Getting started with graph databases in python

Graph-based representations of data (think nodes and edges) are everywhere: in social networks, in recommender systems, even in fraud detection. But what's it like to actually use a graph database? I'll show you how to set up a Neo4j graph database and query it from python using the py2neo package.

I'll cover some of the more interesting uses of graph databases in the news, such as how graph databases were used in the investigation of the 11.5 million documents containing evidence of illegal offshore accounting leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca (the Panama Papers), and more recently how graph databases were used to visualize the TrumpWorld dataset of Trump's business ties collected by BuzzFeed. I'll also talk about how I'm using graph databases in my research on the evolution of Wikipedia articles and on inheritance in group problem solving. By the end, I hope you'll understand when to use graph databases like Neo4j and how to get started with python and the py2neo package.

If any Madpy members have used Neo4j or any other graph database in the past, or if you've been meaning to use Neo4j for something, shoot me an email (pierce.edmiston@gmail.com). I'd love to talk to you.