Anna Nagurney on IT Conversations

Anna Nagurney's great talk on Supernetworks at MeshForum 2005 is now available at IT Conversations.  Their description:

What is common between web traffic and transportation? If a path always has heavy traffic will building a bypass or an alternative path really help the cause? Or will it worsen it? How do you use network theory to solve transportation and water supply problems? How is the study of networks helpful in solving complex problems in finance and economics? Anna Nagurney answers these questions in her presentation on "Networks - The Science That Spans Disciplines".

In this presentation, she talks about the scientific underpinnings of networks and explains about classical networks. She talks about interesting applications of networks to different disciplines. Supernetworks is a new branch of study which helps in solving problems associated with constructing and improving networks. Many of the solutions to these network problems can be applied to different disciplines with minor modifications. One of the more exciting applications currently being explored is to social networks.

Social Network Analysis at BHP

Eric van Bekkup at the efios blog writes Social Network Analysis at BHP

There are very few papers on the usage of SNA for knowledge networking in the mining / industrial minerals industry. Some (undocumented) work has been done with Borax, but the most obvious one is a 2000 report from Laurence Lock Lee. In his paper, "Knowledge Sharing Metrics for Large Organisations" which can be downloaded here he provides some insight in the structure and creation of the BHP GMN (Global Maintenance Network), founded back in 1997.The Global Maintenance Network is formalized, and very much structured (facilitated, too), and according to the paper not a community of practice, which is largely unstructured.

Jamais Cascio on IT Conversations

Jamais Cascio's thoughtful talk from MeshForum 2005 is now available for listening through IT Conversations. Here is their description:

Jamais Cascio, self-proclaimed freelance world-builder, has a bold vision for the future. He calls it the Participatory Panopticon, and it spells the end of privacy and the end of secrecy. While personal privacy is eroding, the ability of those in power to lie, cheat, and steal is also becoming increasingly impaired.

The term "panopticon" was coined by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century for his model for a prison in which the inmates are watched at all times. This term has now been repurposed to describe a society in which everyone is being recorded and simultaneously is recording everything around them, a society we are creating today.

This keynote address from MeshForum delves deeply into the technology that has created "sousveillance" (watching from below) - a kind of citizen photo and video patrol that watches the watchers. Discussing how camera phones could evolve into Personal Memory Assistants, Jamais Cascio paints a picture of a future where no one would ever forget anything and no activity would go unrecorded. The seeds of this imagined future exist now in current projects monitoring politicians and human rights abuses.

Addictive network game

Addictive network game thanks (I think) to Bruce Hoppe

For those of you hesitant to try crack or crystal meth, I just discovered an equally addictive pastime you might consider. The "Planarity Flash Game" presents a network on-screen and invites you to reposition the nodes so that there are no crossing edges.

Buzz Bruggeman on IT Conversations

Good news! Our first audio from MeshForum 2005 is up on IT Conversations: Buzz Bruggeman. Here is their description:

A four star review in USA Today read by more than 2.3 million people got ActiveWords all of 32 downloads. But a blog post by popular blogger Robert Scoble resulted in more than ten times that number. Buzz Bruggeman, the founder and EVP of ActiveWords Inc., speaks about his experiences in marketing and selling his company's software, and the networking tools he uses. He discusses how a huge advertising budget may no longer be the only way to reach people.

How does a small company overcome the problem of distribution of software and get people in the target market to use it? Are huge advertising budgets the only way to reach the target audience? Listen to this show to learn about the benefits of using blogging and podcasting as effective networking tools, and how they can be a low cost, highly effective marketing tool at a global level. Buzz discusses his personal experience of how ActiveWords has received good exposure by using the right tools and networks, with a very small marketing budget.

Over the next weeks, we expect to have several more shows from MeshForum 2005 posted at IT Conversations. You can subscribe to the as well. We are also planning to add several of the presentations to the MeshForum 2005 schedule.

Social networks of jerks and fools

Bruce Hoppe comments on the recent HBR article, "Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Creation of Social Networks," by Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo. Bruce's comments: Social networks of jerks and fools

Suppose you need help completing a project at work. You can ask Alice, who is professionally expert but personally prickly; or you can ask Brenda, who is very likable but doesn't know much that can help you. When faced with that hypothetical question, most people choose the competence of Alice over the likability of Brenda. Did you choose similarly?

Researchers have found that the real story is more complicated. When faced with a real-life choice, most people ignore their stated preference for competence and actually choose likability first.

Update: fixed link to Casciaro

Endless Knots

From Bill Ives at Portals and KM: Endless Knots - Jessica Lipnack

Here is a nice new blog, Endless Knots, by Jessica Lipnack, a writer of both fiction, non-fiction, and books on networking. The latter is through her firm, Netage. There is a series of posts describing her experience at a summer writer’s workshop. I have always wanted to attend one of these events and have not been able to do so yet. I am sure more good writing will be found here.

IBM on SNA

Kate Ehrlich and Inga Carboni have an article on SNA from IBM Think Research, It's Who You Know: Inside Social Network Analysis

Social Network Analysis is a set of survey methods and statistics that reveals the hidden connections between people. The outcome of an SNA shows where collaboration is breaking down, where talent and expertise could be better used, where decisions are getting bogged down or where opportunities for innovation are being lost. The data give leaders the information they need to take actions: perhaps including making role and responsibility changes that would foster cross-group communications; developing methods for improving trust; using technology to reach others more effectively; or realigning reward and incentive programs.

[via elearnspace]