Social Network Dynamics and Participatory Politics

Grok Headline matches for Social Network Dynamics and Participatory Politics

"terror-cell size and social dynamics,"

"terror-cell size and social dynamics," 09/24/2004 04:07 PM

Leading Service Providers to Deliver IP
Dynamics Your Portable Network Solution
to SMB Market Nationwide

Leading Service Providers to Deliver IP
Dynamics Your Portable Network Solution
to SMB Market Nationwide 03/14/2005 05:59 PM
IP Dynamics Your Portable Network service, is a easy to use access, collaboration and communications solution for SMBs. Your Portable Network will be available by three leading small and medium business (SMB) focused service providers — PMG.net, Virterra Networks and Sulaf Solutions. Designed for service providers to offer their SMB customers as a self-service portable network, Your Portable Network also allows service providers to extend the reach and revenue of their broadband and WiFi infrastructures. [PRWEB Mar 14, 2005]

Social Software and the Politics of
Groups

Social Software and the Politics of
Groups 01/07/2004 02:56 PM
Social software, software that supports group communications, includes everything from the simple CC: line in email to vast 3D game worlds like EverQuest, and it can be as undirected as a chat room, or as task-oriented as a wiki (a collaborative workspace). Because there are so many patterns of group interaction, social software is a much larger category than things like groupware or online communities -- though it includes those things, not all group communication is business-focused or communal. One of the few commonalities in this big category is that social software is unique to the internet in a way that software for broadcast or personal communications are not. - More at http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_politics.html

Get up, stand up, social network

Get up, stand up, social network 07/20/2004 01:17 AM
Salon Jul 20 2004 4:51AM GMT

Evolving the Social Network

Evolving the Social Network 11/13/2003 05:17 PM
arantius writes "An article on BottomQuark points to a new development: Here's a story about a new start-up Huminity, referred to as the technology of the ...

Longhorn social network

Longhorn social network 02/10/2004 02:47 AM

Former Visio Execs to develop Social Networking for Longhorn

 [Get Real]

Social network visualisation

Social network visualisation 01/17/2004 10:47 PM
A question for anyone who knows the answer. What sort of software/hardware/goat sacrifices would one need to produce a visualisation of a social network with, as a baseline, 1.5 million nodes and 70 million links between them, assuming I want...

What Does a Connection Mean in a Social
Network?

What Does a Connection Mean in a Social
Network? 08/03/2004 02:58 PM

Peter Caupta IV has a lot to say about bi and uni directional relationships.

BTW I hereby nominate Peter to help create the OpenEvents movement.

Email is Dead. IM is the future. RSS is the future. Social Networks are Useless.

I've been hearing all these predictions and statements. And they are certainly not that far off. These new(ish) technologies are certainly going through their growing pains, but they will certainly challenge the old(ish) ones.

Scott Allen points us to Tim O'Reilly's statement: "all the social software services are a hack because we haven't really reinvented the address book."

The article about O'Reilly's presentation goes on to say:

Tim showed screen shots from a Microsoft Research project that could answer questions such as who you communicate with around this particular topic. The question that follows is how we build tools for creating networks and managing our contacts. These tools could end up as part of Outlook and proprietary software, or they could become a connection between Orkut and GMail. "We have to Napsterize the address book and the calendar so that we own the data about our social network but we are able to query our friends about who they know.

I agree with the vision. But, I am hoping to bring the conversation down a few hundred feet and talk some specifics about issues:

Firstly, distributed event listings and calendars are becoming the norm:

Marc Canter pointed me to RSSCalendar.com today. We've relaunched WhizSpark with crazy-mad-sortable-wicked-searc hable-republishable event rss listings. Upcoming.org has been around for awhile doing similar stuff. SocialWeb.net, although local (and not using xml), has been publishing event listings on other sites for years. Even eVite /IAC iswaking up to the fact that they can't control the event listings of the world (Holding breath on that one!).

So, I don't think distributed and sharable event and schedules are that far off.

But, distributed social networks?

I think there are some issues re: FOAF that need to be addressed, b4 social networks will integrate it in a meaningful way. And when I say meaningful: anything more than allowing them to import profile data and upload connections to be invited.

I've posted some questions up on the FOAF wiki regarding these issues and haven't gotten any answers. [SORRY: See my answers below - Marc]

So, here they are again in statement and question form.

Most social networks (friendster, ryze, linkedin, IM) create bi-directional connections. This is ideal for creating many connections quickly, because both people have incentives to create the connections. The incentive is that they can collaborate. Depending on the network, the collaboration can take a different form. However, for marketing relationships or "fan/nod" relationships, this isn't ideal. To make an analogy to political ideaologies: if you ascribe to socialism and think that all people are created equal and should be treated equally, bi-directional connections are ideal. But, unfortunately (of fortunately), each of us performs differently and each of us has a different status in society. So, this is where these social networks break down. Since, connections between people are not equal, the incentive for "high" status people to join and use these social networks wanes as more people join and abuse the service.

Orkut is an extreme example of where this "jamming equality into unequal relationships" is highlighted. By forcing people to receive an invitation, there are a million requests for invitation that go out to the members. You thought receiving Friendster invitations got annoying, try receiving 150 please invite me messages to orkut. That is how many I have received in the last month.

LinkedIn is an example of where this type of connection really works. The system is designed to screen people b4 passing along messages or information requests. And ultimately, the goal of the users is to collaborate with people. Since Rupert Murdoch probably doesn't want to collaborate with the street vendor selling newspapers, this system works for this purpose. The business people that use linkedin don't just pass out bi-directional connections on a whim, which prevents people from wasting time with requests that don't deliver value to both parties. Bi-directional connections are suited well for finding and forming mutually beneficial business relationships.

Another type of prevalent connection is outbound uni-directional. Examples of this are address books, FOAF, evite & blogrolls. The connection is defined by one person (the sender) and no approval by the receiver is necessary. This is ideal when people want to show their appreciation and respect. Blogrolls, using this type of connection and are what created the infamous A-List of bloggers. (I read 280 blogs and have a link on my blog for each. However, only somewhere between 5 and 10 people have me in their blogroll.)

Outbound uni-directional connections are what allowed evite and hotmail to grow quickly, back in the day. And if we couldn't store our addresses in an address book, think how difficult it would be to use email.

However, this type of freedom to message who-ever we want, can result in unwanted communications. Since a spammer doesn't need permission to send email to an account, they use outbound uni-directional connections to send their shit. Interestingly, the solution that many people are using for spam-blocking is whitelisting, which is in effect, making email connections: bi-directional connections.

The last type of connection is inbound uni-directional. This type of connection is defined by the receiver and approval is either inherent or optional from the sender. Permission email marketing or double-opt-in marketing is the prime example of this. The marketer advertises a list and the receiver signs up and confirms that it is their address. There isn't really an equivalent of this in Instant Messaging in the US, but in Europe (I believe) permission IM marketing is fairly common.

Plaxo also uses inbound uni-directional connections. For example, I have sent my plaxo card to Bill Clinton, but he hasn't returned the favor. So, I gave him permission to message me, but I don't have permission to message him. I've signed up for eMarketer's mailing list, but if I try to reply, the message bounces. I give permission. And don't get it back. I receive emails, but can't respond.

In this "connection framework", does the fact that friendster uses bi-directional connections make it obvious that fakesters will never have a purpose? Whether they were real, created by a member, or created by Friendster themselves, there were many accounts of celebrities on Friendster. But, the whole concept is pretty ridicilous. Imagine if Britney Spears was forced to use bi-directional connections to communicate? How could she possibly use bi-directional connections to communicate with people like this? The only social network that a celebrity could join and use would be one that used inbond uni-directional connections, because the celebrity can allow people to subscribe to them; to be a fan; without being a fan back. The same logic applies to any media company. A media company cannott possibly listen to all of its listeners.

Here comes the commercial: My Company, WhizSpark, has also built a social network which relies on inbound uni-directional connections (see mailing lists). (We relaunched the site last week and would love feedback, btw.) We've designed the system for the promotion of events. Whereas evite uses outbound uni-directional links to get-people-together at mostly non-comercial events and generates revenue from online ads, and upcoming.org requires bi-directional connections to share free event listsings, WhizSpark was designed around the purpose of promoting events where the promoter/planner makes money(or the event is a marketing expense). In this scenario, getting permission to market-to is necessary, and thus, we use inbound uni-directional connections.

---

So, to start addressing Tim O'Reilly's statement about how noone has reinvented the address book yet, I think we need to keep in mind all of the types of connections that are required by different people. In this "connection framework", It is easier to conceptualize what features of different communication and collaboration technologies/applications (IM, RSS, email, social networks, FOAF) will make sense for what purposes. Then, maybe our blog discussions can progress beyond what technology will win and what technology is the best. I know football is exciting and our politics have certainly regressed to two sides fighting it out like it is the super bowl. But in technology, there are certainly still some gray areas left. Right?

Here's my response to Peter's request and quesions on the FOAFnet.org Wiki.....

Hey Peter - sorry for not catching this earlier.

Here's some answers for you and I'll cc: them on my blog (in response to your EXCELLENT, brilliant post....)

The notion of bi-directional relationships can easily be represented in FOAF by defining new kinds of relationships. In our PeopleAggregator product we have 7 kinds of relationships, Tony Perkin's AlwaysOn Network also has several types of relationships.

But no one else supports those new relationship types. It's the agreement between systems that you're asking for.....

Ideally everything would happen imediately - but I want you to take a phased in approach to this.

Each specific type of relationship can be kept track of in a FOAF file. That's clear. We just have to agree upon WHAT exactly is the schema and related APIs to the functionality your request.

We here - are ALL looking forward to the day when more complex, granular, ineffected, relevant relationships can be standardized and exchanged, shared, hidden and every other way you can think of interacting between people.

But the goal of the FOAFnet - first things first - is to exhibit some sort of inter-company agreement to exchange compatible idenitity records. Just getting that to happen is our biggest hurdle. Once that mechanism has been worked out we plan on flowing all sorts of additional information through FOAF. Including what you're requesting.

So what I'd like you to do is to take it upon yourself to help us map out our roadmap. This issue of starting too slow, not biting off enough, crippling FOAFs potential has come up again and again.

And our answer has always been "baby steps before running". We're all experienced at trying to get one of these things working - and we all know what happens when you try and bite off too much.

So PLEASE put onto the roadmap page - the specific tiered step by step manner we ALL can utilize to get us from simple import/export - to the semantic web.

I'd love to talk to you on the phone about this - but for now - there's also the issue of MERGING FOAF files, updating or hot-linking FOAF files and let's not forget all those triple-like rdf vocabs that we left behind - either!

So if you could at least map out an evolution of relevant relationship types - and look at Ed Vitiello's relationship schema - that would be coolio.

Thanks!

Social Network Backlash

Social Network Backlash 01/22/2004 03:33 PM
There's a nice little rant over on BoingBoing: Is there a word for that post-Friendster/Tribe/LinkedIn/SixDegrees oh-god-not-again feeling I'm getting as I read the launch announcement? Like, HTML rug burn? I mean, really -- I haven't played around with eurekster yet, and I mean no disrespect to whoever built the project. But if one more website asks me to "invite all of my friends," I swear I'm gonna fucking throw up. Invite your own damn friends, you website. Heh. I guess...

Social Network Analysis

Social Network Analysis 03/24/2005 05:28 AM
Social Network Analysis
http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/knowledge_management/km2/social_network.asp

"Social network analysis is the mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organisations, computers or other information/knowledge processing entities." (Valdis Krebs, 2002). In the context of knowledge management, social network analysis (SNA) enables relationships between people to be mapped in order to identity knowledge flows: who do people seek information and knowledge from? Who do they share their information and knowledge with? In contrast to an organisation chart which shows formal relationships - who works where and who reports to whom, a social network analysis chart shows informal relationships - who knows who and who shares information and knowledge with who. It therefore allows managers to visualise and understand the many relationships that can either facilitate or impede knowledge creation and sharing. Because these relationships are normally invisible, SNA is sometimes referred to as an 'organisational x-ray' - showing the real networks that operate underneath the surface organisational structure. This resource is from the National Electronic Library for Health's (NHS) Knowledge Management Toolbox. This has been added to Social Informatics Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.

I-Neighbors, Not just another social
network

I-Neighbors, Not just another social
network 09/02/2004 09:30 PM

anti-social network

anti-social network 05/26/2004 04:45 PM

I've always considered LinkedIn as a sort of grown-up version of Friendster. Instead of Friendster focused on trying to get everyone laid, Linkedin seems to focus on more corporate pursuits, like getting jobs, making connections related to business, and generally growing your corporate network. I haven't done much with my account there, and I've only seen maybe one instance of someone using me to connect to someone I've worked with to discuss a new technology they developed.

What I have seen happen more often is that Linkedin is used as an introduction service. Every few weeks I'll get an email saying "Alice Smith would like to talk to John Doe, who you are two degrees from, click here to accept" and wonder why the first and last person didn't just email directly. Today someone four people away from me sent an innocous question that I would have answered over email in a second. It probably took a few days, and everyone in the chain that hadn't heard of the original question asker or the intended recipient had to go along with it.

I know a lot of people say "email is broken" but is it so far gone that people have to climb the corporate ladder just to drop a stranger a note? If we must use systems like this, isn't there a way to make it less of a hassle?

Faking Out Social Network Systems

Faking Out Social Network Systems 01/02/2004 06:19 PM
It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of many of these social networking services. I have nothing against them, I just don't see how they'll ever make much money - because they're mostly based on two ideas that have trouble standing up to scrutiny: (a) people with rich social networks have no problem subsidizing those with weak networks and (b) you can easily define relationships in a binary way. However, I hadn't even considered other issues with social networks, such as the ability to use them for questionable purposes. For example, this article, which focuses on the security weaknesses of some of these sites briefly mentions a very sneaky use of such a system: virtual identity theft. For example, you create a profile at LinkedIn, pretending to work at a competitor. Then, you sit back and intercept any messages that are intended to go that competitor and use them for your own business instead. Of course, in this case it depends on others in your network not noting that you're lying, but the number of people I've heard of using Linked in who have made connections with people they barely know makes this completely plausible.

Sociopath Social Network Framework

Sociopath Social Network Framework 01/22/2004 01:01 PM
Tasks Have Been Added

Social Network Spam = SNAM

Social Network Spam = SNAM 04/28/2004 10:20 AM
Snagged from Michael Tchong's "Trendsetters" newsletter:

Social networks have spawned a new form of spam that uses the FOAF (Friend of a Friend) message feature frequently found in this new genre of networks. Google's Orkut, a network of some 200,000 members, offers the ability to send messages to FOAFs. FOAF messages often contain conference promotions or job postings that, while low in volume, will one day require action on the part of network managers.

Link

NetMiner - Social Network Analyzer

NetMiner - Social Network Analyzer 12/24/2004 12:28 PM

NetMiner - Social Network Analyzer
http://www.netminer.com/

Its unique feature lies in the integration of standard and the latest social network analysis(SNA) methodology with modern graph drawing techniques in the spirit of exploratory data analysis(EDA). NetMiner also allows you to analyze your network data professionally and easily. It helps you to fast-detect underlying patterns and structures of the network. Cyram NetMiner can be used for general research and teaching in social networks. Also, it can be effectively applied to various business fields, where network-structural factors have great deal of influences on the performance: e.g. intra- and inter-organizational, financial, Web, criminal/intelligence, informetric, telecommunication, distribution, transportation networks. This will be added to my white paper miniguide Online Social Networking.

Google Social Network: Orkut

Google Social Network: Orkut 01/23/2004 04:12 PM

comprehensive list of social network
sites

comprehensive list of social network
sites 12/31/2003 03:54 AM
Alternatives to Friendster

notfriendster.com
track this site | 6 links

Defenses lacking at social network sites

Defenses lacking at social network sites 12/31/2003 07:21 PM
It's still cached on Google," he explained, "although it would probably be hard for most people to find unless they knew all the details.". ...

New Social-Network Mapping Tools
Compared

New Social-Network Mapping Tools
Compared 03/15/2003 07:37 PM

SNIM: Social Network Instant Messaging?

SNIM: Social Network Instant Messaging? 06/14/2004 12:25 AM

TechnoBiblio has a great post about the coming convergence of social software and instant messaging in libraries. A must read.

SoNIA (Social Network Image Animator)

SoNIA (Social Network Image Animator) 09/18/2004 06:59 PM
SoNIA-1.1 (Social Network Image Animator) Released!

Social Network Bubble Officially Burst

Social Network Bubble Officially Burst 03/17/2005 03:26 AM
It was just about a year ago that it seemed like the social networking craze had reached the height of its frenzy when Barry Diller stepped in to buy ZeroDegrees. Just one year later, very few people are talking about social networking any more. Friendster has more or less disappeared from the news and (as if to prove social networking is long gone as something worthy of buzz), Yahoo has final ly jumped into the game. So, it seems fitting that Barry Diller is now looking to dump ZeroDegrees, after the me-too social networking site pretty much went nowhere at all. Once again, it's looking like social networking was a bubble where those involved got confused about the difference between investm ent and revenue.

Defences lacking at social network sites

Defences lacking at social network sites 01/02/2004 07:08 AM
Security, 1997-style

Mates : The First Proximity Based Social
Network Engine

Mates : The First Proximity Based Social
Network Engine 06/05/2005 11:28 PM
"...a location-based social networking system in the form of a robust web service, or Relationship Engine, and an optional rich media client application, or Relationship Space Navigator. Your instant messaging program could automatically create and populate buddy lists based on the people in your classroom, your office building, or even your neighborhood."

Institute for Social Network Analysis of
the Economy (ISNAE)

Institute for Social Network Analysis of
the Economy (ISNAE) 04/30/2004 06:08 AM
Institute for Social Network Analysis of the Economy (ISNAE)
http://www.isnae.org/index.html

The purpose of ISNAE is to study social networks and use the resulting knowledge to promote economic growth and social well-being. In order to fulfill this purpose ISNAE will conduct and support basic and applied research on social networks, collect and disseminate knowledge about social networks, and engage in activities aimed at acquiring the resources to fulfill its mission. I posted a list of Online Social Networks a few weeks ago and it is available by clicking here. I also listed the posting in my latest V2N5 May 2004 Awareness Watch™ Newsletter available at the Awareness Watch Newsletter home page.

Social Network Sites Are Making Friends
With Venture Funds

Social Network Sites Are Making Friends
With Venture Funds 11/18/2003 03:34 AM
Investors Business Daily Nov 18 2003 3:02AM ET

SecurityFocus HOME News: Defenses
lacking at social network sites

SecurityFocus HOME News: Defenses
lacking at social network sites 01/10/2004 07:54 PM
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7739 Sites like LiveJournal and Tribe are poised to be the next big thing on the Web in 2004, but their security and privacy practices are more like 1997. I find that most time, there is better security from those who know little about it but run smaller "Social Network" software, i.e. PHPNuke, Post Nuke, etc. Some of the security features I have seen in these Open Source software are just know showing up in things like...

Wists new features - inviteless,
automated group and social network
formation

Wists new features - inviteless,
automated group and social network
formation 03/14/2005 04:33 PM
New Features: (The overall aim is to make as much as possible one or two clicks or automatic, based upon...

Nutty social network tool/dating service
with funny-ass copyright warning

Nutty social network tool/dating service
with funny-ass copyright warning 05/05/2004 02:07 PM
Clay Shirky has just blogged an high-larious deconstruction of SocalGrid, a FOAF-meets-dating-service social networking tool where users rate their physical attributes (5'10" blonde with "model looks") and the social attributes of their ideal mate and the service does the rest. The service commits every socially retarded gaffe imaginable, has attracted 9 men for every woman who's signed up, but the very best part is the "warning to copycats:"

SocialGrid has retained one of the top intellectual property law firms in America. Everything on this site is copyrighted and trademarked, including our search and coding system. Our patent application claims coverage on searches for all complex objects using Internet search engines. Our goal is to ensure a search system that will be free to our members and keep individuals and corporations from profiting by charging for searches. We will marginalize every profit margin. There is no money to made in creating another ID coding system. The world needs only one system. If necessary, we will give SocialGrid and the patent to Google to insure one standardized coding system. Any copycats and clones will have to answer to Google. Please be advised that any copyright, trademark, and patent infringement will result in legal action.

Link

Participatory journalism

Participatory journalism 08/16/2004 11:52 AM

Participatory (or citizen) journalism is getting a lot of coverage at the moment, thanks in part to Dan Gillmor's new book We the Media. For a great example of participatory journalism in action, check out Wikipedia's outstanding coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics. It's already a serious competitor to the official site in terms of content, and its wiki nature means it will only get better as the games continue. Hat tip: Gadgetopia.

I've been a fan of Wikipedia's current affairs coverage for quite a while. The site is especially useful in catching up with ongoing stories, in particular for detailed profiles of people and groups currently making the news (random example: Muqtada al-Sadr). Despite the site's open nature (or maybe because of it), they generally do an excellent job of keeping to a ne utral point of view.

Citizen journalism is unlikely to ever replace traditional journalism completely, but it can certainly enhance it. Then again, with OhMyNews now one of the most influential media outlets in Korea (see this interview for details) this is one trend that's not going to go away.

Participatory Culture Foundation

Participatory Culture Foundation 04/15/2005 04:51 AM
announcement .. PCF

participatoryculture.org
track this site | 3 links

Participatory Journalism and Education

Participatory Journalism and Education 08/03/2004 09:13 AM
I'm in Toronto for today's Exploring Fusion Power of Public and Participatory Journalism conference, speaking about the tools of tomorrow's grassroots journalism and how folks in the business can get started. I'm glad to see that quite a few educators are part of this gathering. Their presence makes sense, given that tomorrow is the start of the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. My guess is that the students are, in many cases, way ahead of the teachers when it comes to understanding the tools and how to use them. (Cross-posted to We the Media.)

Participatory, Partisan Journalism

Participatory, Partisan Journalism 01/16/2004 01:00 PM
BloggerStorm is one of the more interesting developments in participatory journalism in a long time. It's an aggregation of weblogs covering the Iowa presidential caucuses, kind of a human-operated equivalent of Google News capturing a narrow topic.

"Participatory Culture Foundation"

"Participatory Culture Foundation" 04/16/2005 02:52 AM

Participatory Media Paper

Participatory Media Paper 04/27/2004 10:26 AM
Steve Rubel finds a whitepaper by IBM called Media and Entertainment 2010 (PDF). He rightly points out that the declining costs of production for user generated content and its effects is already happening with weblogs. The paper defines a business...

Participatory Journalism and Janet
Jackson

Participatory Journalism and Janet
Jackson 02/10/2004 02:41 AM
Adrian Holovaty, lead developer for the excellent community news site in Lawrence Kansas, reflects on his blog about how he got real information about the Janet Jackson fiasco not from the networks but from the Web.

"Yes, probably not a single one of the Fark contributors was actually at the Super Bowl, and all of their facts were collected from "mainstream" sources such as the CBS television broadcast. So what? Even two days later, this is STILL coverage you can't find at any big-media site. And who's to say a photo-phone-toting Super Bowl attendee couldn't have contributed?"

Fascinating story.

Participatory journalism has long roots

Participatory journalism has long roots 06/03/2004 06:35 PM
Newspapers and Technology,CO-1 hour ago ... On the Web, you can get your local news in numerous ways: MyYahoo, Google, or if you are in South Korea, OhmyNews.com, which, according to We Media, attracts 2 ...

AOL's Worthy Struggles with
Participatory Journalism

AOL's Worthy Struggles with
Participatory Journalism 01/16/2004 01:00 PM
Interesting take by Mark Glaser on AOL's ongoing experiments with blogging, citizen journalism and the like. I hope they keep working on it and succeed.
Grok Description matches for Social Network Dynamics and Participatory Politics
GrokA matches for Social Network Dynamics and Participatory Politics

Social Network Dynamics and Participatory Politics

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: