Tech | | February 23rd, 2009
Be forewarned: rambling post ahead.
Sometimes I get ideas in my head and I can’t tell if it is something really cool or just the looney thoughts of a somewhat delirious Dad. So you have been warned. Read on at your own risk…
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It has occurred to me that when we typically try to depict, or model, networks and relationships, we put the majority of the data in the nodes. And very little of the data in the connection.
The first problem with this model is the assumption that each node is uniform and the same from any perspective. In reality every node is unique depending on your perspective. Does anyone believe that they are seen the same by their spouse as they are by their Boss or by their drinking buddies? Of course not. So how do you represent this differently.
I suggest that there is a core amount of data that does belong in the node, but the bulk of the data belongs in the connection itself. This becomes shared data between the two nodes and unique to the relationship. Graphically it may look something like this:
Obviously this concept still has a lot of development, but if you made it this far, congratulations, you must be one of the few that finds stuff like this fascinating. Drop me a note. I would love to talk about this.
Tags: social connection analysis, social network analysis
Tech | | February 23rd, 2009
I have been in on the private beta for a new Twitter based service for the last couple of weeks, called MicroPlaza. The concept is very powerful. It looks at links in a twitter feed and groups all tweets with the same link together under that link. So it is a great way to see what links or topics are getting a lot of buzz. The cool thing is that you can filter based on:
- Public timeline
- Everyone you follow
- Any sub-set of people you follow!
In other words you can create very specific meme trackers based solely on the people you are interested in listening to. Here is a screenshot of a specific subset (called a Tribe in MicroPlaza) that I have set up.
This tribe is called “Social Enterprise”, where I follow, among others, @monkchips and @rhappe. You can see here that they have each recently tweeted with links.. This particular screenshot has the results sorted by time, but you can also sort by popularity.
This is an early beta release and there are a few UI issues that they are working on, but I expect those to be cleared up shortly. My understanding is that they opened up for public beta today. Try it out and let them know what you think.
As for me I plan on using it heavily. It provides the filtering of the information stream I have been looking for.
Congratulations to my friends @olivero and @slgavin for putting this together.
Tags: microplaza, Olivier Verbeke, Scott Gavin, Social Technology, Social Technology Tools, twitter
Tech | | February 17th, 2009
Stowe Boyd is a great proponent of the Flow App. He posted a a definition of what a Flow App is by drawing a comparison to Inbox Apps:
Streaming applications are involved in communication, and are displacing the email models that typified Web 1.0. We all known how inboxes (a la email) work: people write an email, address it to one or more people (or groups, in some cases), and then send it off. The email infrastructure delivers the mail to those addressed, who receive it in their respective inboxes:
- The inbox model is inherently private: the email is only delivered to a select group, and others cannot see it, even if that was desired.
- The reach of the email is completely determined by the email’s author, and it is made on a piece by piece basis.
- The ownership of the email shifts to the recipients when it is delivered: they have to delete, or file the email, which is no longer under the control of the author.
Flow apps work very differently:
- Streaming apps are inherently open: the premise is that users create and share information in the open. This is about supporting open discourse.
- The recipients opt into ’subscribing’ to certain people’s streams, so the decision about access to information is made by recipients, and this decision is general, not made on a post by post basis. I call this the ‘open following’ feature, meaning anyone can choose who to follow.
- The handling of the streamed posts does not transition to the recipients: it is still under the control of the author. Posts can be deleted, for example, or edited. And posts do not have to be ‘handled’ by recipients: filed or archived. They simply slide from the top to the bottom of the stream, and march into oblivion, without the recipients having to manage them at all. While an archive exists, it is managed automatically by the streaming application. Collectively, these features add up to an anti-inbox model
He goes on to describe two Flow Apps, Twitter and Staction in some detail.
As I read this post I began wondering if the “flow” Stowe is talking about is similar to the “information flow” I discuss on this site. My first reaction is that the flow I talk about is different than what Stowe is discussing. Now this in turn makes me realize that I need to be clear about what I mean by “information flow”.
Tags: flow apps, Social Technology Tools, Stowe Boyd
Tech | | February 11th, 2009
One of the biggest problems I see in almost every organization is the wasted time and money due to duplication of effort. One of the main reasons that this happens is the high viscosity of information flow. In other words, the high level of difficulty of getting information from where it exists to where it can be of value.
This means that individuals and groups find it easier to solve problems from scratch than to search for help from elsewhere in the organization. So even if someone else has already solved a problem, or has significant insight, there is no effective way to find and engage them.
Reducing information viscosity is what Decision 3D is all about. The process of looking at tools and behaviors in an organization will help to optimize the flow of information to the people that need it. If, and when, connecting with others, that can help you solve your problem, is precieved as being easier than reinventing the wheel, organizations will see significant productivity gains.
Tags: information flow