke:#0f5132,stroke-width:2px
style AlterAlter fill:#d1e7dd,stroke:#0f5132,stroke-width:1px
style EgoNet fill:#d1e7dd,stroke:#0f5132,stroke-width:1px
style BTProx fill:#cfe2ff,stroke:#084298,stroke-width:2px
style SpatialMob fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#664d03,stroke-width:2px
style CampusZones fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#664d03,stroke-width:2px
style CommDyads fill:#f8d7da,stroke:#842029,stroke-width:2px
style EmailDyads fill:#f8d7da,stroke:#842029,stroke-width:1px
style Contacts fill:#f8d7da,stroke:#842029,stroke-width:1px
style Grades fill:#e2d9f3,stroke:#432874,stroke-width:2px
style ClassDyads fill:#e2d9f3,stroke:#432874,stroke-width:1px
Overview
Welcome to The NetSense Project data and documentation portal. NetSense is a groundbreaking longitudinal study conducted at the University of Notre Dame tracking an entire entering cohort of undergraduate students throughout their four-year college trajectory (2011–2015).
The study uniquely integrates self-reported egocentric and socio-metric network surveys with continuous, passive smartphone sensor telemetry—including Bluetooth physical proximity, GPS spatial mobility, voice calls, SMS text messages, email communications, address book dynamics, and official university academic registrar records.
The Six Core Data Streams
The NetSense data repository is structured into six integrated domains:
1. Demographic & Behavioral Surveys
Individual-level longitudinal survey panel (\(N = 203\) students, 1,556 variables) across Waves 1–6 covering: - Demographics & Background: Gender, ethnicity, family background, socioeconomic status, and high school context. - Psychological Traits: Big Five personality inventories (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness), self-esteem, and social attitudes. - Health & Lifestyle: Sleep habits, exercise, alcohol use, campus involvement, and cultural tastes (music genres, reading, leisure activities).
3. Physical Proximity Networks
View Bluetooth Proximity Portal →
Continuous, passive device-to-device Bluetooth proximity logs spanning all four years (Weeks 8–191): - Weekly Contact Networks (\(N = 267,629\) dyad-weeks): Aggregated face-to-face proximity episodes derived from over 10.9 million high-resolution Bluetooth encounters. - Physical Closeness Metrics: Contact duration, encounter frequencies, mean signal strength (RSSI), and peak proximity. - Temporal Alignment: Synchronized across continuous 7-day academic study weeks from freshman to senior year.
4. Spatial Mobility & Campus Zones
View Spatial Mobility Portal →
Ego-level longitudinal movement and spatial ecology panels (\(N = 16,144\) ego-weeks across 188 students) derived from 11.5M+ location fixes: - Mobility Indicators: Weekly radius of gyration (\(r_g\) in km), spatial mobility entropy (Shannon entropy in bits), normalized entropy (\(0.0\) to \(1.0\)), and time on Notre Dame campus percentage. - Categorical Campus Zones: Weekly percentage allocations across six coarse zones: Dorm, Academic Buildings, Library, Athletic Facilities, Off-Campus / South Bend, and Traveling / Away.
5. Multi-Modal Communication Telemetry
High-frequency electronic communication interactions with study peers and external alters across 158 academic weeks: - Phone Calls & SMS (\(N = 383,895\) dyad-weeks): Directional incoming and outgoing voice call durations and text message volumes. - Email Ego Networks (\(N = 676,717\) dyad-weeks): Outbound and inbound email communication classified into peer, webmail, campus listservs, and notifications. - Address Book Dynamics (\(N = 30,802\) saved contacts): Longitudinal retention and acquisition of saved phone contacts.
6. Academic Performance & Classrooms
Official University of Notre Dame registrar records across freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years: - Course Letter Grades (\(N = 5,779\)): Semester-by-semester course enrollments, course reference numbers (CRNs), official letter grades, and 4.0 grade points. - Classroom Co-Enrollment Dyads (\(N = 979\)): Dyadic classroom co-presence identifying students enrolled in the exact same lecture sections. - Semester GPAs (\(N = 898\)): Weighted term grade point averages and completed credit counts.
Integrated Data Schema & Linkages
All NetSense datasets are linked through standard, de-identified primary keys across individual, dyadic, and weekly observation levels:
Privacy, Ethics & Reproducibility
The NetSense study was conducted under the oversight of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Notre Dame. All public data releases adhere to stringent privacy-preserving standards:
- PII Scrubbing: All direct identifiers—including student first/last names, email addresses, university NetIDs, and raw telephone numbers—have been permanently removed.
- Pseudonymization of External Alters: Non-enrolled contacts (such as outside friends, family members, or external email correspondents) are protected via irreversible salted cryptographic hashes.
- Geographic Anonymization: No raw GPS coordinates or exact timestamps are published. Spatial telemetry is aggregated into weekly root-mean-square mobility metrics (\(r_g\)), entropy, and coarse categorical zone distributions.
- Reproducible Pipelines: All data extraction and cleaning operations are implemented via auditable, open-source Python and R scripts located in the
Code/repository directory.