If network analysis has made its way into the humanities toolbox, and especially in history (Düring et al. 2016), it is because it helps to grasp the complexity of the objects of these disciplines. However, to understand the multidimensionality of the data requires a consequent reflection on its modeling.
This paper seeks to be part of a series of publications aimed at making advanced network analysis concepts more accessible to the humanities scholars: from ontological questions (Langmead et al. 2016) to the necessary discussion of the integration of temporality in graphs (Lemercier 2015; Conroy et al. 2019), the development of typologies of uses (Grandjean 2017a) or attempts to provide aids to interpretation (Grandjean & Jacomy 2019). The question of multilayer networks becomes especially more and more important, whether in a general way (McGee et al. 2016) or applied to the humanities (eg. Vugt 2017; Grandjean 2017b).
Our purpose is to discuss a unifying conceptual framework allowing the transition between a current formal multilayer model (Kivelä et al. 2014; Knudsen et al. 2019) and the language of the humanities. This framework is expressed by a visual representation that contains a multiplicity of layers that synthesizes and clarifies the different possible networks and facilitate the appropriation of the model by researchers.