Networks play a central role in today’s society, since many sectors employing information technology, such as communication, mobility, and transport - even social interactions and political activities - are based on and rely on networks. In these times of globalization and the current global financial crisis with its complex and nearly incomprehensible entanglements of various structures and its huge effect on seemingly unrelated institutions and organizations, the need to understand large networks, their complex structures, and the processes governing them is becoming more and more important.

网络在当今社会中扮演着核心角色，因为许多使用信息技术的部门，如通信、移动和交通——甚至社会互动和政治活动——都是基于并依赖网络的。在全球化和当前全球金融危机的时代，各种结构错综复杂，几乎无法理解，对看似无关的机构和组织产生巨大影响，需要了解大型网络及其复杂结构，管理它们的过程变得越来越重要。