Matrix and Graph Operations for Relationship Inference: An Illustration with the Kinship Inference in the China Biographical Database

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how matrix and graph operations can effectively infer relationships like kinship and friendship in biographical databases, using the China Biographical Database as a case study.

Contribution

It introduces a method leveraging matrix and graph operations for relationship inference in biographical data, illustrating its effectiveness with real-world data.

Findings

Matrix and graph operations successfully infer kinship and friendship relations.

The approach reveals hidden communities within biographical data.

Effective for analyzing complex relational data in biographical databases.

Abstract

Biographical databases contain diverse information about individuals. Person names, birth information, career, friends, family and special achievements are some possible items in the record for an individual. The relationships between individuals, such as kinship and friendship, provide invaluable insights about hidden communities which are not directly recorded in databases. We show that some simple matrix and graph-based operations are effective for inferring relationships among individuals, and illustrate the main ideas with the China Biographical Database (CBDB).