I've been trying to push against Clay's assertion that blogs
exhibit a power law and that power laws cause inequality. You can't
"fix" the system without breaking it. We've gone back and forth in
different places and I THINK I've boiled it down to a few key points
for me.
When Clay uses the word "inequality" he means "not the
same" and indeed, in a fair system, the outcomes will usually be
inequal. I won't argue with that. What my question was was whether the
rules were fair and whether we could counteract the current bias
towards those in positions of privilege and amplify those opinions
that are currently underrepresented.
I think the notion of trying to modify or influence the system to
push it towards a particular outcome sounds like regulation and hits a
negative chord with the free market libertarian types on the Net. I am
also against unnecessary regulation. However, I do think that we can
and should try to influence the architecture to push towards an
outcome that we believe in. I think this is the nature of
politics.
Clay talks about the power law in his paper, Power Laws,
Weblogs, and Inequality. As most of you are aware, power laws are
a type of distribution exhibited by large networks that grow where
people are allowed to link freely. Since new sites tend to link to
sites that already exist or are famous, the links aggregate to the
well known sites making the "rich richer". The power law shows that
even with fair rules, the outcome will be very inequal.
We can and should talk
about the type of inequality we want — right now, for example,
most of the high-flow webloggers are men. We can ask why that is,
whether we should do anything about it, and if so, what? We
can’t ask how we can level out the difference between the
high-flow end of the popularity curve and the rest of us, or at least
we can’t ask that unless we are advocating the destruction of
the blogosphere. The interesting and hard question is “Since
there is to be inequality, how shall it be arranged?”
I think we are going to see an explosion in work designed to alter
the construction and effects of this inevitable inequality (viz
Sifry’s experiments on moving recent blogs up the Technorati
list) and I am optimistic about this change, as I believe the
concentration of real thought and energy on what is actually possible,
as opposed to cycles wasted on utopian declations, will be
tremendously productive.
So I'm glad Clay is willing to
consider what we might do about the fact that the most influential
blogs are by people in positions of privilege.
In Linked Albert-Laszlo talks a lot about power laws and makes a few
interesting points. First of all, power laws on the web make two
assumptions, that the network is growing and that people tend to link
to sites that have the most links. Laszlo cites work by Paul Krapivsky
and Sid Redner from Boston University, working with Francois Leyvraz
from Mexico,
generalized preferential attachment to account
for the possibility that linking to a node would not be simply
proportional to the number of links the node has but would follow some
more complicated function. They found that such efforts can destroy
the power law characterizing the network.
He goes on to
talk about Google coming in as a latecomer in the search game and how
"fitness" or the likelihood that someone will link to you is not
entirely determined by your existing position on the power law curve
and that a site worthy of connecting to can quickly scale the power
law curve if it exhibits exceptional fitness. All disruptive
technologies and innovations break power law curves by exhibiting
exceptional fitness.
If you think about the power law as themes or ideas instead of
people and you think about fitness as the level in which an idea
resonates with people, the power law could be viewed as an amplifier
for ideas and memes that are sufficiently interesting. Because fitness
so influences a nodes ability to climb the power law, I think the
notion that I described in the Emergent
Democracy paper, where the tail of the curve is where the
creativity happens and the power law is how an idea whose time has
come goes main stream still makes sense. I think the key to making the
system "fair" is to make sure the tail is as inclusive as possible and
to try to encourage technology and norms to value fitness over simply
linking to those who are popular. As Ross shows in
his three layers of creative, social and political, I think the
power law is the final amplification part. In fact, the tail of the
power law, the creative layer and the social layer where the initial
deliberation occurs might be where we should be focusing our
energies.
I have a feeling that the blog power law is like a real-time
amplifier. I think it is key to note that nodes that lose the fitness
that got them there in the first place retire very quickly and that
fitness is amplified in scale-free networks. If we architect blogs to
allow the amplifier to be sensitive to positive fitness and quickly
retire irrelevant blogs, it will be a good amplifier. If the
Technorati top 100 is the Marshall amp, maybe we should be talking
about the guitar?
Inequality and the role of "fitness" in power laws
Grok Headline matches for Inequality and the role of "fitness" in power laws
Webl0gs and power laws (kottke.org)
Webl0gs and power laws (kottke.org)04/14/2005 04:23 AM los blogs mantienen un comportamiento aplicable a la distribucin de
Pareto .. Weblogs and power laws (kottke.org) .. weblogs ..
law
kottke.org/03/02/weblogs-and-power-laws track this
site | 2 links
Power Laws and Private Equity
Power Laws and Private Equity04/09/2004 04:02 PM Power laws exist in complex systems where interdependence prevents
equlibrium. There is no doubt that the forces of globalization and
decentralization are increasing the amount of interdependence in
markets. Perhaps no other market exhibits as much inter-dependence as
venture capital....
Inequality
Inequality04/05/2005 07:40 PM Maciej is (1) a friend (2) very funny and (3) in agreement with my
beliefs, so I couldn't resist linking to Dabblers and Blowhards, his
new essay. But the key issue that appealed to me about his piece is
that the fundamental problem with many people who really get our...
The FCC, Webl0gs, and Inequality
The FCC, Webl0gs, and Inequality01/07/2004 02:54 PM
Yesterday, the FCC adjusted the restrictions on media ownership,
allowing newspapers to own TV stations, and raising the ownership
limitations on broadcast TV networks by 10%, to 45% from 35%. It's
not clear whether the effects of the ruling will be catastrophic or
relatively unimportant, and there are smart people on both sides of
that question. It is also unclear what effect the internet had on the
FCC's ruling, or what role it will play now.
What is clear, however, is a lesson from the weblog world: inequality
is
a natural component of media. For people arguing about an ideal media
landscape, the tradeoffs are clear: Diverse. Free. Equal. Pick two.
- More at http://shirky.com/writings/fcc_inequality.html
Inequality 'rising' under Labour
Inequality 'rising' under Labour08/01/2004 11:17 PM An influential think tank says inequality in the UK has increased
since Labour came to power.
Search Marketing Techniques, Deceptive Advertising Laws & Other Laws
What's your genetic fitness, eh?09/06/2004 12:22 PM Breeders are winning. "Conservative, religiously minded
Americans are putting far more of their genes into the future than
their liberal, secular counterparts." (WaPo link, bugmenot says try fedup@mailinator.com and
fedup if you don't care to register. Definition of genetic fitness here
.)
New Fitness Technology Means Better Results08/13/2004 03:27 AM Are you getting the most out of your workout? You might be surprised
to find that with new fitness monitor technology, you can measure the
effectiveness of your workout and get better results faster. [PRWEB
Aug 13, 2004]
Losing the Baby Fat With Fitness Classes (AP)
Losing the Baby Fat With Fitness Classes (AP)06/13/2004 12:01 PM AP - Lucy Brown somersaults backward down a ramp, leaps over a mat,
rolls across a platform, jumps a series of hoops, squats into a yoga
pose and hops over a row of cones. And all with her diaper intact.
Football: Fitness test for Gerrard
Football: Fitness test for Gerrard09/03/2004 06:19 AM Steven Gerrard may miss England's World Cup qualifier against Austria
because of a groin injury.
MSN Launches New Health & Fitness Channel
MSN Launches New Health & Fitness Channel01/05/2005 08:43 AM The MSN® network of Internet services today launched MSN Health &
Fitness (http://health.msn.com), a comprehensive online
destination for people looking to improve their well-being with
up-to-date and easy-to-access information.
School reports should show fitness
School reports should show fitness04/15/2004 07:34 AM Children should get a fitness rating on their school reports to
promote healthier lifestyles, say the Liberal Democrats.
Football: Beckham fitness fears
Football: Beckham fitness fears09/06/2004 06:59 AM David Beckham is an injury concern for England's World Cup qualifier
with Poland.
Governor Schwarzenegger Launches Physical Fitness Site
Governor Schwarzenegger Launches Physical Fitness Site06/17/2005 04:35 PM The former champion bodybuilder announced last week that the
Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports has established a
new Web site to encourage fitness and healthy living.
Rita Wieber: Internet makes a fine resource for fitness
Nokia hopes push-to-talk phone moves fitness buffs
Nokia hopes push-to-talk phone moves fitness buffs11/12/2003 01:13 PM The mobile phone maker gears its first "walkie-talkie" phone to the
fitness-conscious. Its has a push-to-talk feature and camera, and is
due out by mid-2004.
Silicon Laboratories Enters the Power Market with the World's Most Advanced Digital Power Supply Controller; S
Marilyn Snyder, Speaker, Author, Trainer, Coach has Just Launched her New Mastermind Power Coaching Program for People who Want to Change Their Lives, Set Goals, and Achieve Their Dreams - Go to WealthEnlightenment.com for a Free Power Coaching Session
Two Laws of Explanation01/16/2004 10:56 AM There’s been a lot of buzz recently around Edge.org’s assemblage of
“Laws” proposed by Interesting People. Nobody asked me for
one, but lately I’ve been doing some consulting for Dick Hardt’s
stealth startup Sxip Networks while
I look for a gig
and it refreshed my appreciation of maybe the most important lesson
I’ve learned over the last couple of decades, maybe enough to pump
it up and claim it’s a Law, in fact two: Herewith the Two Laws of
Explanation...
A very comprehensive listing of spam laws around the world created
and maintained by David E. Sorkin
since 1999. This has been added to the Anti Spam sites section of Internet Hoaxes Subject
Tracer™ Information Blog.
Tim Bray: When you’re explaining something to
somebody and they don’t get it, that’s not their
problem, it’s your problem; When someone’s explaining
something to you and you’re not getting it, it’s not
your problem, it’s their problem
The three laws of identity12/19/2004 02:57 PM If Kim Cameron, Microsoft's architect of directory services, had been
a physicist, there might be one or two fewer buildings in Redmond
today, and more holes in the ground - or maybe the world would be a
lot better off.
New UK sex laws come into force
New UK sex laws come into force04/30/2004 08:34 PM New laws on sex crimes have come into effect in what the government
says is the most radical reform for 100 years.
Microsoft says it isn't breaking EU laws11/13/2003 10:01 AM Microsoft Corp. defended its
business practices Wednesday during a three-day hearing in Brussels in
front of European competition regulators, in a final attempt to
persuade them that it isn't breaking the European Union's antitrust
laws. Grok Description matches for Inequality and the role of "fitness" in power laws GrokA matches for Inequality and the role of "fitness" in power laws
Inequality and the role of "fitness" in power laws
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