Once again, I recently found myself in need of reclaiming whiteboard space. This time it was my list of potential emergent properties & benefits of networks that was the culprit! Here's a photo of the whiteboard along with an additional explanation of each item.
BTW, this list was compiled from a number of sources that, at this time, I'll have trouble remembering :P I would imagine that it's safe to assume that it's some combination of ideas drawn from the work of George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Yochai Benkler, Karen Stephenson, Mitchell Baker, Ivan Boothe and many other brilliant folks. If you notice yourself represented here, let me know! Oh, and I guess it's entirely possible that some of these ideas are mine :)
All of these are obviously interrelated (by definition of being dependent on connections & network-emergent) so I won't even try to categorize them or explain how they relate to each other. I think I'll just take each, one at a time, and add some additional detail. Maybe you can help me organize them :) Or, maybe it's not even neccessary.
- Enable passionate production - I think of distributed, open source software development, here. A bunch of folks working together on a project. But they're there because they want to be, not because it's their job. They are motivated to participate by their own personal desires, moved by their passion for the project (or maybe even just the process).
- Ensure sustainability - Assuming a sufficient number of network members (vertices), connections per member (degree), and a mechanism for adding new members & connections (edges), the loss of a single member should not lead to the destruction of the network. In this sense, a network should be fairly resistant to fluctuations in membership over time. Now, of course, all members need to make sure that they share their knowledge with others so that others may learn and be able to carry on after one member leaves. That is, the knowledge needs to be "backed up" in the network somewhere (it may be distributed across many members).
- Support life-long learning - Imagine that an individual joins a network as a young student and stays connected to that network throughout their life. That network would then provide a platform for learning with/from students, faculty &/or alumni. Students could easily form study groups, access instructors or TAs for assistance, and find alumni mentors working in the "real world." Faculty could coordinate and collaborate with each other, across departments, disciplines and schools. Alumni could continue mentoring relationships developed with faculty and stay current with the newest research in their field (learning both from faculty & students).
- Foster rapport & community - Very simply, a network is a necessary condition for community. There could be no community without connection. But for that network to become a community there must be a shared interest, a common goal, trust, cooperation, comfortability, etc. That's the rapport.
Wow, this is taking a lot longer than I had hoped! I think there are a total of 16 properties/benefits, so maybe I'll break this up into 4 posts with 4 points each. I just want to get something "up there" right now. Stay tuned for more details on the rest of the items...
