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Connectedness

Helping businesses link to results.

Working WikilyYesterday

Last month the Monitor Institute launched a blog http://workingwikily.net about how the social sector is adopting the new tools, strategies, and practices of networking.

They explain here that "Working Wikily" was coined "to describe the new ways that people are applying network theory and networked technology to do the work they’ve always done in a more collaborative form and also to begin working in new ways altogether."

As my contribution to "Working Wikily," I'd like to offer a reality check on what happens when people use a wiki. Before I continue, however, let me make clear that (1) collaboration is great, (2) wikis are great, and (3) the reality check I am about to deliver is aimed at people who associate "collaboration" with "wiki" and thereby set themselves up for disappointment when they learn this the hard way:

Jakob Nielsen summarizes Web collaboration in general with the 90-9-1 rule as pictured below.
90% do nothing, 9% do a little, and 1% do practically everything.

Blogs are even more skewed than average Web sit

Geographic networksNovember 21

Geography (or spatial arrangement) of nodes is often an important factor in network dynamics. Though it is straightforward to map geographical information by itself, mapping that information simultaneously with network data is quite a challenge.

In collaboration with Holly Massett and her team at the National Cancer Institute, I have been tackling the geographic + network mapping problem head on. Holly and I recently presented some of our results, and she graciously gave me permission to share them.

What happens when we draw a network map with geographically located nodes? We get a map with lines on it:
The geography is plainly apparent, but the network structure is all but invisible. That's a shame, because the network structure hidden above is actually quite striking when you redraw the above network using traditional network layout techniques:

Working the math in your favorNovember 19

Last week I was part of a panel discussion about technology and business. Forty or fifty accomplished businesswomen attended--I was the only man in the room. In hindsight, this was a perfect opportunity for me to focus on Bion's three pillars of group behavior (or at least the first of those three pillars, having the mating partner ratio so heavily in my favor); however, I confess I occasionally let my thoughts drift from that #1 priority and instead contemplated the diverse perspectives on technology represented in in the room.

The audience was predominantly business-savvy and ranged from the tech-curious to the tech-confused. It was not the most receptive setting for preaching a Taoist bliss of ignorance, but that's what I pitched, with lines like "the best technology is whatever you're using now"; "reading email when you receive it lowers your IQ more than chronic pot-smoking"; and "technology is implemented to benefit its creators, not its users, so look for technology where the users and the creat

Viewing network data in Excel... with bananaOctober 20

Today I received an invitation from Harvard's Program on Networked Governance to watch Marc Smith demonstrate the powers of .NetMap --- a network visualization tool that runs inside Excel 2007. Maybe I will upgrade my MS Office and check it out; the screen shots look good.

On a more personal note, my BU faculty site is up. The site demonstrates what any monkey can do after enough time hanging with my students.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License and is copyrighted (c) 2008 by Connective Associates LLC except where otherwise noted.

Structural equivalence: related tags in social bookmarkingSeptember 24

In my "Holy Trinity of Network Power," structural equivalence is conceptually the most obscure. But practically speaking, it is easy to use. For example, searching for "sna" with the social bookmarking engine delicious provides the following:

I have enlarged and highlighted the "Related Tags" provided by delicious. This sort of information helps people find and learn from others with shared interests, using structural equivalence, regardless of how many degrees of separation they have on Facebook or LinkedIn. I'll expand more on this idea soon.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License and is copyrighted (c) 2008 by Connective Associates LLC except where otherwise noted.