Dear Marmam readers, We would like to inform Marmam readers of the following workshop entitled: SOCPROG and the analysis of animal social structure using individual identifications. The workshop is for those interested in the analysis of animal social structure in populations within which at least some individuals are individually identifiable, whether through natural or artificial markings, tags, genetics, vocalizations or other means. Presenter: Professor Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University, Canada. Host: Murdoch University's Cetacean Research Unit (http://www.cffr.murdoch.edu.au/mucru/) Location: Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia Time: February 8th - 10th, 2011 Costs: The cost of attendance for external participants is $AUS 550. The cost for Murdoch University students is $AUS 300. Lunch, tea and coffee will be provided. Applicants: This course is designed for postgraduate students conducting studies in the broad field of biological - with a special interest in analyzing animal social structure. As there is limited space available at the workshop, we encourage applicants to sign up early. Applicants will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Please visit the following website for application details: http://www.cffr.murdoch.edu.au/mucru/socprog.html Workshop details: SOCPROG is a series of MATLAB programs written by Professor Hal Whitehead for analyzing data on the social structure, population structure and movements of identified individuals. The programs are designed to be easy to use, most input is done through graphical user interfaces (i.e. windows with things to click on), and most things can be done without any knowledge of MATLAB (although this helps for custom options, figuring out errors, making your own extensions, etc.). There is also a compiled version of SOCPROG, so you don't need access to MATLAB (although you have more options if you do). The programs are also designed to be flexible so you can tailor the analyses to your data and hypotheses. The program is free and can be downloaded from: Professor Hal Whitehead's website. <http://myweb.dal.ca/hwhitehe/social.htm> The 1st day of the workshop will consider general issues in the analysis of animal social structure (based upon the book "Analyzing animal societies"), and on the 2nd day the focus will be on the practical use of SOCPROG. On the 3rd day, we will look at participants' own data sets, trying to get as much insight as possible. If time permits, we will consider SOCPROG's functionality for examining population sizes, and movements. Workshop outline: What is Social Structure? Observing Interactions and Associations: Collecting Data Organizing Data Describing Relationships: Methods Available Building Models of Social Structure: Methods Available Comparing Social Structures: How Can we do this? SOCPROG: what it does SOCPROG: how to get and install it SOCPROG: inputting data SOCPROG: restricting data; setting associations and sampling periods SOCPROG: displays of associations SOCPROG (and other programs): network analyses SOCPROG: tests of social hypotheses SOCPROG: temporal changes in social structure SOCPROG: multivariate methods, and incorporation of genetic data SOCPROG: movement analyses SOCPROG: population analyses Best, Lars Bejder