As part of Northeastern’s Snell Library renovations, dynamic visualizations of faculty research have been displayed throughout the building, including SCCJ Professor Cassie McMillan’s work on social networks.
The visualization based on Professor McMillan’s work presents the collaboration patterns of R&B/hip hop artists who produced songs that were featured on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts between 2012 and 2020. Statistical tests confirmed that women occupy marginalized positions in the collaboration network, even after accounting for their levels of critical acclaim and tenure in the industry. For example, the average male R&B/hip hop artist had 4.6 collaboration ties, while female artists were expected to collaborate with only 2.9 of their peers.
