À propos d’Open ENA

A small team. An open horizon.

Open ENA brings together learning science, quantitative ethnography, artificial intelligence, and educational technology.

We are building a transparent and approachable path into Epistemic Network Analysis—one where methods, interface decisions, and future capabilities can be inspected rather than hidden.

Why open

Openness is more than access.

It means making the path from evidence to interpretation visible: what the model receives, what the computation does, what the figure shows, and what it cannot claim.

Enseignement, recherche et gratuité permanente

Open ENA est une plateforme non commerciale destinée à l’enseignement et à la recherche, qui restera gratuite pour toujours.

Explore Open ENA

The team

A shared commitment to understandable research tools.
Portrait of Dr. Peter HU Dongpin

Dr. Peter HU Dongpin

The Education University of Hong Kong

Educational researcher · Application developer

His work spans technology-enhanced learning, learning analytics, artificial intelligence in education, network analysis, and content and language integrated learning.

EdUHK profile
Portrait of Ludwig Jianxing Yu

Ludwig Jianxing Yu

3D ENA Research Group · Hong Kong

ENA variants · Dimensionality-reduction algorithms

He has played a pioneering role in advancing ENA variants such as 3D ENA and dimensionality-reduction algorithms for ENA. As the key developer of 3D ENA 1.0, he combines computer science and psychology to develop interactive research tools.

3D ENA team profile
Portrait of Prof. Sandy TU Yun-Fang

Prof. Sandy TU Yun-Fang

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

Assistant Professor · Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education

Her work spans artificial intelligence in digital learning, cognitive and social networks, data literacy, data visualization, and graph analysis.

Taiwan Tech profile
Portrait of Ms. Shirleen XU Qiaolin

Ms. Shirleen XU Qiaolin

Meredith College, North Carolina, USA

Open ENA team

A member of the Open ENA team affiliated with Meredith College, North Carolina, USA.

Project publications

Selected work across three-dimensional ENA, data literacy, and the development of open, web-based analysis tools.
Project cover artwork showing JavaScript syntax and a prominent JS chip connecting a smoked-glass development environment to a browser-based epistemic network tool

Forthcoming conference paper · 2026

Design and development from rENA to jENA: Accelerating the creation of web-based Open ENA tools

Hu, D., Hamilton, E., Tu, Y. F., & Xu, Q. (2026, November). Design and development from rENA to jENA: Accelerating the creation of web-based Open ENA tools. [Conference paper]. International Conference on Quantitative Ethnography.

ICQE 2026 · Publication details forthcoming
Project cover artwork showing a large smoked-glass code editor and an overlapping browser-based epistemic network preview

Journal article · 2025

Effects on the learning achievement, approaches to learning, and multi-stage reflection quality of students with different levels of digital self-efficacy in a data literacy course: An ARCS-based self-reflective online learning model

Tu, Y. F., Hwang, G. J., & Hu, D. (2025). Effects on the learning achievement, approaches to learning, and multi-stage reflection quality of students with different levels of digital self-efficacy in a data literacy course: An ARCS-based self-reflective online learning model. Computers & Education, 238, 105397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105397

View journal article
Project cover artwork showing a curated three-dimensional epistemic network suspended inside a transparent glass coordinate volume

Conference paper · 2024

Development of ENA 3D: A tool for epistemic network analysis in three-dimensional space

Yu, J., Hu, D., & Wang, C. H. (2024). Development of ENA 3D: A tool for epistemic network analysis in three-dimensional space. In Y. J. Kim & Z. Swiecki (Eds.), Advances in quantitative ethnography (Communications in Computer and Information Science, Vol. 2278, pp. 152–165). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76335-9_11

View conference paper

Reconnaissance des contributions fondatrices

Open ENA s’appuie sur la théorie et les méthodes de Quantitative Ethnography (QE) et d’Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Nous remercions University of Wisconsin–Madison, le professeur David Williamson Shaffer, ainsi que les chercheurs, développeurs et collaborateurs d’Epistemic Analytics Lab, au sein de Wisconsin Center for Education Research, pour leurs travaux fondateurs et leur contribution continue à QE, ENA et webENA.

Fondements théoriques : QE et ENA

Quantitative Ethnography (QE) associe une compréhension qualitative de l’activité humaine dans son contexte à l’analyse quantitative. (Shaffer, 2017)

Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) modélise les liens entre des éléments codés qui apparaissent ensemble dans des contextes significatifs. Ces liens forment des réseaux dont les structures peuvent être visualisées et comparées statistiquement. (Shaffer et al., 2016)

En s’appuyant sur ces travaux, Open ENA réunit les données codées, les paramètres des modèles et les comparaisons de réseaux dans un parcours d’analyse accessible dans le navigateur. Les chercheurs doivent interpréter les résultats en tenant compte de leur question de recherche, des fondements du codage et des matériaux qualitatifs d’origine. (Shaffer & Ruis, 2017)

Origine du design et lien avec webENA

L’équipe d’Open ENA a utilisé webENA et l’a pris comme référence pour définir l’apparence et la disposition initiales de cette plateforme. Nous reconnaissons explicitement que cette référence de conception provient de l’équipe à l’origine d’ENA et de son travail sur webENA à Madison, dans le Wisconsin, aux États-Unis.

La visualisation des réseaux ENA s’appuie également sur les recherches consacrées au design visuel et à l’interprétation. (Tan et al., 2022)

Open ENA est une plateforme indépendante maintenue par l’équipe d’Open ENA.

Références et travaux antérieurs

  • Shaffer, D. W. (2017). Quantitative ethnography. Cathcart Press. https://www.quantitativeethnography.org/
  • Shaffer, D. W., Collier, W., & Ruis, A. R. (2016). A tutorial on epistemic network analysis: Analyzing the structure of connections in cognitive, social, and interaction data. Journal of Learning Analytics, 3(3), 9–45. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2016.33.3
  • Shaffer, D. W., & Ruis, A. R. (2017). Epistemic network analysis: A worked example of theory-based learning analytics. In C. Lang, G. Siemens, A. F. Wise, & D. Gašević (Eds.), Handbook of learning analytics (pp. 175–187). Society for Learning Analytics Research. https://doi.org/10.18608/hla17.015
  • Tan, Y., Hinojosa, C., Marquart, C., Ruis, A. R., & Shaffer, D. W. (2022). Epistemic network analysis visualization. In B. Wasson & S. Zörgő (Eds.), Advances in quantitative ethnography (pp. 129–143). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93859-8_9