29 October 2006
24 October 2006
Ben-Q Siemens Black Boz concept phone
Unlike previously mentioned, BenQ is still making phones in Asia, just no longer in the German market. This is one of the concept phones being worked on—the Black Box. No keypads, no buttons, just a big ass touchscreen. From the initial pictures it looks like the interface changes on the fly. I'm digging the black minimalist design overall. It will probably never see the light of day as an actual product, but it is still cool to look at, nonetheless. – Travis Hudson
22 October 2006
MPOP and presence by observation
MPOP and presence by observation
Presence becomes interesting for communication systems when it spans a number of different communication channels. The idea that multiple communication devices can combine state, to provide an aggregated view of a user's presence has been termed Multiple Points of Presence (MPOP). MPOP becomes even more powerful when it is automatically inferred from passive observation of a user's actions. This idea is already familiar to instant messaging users who have their status set to "Away" (or equivalent) if their computer keyboard is inactive for some time. Extension to other devices could include whether the user's cell phone is on, whether they are logged into their computer or perhaps checking their electronic calendar to see if they are in a meeting or on vacation. For example, if a user's calendar was marked as out of office and their cell phone was on, they might be considered in a "Roaming" state.
MPOP status can then be used to automatically direct incoming messages across all contributing devices. For example "Out of office" might translate to a system directing all messages and calls to the user's cell phone. The status "Do not disturb" might automatically save all messages for later and send all phone calls to voicemail.
XMPP, discussed below, allows for MPOP by assigning each client a "resource" (a specific identifier) and a priority number for each resource. A message directly to the user's ID would go to the resource with highest priority, although messaging a specific resource is possible by using the form user@domain/resource.
[edit]
Watchers
Users have the potential to publish different presence states depending on who the communicator (or watcher) is. A worker may only want colleagues to see detailed presence information during office hours, for instance. Some users may want to only publish information to a select few. Basic versions of this idea are already common in instant messaging clients as a 'Blocking' facility, where users can appear as unavailable to selected watchers.
[edit]
Commercial products
Presence, particularly MPOP, requires collaboration between a number of electronic devices (for example IM client, home phone, cell phone and electronic calendar) and the presence services each of them are connected with. To date, the most common and wide scale implementation use closed systems, with a SPOP (Single Point of Presence, where a single device publishes state). Some vendors have upgraded their services to automatically logout connected clients when a new login request reaches the server from a newly connecting different device. For presence to universally work with MPOP support, multiple devices must be able to not only intercommunicate among each other, the status information must also be appropriately handled by all interoperable connected other presence services and the MPOP scheme for their clients.
2.5G and even more so 3G cell phone networks can support management and access of presence information services for mobile users cell phone handsets.
In the workplace, private messaging servers offer the possibility of MPOP within a company or work team.
Presence becomes interesting for communication systems when it spans a number of different communication channels. The idea that multiple communication devices can combine state, to provide an aggregated view of a user's presence has been termed Multiple Points of Presence (MPOP). MPOP becomes even more powerful when it is automatically inferred from passive observation of a user's actions. This idea is already familiar to instant messaging users who have their status set to "Away" (or equivalent) if their computer keyboard is inactive for some time. Extension to other devices could include whether the user's cell phone is on, whether they are logged into their computer or perhaps checking their electronic calendar to see if they are in a meeting or on vacation. For example, if a user's calendar was marked as out of office and their cell phone was on, they might be considered in a "Roaming" state.
MPOP status can then be used to automatically direct incoming messages across all contributing devices. For example "Out of office" might translate to a system directing all messages and calls to the user's cell phone. The status "Do not disturb" might automatically save all messages for later and send all phone calls to voicemail.
XMPP, discussed below, allows for MPOP by assigning each client a "resource" (a specific identifier) and a priority number for each resource. A message directly to the user's ID would go to the resource with highest priority, although messaging a specific resource is possible by using the form user@domain/resource.
[edit]
Watchers
Users have the potential to publish different presence states depending on who the communicator (or watcher) is. A worker may only want colleagues to see detailed presence information during office hours, for instance. Some users may want to only publish information to a select few. Basic versions of this idea are already common in instant messaging clients as a 'Blocking' facility, where users can appear as unavailable to selected watchers.
[edit]
Commercial products
Presence, particularly MPOP, requires collaboration between a number of electronic devices (for example IM client, home phone, cell phone and electronic calendar) and the presence services each of them are connected with. To date, the most common and wide scale implementation use closed systems, with a SPOP (Single Point of Presence, where a single device publishes state). Some vendors have upgraded their services to automatically logout connected clients when a new login request reaches the server from a newly connecting different device. For presence to universally work with MPOP support, multiple devices must be able to not only intercommunicate among each other, the status information must also be appropriately handled by all interoperable connected other presence services and the MPOP scheme for their clients.
2.5G and even more so 3G cell phone networks can support management and access of presence information services for mobile users cell phone handsets.
In the workplace, private messaging servers offer the possibility of MPOP within a company or work team.
Presence information
Presence information
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In computer and telecommunications networks, presence information is a status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner - for example a user to communicate. A user's client provides presence information (presence state) via network connection to a presence service, which is stored in what constitutes his personal availabilty record (called a presentity) and can be made available for distribution to other users (called watchers) to convey his availability for communication. Presence information has wide application in many communication services and is one of the innovations driving the popularity of instant messaging or recent implementations of voice over IP clients.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In computer and telecommunications networks, presence information is a status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner - for example a user to communicate. A user's client provides presence information (presence state) via network connection to a presence service, which is stored in what constitutes his personal availabilty record (called a presentity) and can be made available for distribution to other users (called watchers) to convey his availability for communication. Presence information has wide application in many communication services and is one of the innovations driving the popularity of instant messaging or recent implementations of voice over IP clients.
Schmap Milan guide Photo Inclusion
I am delighted to let you know that one of my photos has been selected for inclusion in the newly released second edition of Schmap Milan Guide.To have a look check the link.
www.schmap.com/photos/p=95954617N00/c=SD1303136
If you want to check the guide on the sidebar you will find a widget to Schmap...I invite you to have a look.
21 October 2006
19 October 2006
11 October 2006
The Hug Shirt
The Hug Shirt (F+R Hugs) is a shirt that allows people to exchange the physical sensation of a hug over distance. Embedded in the shirt there are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender and actuators that recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug to the shirt of the distant loved one.
10 October 2006
pixelroller
The former RCA-students Ortkrass, Wood and Koch - working together under the lable Random International - have been playing around with light for quite a while (the pixelroller in all its forms is well known to all of us): their latest devlopment - just presented at the Salone di Mobile in Milan - is a more poetic peace of art, again related to light and "leaving traces": the Pendant Lights
Serendipity
Serendipity: to make discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things not in quest of.
For other uses, see Serendipity (disambiguation).
For other uses, see Serendipity (disambiguation).
Plesiochronous
The term Plesiochronous is derived from the Greek plesio, meaning near, and chronos, time, and refers to the fact that plesiochronous systems run in a state where different parts of the system are almost, but not quite perfectly, synchronised.
According to ITU-T standards, corresponding signals are plesiochronous if their significant instants occur at nominally the same rate, with any variation in rate being constrained within specified limits. In general, plesiochronous systems behave similarly to synchronous systems, except that they must have some means to cope with "sync slips", which will happen at intervals due to the plesiochronous nature of the system.
The most common example of a plesiochronous system design is the Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy networking standard.
The modern tendency in systems engineering is towards using systems that are either fundamentally asynchronous (such as Ethernet), or fundamentally synchronous (such as SDH), and layering these where necessary, rather than using a mixture between the two in a single technology.
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is a word coined by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." Jung spoke of synchronicity as an "acausal connecting principle" (i.e. a pattern of connection that cannot be explained by direct causality).
Plainly put, it is the experience of having two (or more) things happen coincidentally in a manner that is meaningful to the person or persons experiencing them, where that meaning suggests an underlying pattern.
It differs from coincidence in that synchronicity implies not just a happenstance, but an underlying pattern or dynamic that is being expressed through meaningful relationships or events. It was a principle that Jung felt encompassed his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious [1], in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlay the whole of human experience and history — social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidence were due not merely to chance, but instead, suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances reflecting this governing dynamic. [2]
One of Jung's favourite quotes on Synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, where the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards". [3]
09 October 2006
08 October 2006
Nurturing Technologies in the Domestic Environment:
Overview:
This workshop will explore the potential for technology to support the experience of being nurtured in the home. Emerging practices (observed or imagined) around nurturance in the home will be explored using the lenses of architectural space and social context. These practices will inform proposals for the design of nurturing technology for a variety of domains including healthcare, entertainment, education, spiritual practice, and communication. Negative examples of invasive or harmful domestic technologies are also welcome, particularly if they suggest positive corrective possibilities. The goals of the workshop are to 1) gain an understanding of emerging practices of using technology for nurturance and 2) propose designs for technology that can nurture people.
For additional details, including proposed activities, read the complete proposal.
Designing the World as Your Palette (2005)
Designing the World as Your Palette
Kimiko Ryokai, Stefan Marti, Hiroshi Ishii
Tangible Media Group
MIT Media Lab
{kimiko, stefanm, ishii}@media.mit.edu
ABSTRACT
"The World as your Palette" is our ongoing effort to design and develop tools to allow artists to create visual art projects with elements (specifically, the color, texture, and moving patterns) extracted directly from their personal objects and their immediate environment. Our tool called "I/O Brush" looks like a regular physical paintbrush, but contains a video camera, lights, and touch sensors. Outside of the drawing canvas, the brush can pick up colors, textures, and movements of a brushed surface. On the canvas, artists can draw with the special "ink" they just picked up from their immediate environment. We describe the evolution and development of our system, from kindergarten classrooms to an art museum, as well as the reactions of our users to the growing expressive capabilities of our brush, as an iterative design process.
Robo Topobo: Improvisational Performance with Robotic Toys (2006)
Robo Topobo: Improvisational Performance with Robotic Toys
Hayes Solos Raffle, Laura Yip*, and Hiroshi Ishii
Tangible Media Group
MIT Media Lab
{hayes, amanda, ishii}@media.mit.edu
*Massachusetts Insititute of Technology
yipla (at) mit.edu
ABSTRACT
Robo Topobo brings the improvisation and performative thrill of video games to hands-on modeling and invention. “Robo” is a controller that children can use to save, replay and adjust playback of up to four Topobo recordings. With Topobo a child can bring his creations to life, and with Robo he can direct them like robotic puppets in a performance or like organic machines in a competition.
To use Robo, a child will build a creation with Topobo and physically program it by twisting its body around. He can save the recording with Robo by pressing Robo’s “record” button and then pressing one of its four “playback” buttons to assign the motion to that button. He can also play the motion backwards and use two joysticks on Robo to change the speed and size of the motion.
We are using Topobo to remove many of the restrictions of computers for children. With Robo, we hope to make engineering lessons implicit in a child’s creative process rather than the focus of it, allowing children to explore the emotionally engaging aspects of performance through design and play.
PlayPals: Tangible Interfaces for Remote Communication and Play (2006)
PlayPals: Tangible Interfaces for Remote Communication and Play
Bonanni, L., Lieberman, J., Vaucelle, C., Zuckerman, O.
MIT Media Lab
amerigo@mit.edu, xercyn@media.mit.edu, cati@media.mit.edu, orit@media.mit.edu
ABSTRACT
PlayPals are a set of wireless figurines with their electronic accessories that provide children with a playful way to communicate between remote locations. PlayPals is designed for children aged 5-8 to share multimedia experiences and virtual co-presence. We learned from our pilot study that embedding digital communication into existing play pattern enhances both remote play and communication.
TapTap: A Haptic Wearable for Asynchronous Distributed Touch Therapy (2006)
TapTap: A Haptic Wearable for Asynchronous Distributed Touch Therapy
Bonanni, L., Lieberman, J., Vaucelle, C., Zuckerman, O.
MIT Media Lab
amerigo@mit.edu, xercyn@media.mit.edu, cati@media.mit.edu, orit@media.mit.edu
ABSTRACT
TapTap is a wearable haptic system that allows nurturing human touch to be recorded, broadcast and played back for emotional therapy. Haptic input/output modules in a convenient modular scarf provide affectionate touch that can be personalized. We present a working prototype informed by a pilot study.
Bonanni, L., Lieberman, J., Vaucelle, C., Zuckerman, O.
MIT Media Lab
amerigo@mit.edu, xercyn@media.mit.edu, cati@media.mit.edu, orit@media.mit.edu
ABSTRACT
TapTap is a wearable haptic system that allows nurturing human touch to be recorded, broadcast and played back for emotional therapy. Haptic input/output modules in a convenient modular scarf provide affectionate touch that can be personalized. We present a working prototype informed by a pilot study.
ME DEA EX
Inmerse Inteact Theatre
Flow and Interaction
The flow and design are based on several factors.
·Time in the show – starting always from before dawn to after sunset
·The choices of the home audience – may influence light/background music/skybox
·The choice of the onsite (voting with SMS)+online users – about scene order at some points
Situated cognition
Situated cognition is a movement in cognitive psychology which derives from pragmatism, Gibsonian ecological psychology, ethnomethodology, the theories of Vygotsky (activity theory) and the writings of Heidegger. However, the key impetus of its development was work done in the late 1980s in educational psychology. Empirical work on how children and young people learned showed that traditional cognitivist 'rule bound' approaches were inadequate to describe how learning actually took place in the real world. Instead, it was suggested that learning was "situated": that is, it always took place in a specific context (cf contextualism). This is similar to the view of "situated activity" proposed by Lucy Suchman, "social context" proposed by Giuseppe Mantovani, and "Situated Learning" proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger.
Situated cognition emphasises studies of human behaviour that have 'ecological validity': that is, which take place in real situations (i.e. outside the laboratory). In more traditional laboratory studies of (for example) how people behave in the workplace, real-world complications such as personal interruptions, office politics, scheduling constraints, private agendas and so forth, are generally ignored, even though these necessarily change the nature of the activity. Situated cognition attempts to integrate these complexities into its analytic framework.
Recently, situated cognition theorists have been pushing for more authentic research. They argue that situating their students and research participants in authentic situations will help them achieve better research results and ultimately enhace their understanding of educational theories.
Situated cognition emphasises studies of human behaviour that have 'ecological validity': that is, which take place in real situations (i.e. outside the laboratory). In more traditional laboratory studies of (for example) how people behave in the workplace, real-world complications such as personal interruptions, office politics, scheduling constraints, private agendas and so forth, are generally ignored, even though these necessarily change the nature of the activity. Situated cognition attempts to integrate these complexities into its analytic framework.
Recently, situated cognition theorists have been pushing for more authentic research. They argue that situating their students and research participants in authentic situations will help them achieve better research results and ultimately enhace their understanding of educational theories.
Embodiment
Philosophy of embodiment
In essence embodiment as an idea binds two worlds of substance and spirit (or culture, thought of as intentional objects and phenomena), contrary to a duality long posited by notables like Descartes. The core idea looks to find the biological substrate not as a vessel, but as the being itself. The mind and spirit are not a sublimation of the biology, but are a method of its workings. Thus body and mind are fused into a single being - the only distinction between matter and person being the way of observing the being.
Embodiment in Artificial Intelligence
Embodiment theory was brought into Artificial Intelligence most notably by Rodney Brooks in the 1980s. Brooks and other scruffies showed that robots could be more effective if they 'thought' (planned or processed) and perceived as little as possible. The robot's intelligence is geared towards only handling the minimal amount of information necessary to make its behavior be appropriate and/or as desired by its creator. Brooks (and others) have claimed that all autonomous agents need to be both embodied and situated. They claim that this is the only way to achieve strong AI.
The embodiment movement in AI has in turn fueled the embodiment argument in Philosophy, see in particular Clark (1997) and Hendriks-Jansen (1996).
In essence embodiment as an idea binds two worlds of substance and spirit (or culture, thought of as intentional objects and phenomena), contrary to a duality long posited by notables like Descartes. The core idea looks to find the biological substrate not as a vessel, but as the being itself. The mind and spirit are not a sublimation of the biology, but are a method of its workings. Thus body and mind are fused into a single being - the only distinction between matter and person being the way of observing the being.
Embodiment in Artificial Intelligence
Embodiment theory was brought into Artificial Intelligence most notably by Rodney Brooks in the 1980s. Brooks and other scruffies showed that robots could be more effective if they 'thought' (planned or processed) and perceived as little as possible. The robot's intelligence is geared towards only handling the minimal amount of information necessary to make its behavior be appropriate and/or as desired by its creator. Brooks (and others) have claimed that all autonomous agents need to be both embodied and situated. They claim that this is the only way to achieve strong AI.
The embodiment movement in AI has in turn fueled the embodiment argument in Philosophy, see in particular Clark (1997) and Hendriks-Jansen (1996).
Presence-Research.org.
This page contains what must always be an incomplete bibliography of published work on or closely related to the concept of presence. The bibliography contains references for all citations of works contained within the pages of the ISPR web site as well as many others.
Please send corrections and additional entries to ispr@ispr.info.
A regularly updated list of links to online papers can also be found here, on ISPR's sister site, Presence-Research.org.
Note: Clicking on the [abstract] links will open a new browser window.
Please send corrections and additional entries to ispr@ispr.info.
A regularly updated list of links to online papers can also be found here, on ISPR's sister site, Presence-Research.org.
Note: Clicking on the [abstract] links will open a new browser window.
Tangible Media grouo (projects)
Tangible Bits is our vision of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) which guides our research in the Tangible Media Group. People have developed sophisticated skills for sensing and manipulating our physical environments. However, most of these skills are not employed by traditional GUI (Graphical User Interface). Tangible Bits seeks to build upon these skills by giving physical form to digital information, seamlessly coupling the dual worlds of bits and atoms.
Guided by the Tangible Bits vision, we are designing "tangible user interfaces" which employ physical objects, surfaces, and spaces as tangible embodiments of digital information. These include foreground interactions with graspable objects and augmented surfaces, exploiting the human senses of touch and kinesthesia. We are also exploring background information displays which use "ambient media" -- ambient light, sound, airflow, and water movement. Here, we seek to communicate digitally-mediated senses of activity and presence at the periphery of human awareness. projects_drawing_new.gif (10476 bytes) The goal is to change the "painted bits" of GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) to "tangible bits," taking advantage of the richness of multimodal human senses and skills developed through our lifetime of interaction with the physical world.
Hiroshi Ishii's home page
Tangible Bits, our vision of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), seeks to realize seamless interfaces between humans, digital information, and the physical environment by giving physical form to digital information and computation, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible. The goal is to blur the boundary between our bodies and cyberspace and to turn the architectural space into an interface.......
Being There
1. Presence: Past, Present and Future
2. Presence: Theory and Methods
3. Presence in Practice: Applications
4. Social Presence: Creating a Common Ground
2. Presence: Theory and Methods
3. Presence in Practice: Applications
4. Social Presence: Creating a Common Ground
Historical anachronisms as artifacts
An anachronism can be an artifact which appears out of place archaeologically or geologically. It is sometimes called OOPArt, for "out of place artifact". Anachronisms usually appear more technologically advanced than is expected for their place and period.
However, an apparent anachronism may reflect our ignorance rather than a genuine chronological anomaly. A popular view of history presents an unfolding of the past in which humanity has a primitive start and progresses toward development of technology. Alleged anachronistic artifacts demonstrate contradictions to this idea. Some archaeologists believe that seeing these artifacts as anachronisms underestimates the technology and creativity available to people at the time, although others believe that these are evidence of alternate or "fringe" timelines of human history.
If one envisions human technological advancement as being roughly parallel to the expansion and decline of human civilizations — that is, progressing in a "three steps forward, two steps back" sort of manner — then at least some (perhaps even many) apparent "anachronisms" are to be expected. A good example of this would be concrete, being used in the past by various ancient cultures only to be forgotten about and then re-invented at a later time by another culture, until the present, at which point the technology is employed globally and unlikely to slip into obscurity again.
07 October 2006
Aibo sony
Following on from the sale of the first ever autonomous entertainment robot AIBO ERS-110, Sony now introduce a 2nd Generation "AIBO" ERS-210 that has a greater ability to express emotion for more intimate communication with people. Available now, with no restriction on the number of units produced or the time period for orders: all customers ordering "AIBO" ERS-210 will be able to purchase a unit.
The new AIBO has additional movement in both ears and an increased number of LED (face x 4, tail x 2) and touch sensors (head, chin, back) which means that it can show an abundant array of emotions such as "joy" and "anger". In order to increase interaction with people, the ERS-210 series most distinctive feature, its autonomous robot technology (reacting to external stimulus and making its own judgements) that allows AIBO to learn and mature, has been enhanced. It will now include features frequently requested by AIBO owners such as a Name Recording Function (recognizes its own name). Voice Recognition (recognizes simple words) and Photo Taking.
F A R A W A Y
F A R A W A Y comes from a real situation and is perhaps a familiar situation to you, our dear reader. Like anyone who decides to go work or study in another city or in another country, as we came to Ivrea, we found ourselves suddenly separated from our loved ones. However, this time we werenít the only ones. Since the Interaction Institute was brand new, about 40 other people were experiencing the same situation at the same time...........
(to read mre click in the title is a link)
04 October 2006
02 October 2006
Different Exodus
Latinos in USA
http://www.latinamericanjobs.com/contenido/ingles/comun/mundo_laboral/
Noticias/Latinoamerica/Articulos/ml-latinam-13090001.htm
Vietnamese
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E5D91E39F935A25757C0A967948260
http://www.latinamericanjobs.com/contenido/ingles/comun/mundo_laboral/
Noticias/Latinoamerica/Articulos/ml-latinam-13090001.htm
Vietnamese
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E5D91E39F935A25757C0A967948260
Society
Wikipedia
Society
A society is a self-reproducing grouping of individuals occupying a particular territory, which may have its own distinctive culture and institutions. As culture is generally considered unique to humans, the terms "society" and "human society" have the same meaning. "Society," may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer, to a nation state, such as Austria, or to a broader cultural group, such as Western society.
According to sociologist Richard Jenkins, the term “society” addresses a number of important existential issues facing people:
1. How humans think and exchange information – the sensory world makes up only a fraction of human experience. In order to understand the world, we have to conceive of human interaction in the abstract form (i.e., society).
2. Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior – to explain certain conditions, a view of something ‘’greater than the sum of its parts’’ is needed.
3. Collectives often endure beyond the lifespan of individual members.
4. The human condition has always meant going beyond the evidence of our senses; every aspect of our lives is tied to the collective. [2
Society
A society is a self-reproducing grouping of individuals occupying a particular territory, which may have its own distinctive culture and institutions. As culture is generally considered unique to humans, the terms "society" and "human society" have the same meaning. "Society," may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer, to a nation state, such as Austria, or to a broader cultural group, such as Western society.
According to sociologist Richard Jenkins, the term “society” addresses a number of important existential issues facing people:
1. How humans think and exchange information – the sensory world makes up only a fraction of human experience. In order to understand the world, we have to conceive of human interaction in the abstract form (i.e., society).
2. Many phenomena cannot be reduced to individual behavior – to explain certain conditions, a view of something ‘’greater than the sum of its parts’’ is needed.
3. Collectives often endure beyond the lifespan of individual members.
4. The human condition has always meant going beyond the evidence of our senses; every aspect of our lives is tied to the collective. [2
Social Network theory
Social Networks
The Social Networks category of Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Social Network theory, deeply rooted in sociology, has recently found a home in the business world by applying Social Network Analysis to understand informal networks. New visualization tools are just being developed. There is also a dearth of data from organizational settings [my mapping project with Valdis makes a small contribution]. And most importantly, we are just beginning to understand and model the patterns of complex and dynamic social interaction. See the work by Valdis, Karen Stephenson and Albert-László Barabási.
Joel Slayton offers a computer science-centric view of Social Software...
Software need not be tied exclusively to components alone. It would appear that software is, to some degree, shaped by the sub-cultures of data relations from which they are composed...
Software drift is the continuous structural change evidenced as software seeks to both sustain and re-define an appropriate ontogeny. It is an ontogeny that is simultaneously context and environment, application and human interface. Associative rules appear to guide software drift in the form of integrative or dissociative processes of feedback and constraint. And perhaps, just perhaps, the social fabric of software, the ontogeny we observe, is merely a combinatoric of these drifting strata of identity. Three conceptual frameworks need be addressed: Scaled States, Interiority/Exteriority and Cross-Domain Referencing...
Scaling occurs across three parallel trajectories: technical, semantic and behavioral...
To speak of Interiority/Exteriority is to proclaim the autonomy of a unity....
Inferencing is a social action. There are two primary types. One is based on knowledge models and the other on analogy, or cross-domain inferencing.
The Social Networks category of Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Social Network theory, deeply rooted in sociology, has recently found a home in the business world by applying Social Network Analysis to understand informal networks. New visualization tools are just being developed. There is also a dearth of data from organizational settings [my mapping project with Valdis makes a small contribution]. And most importantly, we are just beginning to understand and model the patterns of complex and dynamic social interaction. See the work by Valdis, Karen Stephenson and Albert-László Barabási.
Joel Slayton offers a computer science-centric view of Social Software...
Software need not be tied exclusively to components alone. It would appear that software is, to some degree, shaped by the sub-cultures of data relations from which they are composed...
Software drift is the continuous structural change evidenced as software seeks to both sustain and re-define an appropriate ontogeny. It is an ontogeny that is simultaneously context and environment, application and human interface. Associative rules appear to guide software drift in the form of integrative or dissociative processes of feedback and constraint. And perhaps, just perhaps, the social fabric of software, the ontogeny we observe, is merely a combinatoric of these drifting strata of identity. Three conceptual frameworks need be addressed: Scaled States, Interiority/Exteriority and Cross-Domain Referencing...
Scaling occurs across three parallel trajectories: technical, semantic and behavioral...
To speak of Interiority/Exteriority is to proclaim the autonomy of a unity....
Inferencing is a social action. There are two primary types. One is based on knowledge models and the other on analogy, or cross-domain inferencing.
Six Varieties of Knowledge Networks
Ross Mayfield's Weblog
Markets, Technology and Musings
In any culture, says Karen Stephenson, there are at least six core layers of knowledge, each with its own informal network of people exchanging conversation. Everybody moves in all the networks, but different people play different roles in each; a hub in one may be a gatekeeper in another. The questions listed here are not the precise questions used in surveys. These vary on the basis of the needs of each workplace and other research considerations (�Don�t try this at home,� says Professor Stephenson), but they show the basic building blocks of an organization�s cultural makeup.
1. The Work Network. (With whom do you exchange information as part of your daily work routines?) The everyday contacts of routinized operations represent the habitual, mundane �resting pulse� of a culture. �The functions and dysfunctions; the favors and flaws always become evident here,� says Professor Stephenson.
2. The Social Network. (With whom do you �check in,� inside and outside the office, to find out what is going on?) This is important primarily as an indicator of the trust within a culture. Healthy organizations are those whose numbers fall within a normative range, with enough social �tensile strength� to withstand stress and uncertainty, but not so much that they are overdemanding of people�s personal time and invested social capital.
3. The Innovation Network. (With whom do you collaborate or kick around new ideas?) There is a guilelessness and childlike wonderment to conversations conducted in this network, as people talk openly about their perceptions, ideas, and experiments. For instance, �Why do we use four separate assembly lines where three would do?� Or, �Hey, let�s try it and see what happens!� Key people in this network take a dim view of tradition and may clash with the keepers of corporate lore and expertise, dismissing them as relics.
4. The Expert Knowledge Network. (To whom do you turn for expertise or advice?) Organizations have core networks whose key members hold the critical and established, yet tacit, knowledge of the enterprise. Like the Coca-Cola formula, this kind of knowledge is frequently kept secret. Key people in this network are often threatened by innovation; they�re likely to clash with innovators and think of them as �undisciplined.�
5. The Career Guidance or Strategic Network. (Whom do you go to for advice about the future?) If people tend to rely on others in the same company for mentoring and career guidance, then that in itself indicates a high level of trust. This network often directly influences corporate strategy; decisions about careers and strategic moves, after all, are both focused on the future.
6. The Learning Network. (Whom do you work with to improve existing processes or methods?) Key people in this network may end up as bridges between hubs in the expert and innovation networks, translating between the old guard and the new. Since most people are afraid of genuine change, this network tends to lie dormant until the change awakens a renewed sense of trust. �It takes a tough kind of love,� says Professor Stephenson, �to entrust people to tell you what they know about your established habits, rules, and practices.�
Markets, Technology and Musings
In any culture, says Karen Stephenson, there are at least six core layers of knowledge, each with its own informal network of people exchanging conversation. Everybody moves in all the networks, but different people play different roles in each; a hub in one may be a gatekeeper in another. The questions listed here are not the precise questions used in surveys. These vary on the basis of the needs of each workplace and other research considerations (�Don�t try this at home,� says Professor Stephenson), but they show the basic building blocks of an organization�s cultural makeup.
1. The Work Network. (With whom do you exchange information as part of your daily work routines?) The everyday contacts of routinized operations represent the habitual, mundane �resting pulse� of a culture. �The functions and dysfunctions; the favors and flaws always become evident here,� says Professor Stephenson.
2. The Social Network. (With whom do you �check in,� inside and outside the office, to find out what is going on?) This is important primarily as an indicator of the trust within a culture. Healthy organizations are those whose numbers fall within a normative range, with enough social �tensile strength� to withstand stress and uncertainty, but not so much that they are overdemanding of people�s personal time and invested social capital.
3. The Innovation Network. (With whom do you collaborate or kick around new ideas?) There is a guilelessness and childlike wonderment to conversations conducted in this network, as people talk openly about their perceptions, ideas, and experiments. For instance, �Why do we use four separate assembly lines where three would do?� Or, �Hey, let�s try it and see what happens!� Key people in this network take a dim view of tradition and may clash with the keepers of corporate lore and expertise, dismissing them as relics.
4. The Expert Knowledge Network. (To whom do you turn for expertise or advice?) Organizations have core networks whose key members hold the critical and established, yet tacit, knowledge of the enterprise. Like the Coca-Cola formula, this kind of knowledge is frequently kept secret. Key people in this network are often threatened by innovation; they�re likely to clash with innovators and think of them as �undisciplined.�
5. The Career Guidance or Strategic Network. (Whom do you go to for advice about the future?) If people tend to rely on others in the same company for mentoring and career guidance, then that in itself indicates a high level of trust. This network often directly influences corporate strategy; decisions about careers and strategic moves, after all, are both focused on the future.
6. The Learning Network. (Whom do you work with to improve existing processes or methods?) Key people in this network may end up as bridges between hubs in the expert and innovation networks, translating between the old guard and the new. Since most people are afraid of genuine change, this network tends to lie dormant until the change awakens a renewed sense of trust. �It takes a tough kind of love,� says Professor Stephenson, �to entrust people to tell you what they know about your established habits, rules, and practices.�
A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy
Clay SChirky's Writings About the Internet
Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source
Social Software: My definition is fairly simple: It's software that supports group interaction. I also want to emphasize, although that's a fairly simple definition, how radical that pattern is.
Conclusion
Now, those four things are of course necessary but not sufficient conditions. I propose them more as a platform for building the interesting differences off. There are lots and lots and lots of other effects that make different bits of software interesting enough that you would want to keep more than one kind of pattern around. But those are commonalities I'm seeing across a range of social software for large and long-lived groups.
In addition, you can do all sorts of things with explicit clustering, whether it's guilds in massively multi-player games, or communities on Live Journal or what have you. You can do things with conversational artifacts, where the group participation leaves behind some record. The Wikipedia right now, the group collaborated online encyclopedia is the most interesting conversational artifact I know of, where product is a result of process. Rather than "We're specifically going to get together and create this presentation" it's just "What's left is a record of what we said."
There are all these things, and of course they differ platform to platform. But there is this, I believe, common core of things that will happen whether you plan for them or not, and things you should plan for, that I think are invariant across large communal software.
Writing social software is hard. And, as I said, the act of writing social software is more like the work of an economist or a political scientist. And the act of hosting social software, the relationship of someone who hosts it is more like a relationship of landlords to tenants than owners to boxes in a warehouse.
The people using your software, even if you own it and pay for it, have rights and will behave as if they have rights. And if you abrogate those rights, you'll hear about it very quickly.
That's part of the problem that the John Hegel theory of community -- community leads to content, which leads to commerce -- never worked. Because lo and behold, no matter who came onto the Clairol chat boards, they sometimes wanted to talk about things that weren't Clairol products.
"But we paid for this! This is the Clairol site!" Doesn't matter. The users are there for one another. They may be there on hardware and software paid for by you, but the users are there for one another.
The patterns here, I am suggesting, both the things to accept and the things to design for, are givens. Assume these as a kind of social platform, and then you can start going out and building on top of that the interesting stuff that I think is going to be the real result of this period of experimentation with social software.
Thank you very much.
Published June 30, 2003 on the "Networks, Economics, and Culture" mailing list.
Subscribe to the mailing list.
Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source
Social Software: My definition is fairly simple: It's software that supports group interaction. I also want to emphasize, although that's a fairly simple definition, how radical that pattern is.
Conclusion
Now, those four things are of course necessary but not sufficient conditions. I propose them more as a platform for building the interesting differences off. There are lots and lots and lots of other effects that make different bits of software interesting enough that you would want to keep more than one kind of pattern around. But those are commonalities I'm seeing across a range of social software for large and long-lived groups.
In addition, you can do all sorts of things with explicit clustering, whether it's guilds in massively multi-player games, or communities on Live Journal or what have you. You can do things with conversational artifacts, where the group participation leaves behind some record. The Wikipedia right now, the group collaborated online encyclopedia is the most interesting conversational artifact I know of, where product is a result of process. Rather than "We're specifically going to get together and create this presentation" it's just "What's left is a record of what we said."
There are all these things, and of course they differ platform to platform. But there is this, I believe, common core of things that will happen whether you plan for them or not, and things you should plan for, that I think are invariant across large communal software.
Writing social software is hard. And, as I said, the act of writing social software is more like the work of an economist or a political scientist. And the act of hosting social software, the relationship of someone who hosts it is more like a relationship of landlords to tenants than owners to boxes in a warehouse.
The people using your software, even if you own it and pay for it, have rights and will behave as if they have rights. And if you abrogate those rights, you'll hear about it very quickly.
That's part of the problem that the John Hegel theory of community -- community leads to content, which leads to commerce -- never worked. Because lo and behold, no matter who came onto the Clairol chat boards, they sometimes wanted to talk about things that weren't Clairol products.
"But we paid for this! This is the Clairol site!" Doesn't matter. The users are there for one another. They may be there on hardware and software paid for by you, but the users are there for one another.
The patterns here, I am suggesting, both the things to accept and the things to design for, are givens. Assume these as a kind of social platform, and then you can start going out and building on top of that the interesting stuff that I think is going to be the real result of this period of experimentation with social software.
Thank you very much.
Published June 30, 2003 on the "Networks, Economics, and Culture" mailing list.
Subscribe to the mailing list.
Teen craze over networking sites
Teen craze over networking sites
By Mark Ward
Technology correspondent, BBC News website
One school that has banned Bebo is Kent College, an independent girls school near Tunbridge Wells.
Debbie Cowley, technology teacher at the college, told the BBC she was concerned about what pupils were sharing via the site. Some were posting personal details, pictures and even making disparaging comments about the school and its staff.
Ms Cowley said she was not happy with the level of security on Bebo and wanted more warnings about the potential dangers of sharing too much information.
In response to these concerns, Mr Birch said: "As I understand it, some schools have blocked us and they block many sites as a matter of course if they are not directly related to school work.
"We do include a link to safety tips on our homepage and at the footer of every single page on the site.
"We are continuing to look at new ways of educating users."
Join? Well, if you have to ask ...
By Thomas Crampton International Herald Tribune
MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2005
PARIS Beware the virtual bouncer. This social-networking Web site for the international jet set will expel you for trying to meet people you don't already know.
"We are not about being snobby - we just want everyone to be compatible," said Erik Wachtmeister, founder of the site, www.aSmallWorld.net. "Our members are people with large personal networks, frequent travel and highly active socially."
The idea for the site came to Wachtmeister, son of a former Swedish ambassador to Washington, during a pause in a wild boar hunt in a German forest in 1998.
"In traveling extensively to the world's social hot spots for many years, I realized there was a community of global nomads who hang out together," he said. "I decided to make a business out of helping them meet and find solutions to their common problems."
Those problems, judging from postings on the Web site last week, are not like those found in your average tech-heavy chat room. One member posted a query for the best tailor in Hong Kong; another query, about traveling from Paris to Monaco, prompted telephone numbers for helicopter services from the airport; and one posting revealed how to circumvent the Cuban embargo in New York: "There's a cigar store right in front of Cipriani downtown. It has the biggest selection of Cuban cigars, but it's very hush-hush."
Unlike other social networks, aSmallWorld, which says it has 75,000 members, allows them to interact with people in a purely social context, according to some who have joined.
"Sites like Linked In or openBC, I use for work contacts, but this is the site for social life," said Francesco di Valmarana, a London-based vice president of a Swiss private equity firm. "I have managed to sell both concert tickets and charity ball tickets when my plans changed at the last minute."
Not everyone agrees that exclusivity makes for a better network. Joe Hurd, vice president for business development at Friendster.com, a social network that says it has more than 20 million members, criticized the exclusivity of aSmallWorld...............
List of social networking websites
Name Description/Focus User count Registration
43 Things Tagging 250,000[citation needed] Open
ActiveRain Real estate professionals 5,374[1] Open
AIM Pages AOL Instant Messenger Unknown[citation needed] Open
aSmallWorld European jet set and social elite 75,000[2] Invite-only
BlackPlanet.com African-Americans 18,000,000[3] Open
Bebo Schools and colleges 22,000,000[4] Open
Blurty Blogs, based on LiveJournal 947,169[5] Open
Bolt General (music and video) 4,000,000[6] Open
CarDomain Car enthusiasts 1,600,000[7] Open
Care2 Activists 6,000,000[8] Open
Classmates.com School, college, work and the military 40,000,000[9] Open
Connect.ee Estonia 39,000[10] Invite-only
Consumating "Consumeetings" 21,000[11] Open
Cyworld South Korea 15,000,000[12] Open
DeadJournal "Dark" blogs, based on LiveJournal 490,310[13] By invite or payment
decayenne young adults of high social standing interested in meeting people in other countries 3,300[14] By invite only
Dodgeball.com Mobile location-based service unknown[15] Open
Doostang Online career community 53,000[16] Invite-only
DowneLink LGBT 250,000[citation needed] Open
Draugiem.lv Latvia 680,000[citation needed] Invite-only
Ecademy Business Unknown[citation needed] Free basic level with tiered paid levels
Eons People over 50 Unknown[citation needed] Open to people over 50
Facebook General 7,700,000[17] Open
Faceparty British teens and 20-somethings 5,900,000[18] Open
Flickr Photo sharing 2,500,000[19] Open
Friendster General 29,100,000[20] Open
Frühstückstreff General 10,100[21] Open
Gaia Online General 4,548,824[22] Open
Gather.com Public radio Unknown Open
Goldmic Hip-Hop 58,000[23] Open
GolfBuzz Golfers and Courses 16,000[24] Open
GoPets Virtual pets 400,000[25] Open
GreatestJournal Uses LiveJournal code 1,514,865[26] Open
Grono.net Poland 830,000[27] Invite-only
Hi5 Worldwide. 50,000,000[28] Open
Hyves Dutch people, but translations available (UK, GE, FR, SP) - many students 2,311,790[29] Open
imeem media-centric social network with instant messaging functionality Unknown[30] Open
Inked Nation Body modification aficionados Unknown[31] Open
IMVU 3D chat software 1,000,000[32] Open
IRC-Galleria Finland 350,000[33] Open
iWiW Hungary 1,000,000[34] Invite only
Janglo Jerusalem & Tel Aviv (Taanglo) English speakers 14,300 [35] Open
Joga Bonito Football (soccer) Unknown Open
Last.fm Music Unknown[36] Open
LibraryThing Books 82,374[37] Free basic level with tiered paid levels
LinkedIn Business 6,500,000[38] Open
Listography Social List Making Unknown[39] Open
LiveJournal Blogging 10,921,263[40] Open
LunarStorm Sweden 1,200,000[41] Open
Match.com Dating 12,000,000[42] Open, Paid memberships
MiGente.com Latinos 3,600,000[43] Open
Mixi Japan 5,000,000[44] Invite-only
MOBANGO Cell phones 1,000,000[45] Open
MOG Music Unknown Open
Multiply "Real world" networking with definable relationships 3,000,000[46] Open
Music Forte Music 37,000[47] Open
myGamma Cell phones 900,000[48] Open, paid memberships
MySpace General 112,944,952[49] Open
myYearbook General 950,000[50] Open
Neurona Hispanic businesses 570,000[citation needed] Open
Nexopia Canada 866,000 Open
OkCupid Dating 500,000[citation needed] Open
openBC Business 1,000,000[51] Open
orkut Owned by Google 27,972,301[52] Invite-only
Passado General (business) 4,000,000[citation needed] Open
Piczo Teenagers, Canadians, Photo sharing 10,000,000[53] Open
ProfileHeaven British teens 100,000[54] Open
Rediff Connexions General 1,400,000[citation needed] Open
Reunion.com Locating friends and family 25,000,000[55] Open
Ryze Business 250,000[56] Open
Sconex American high schools 500,000[57] Open
Studybreakers High school students 34,000[58] Open
Stumbleupon Websurfing 1,200,000[59] Open
Sulekha Desis 1,000,000[citation needed] Open
Tagged.com Teens 2,000,000[60] Open
TagWorld General (tagging) 1,850,692[61] Open
TakingITGlobal Social action 116,000[62] Open
The Student Center Teens and colleges 800,000[63] Open
Threadless General 364,474 Open
Tribe General 554,993[64] Open
Vampire Freaks Gothic industrial culture 550,000[citation needed] Open
Vox Blogging 550,000[citation needed] Invite-only
WAYN Travel 5,500,000[65] Open, pay for useful features
Windows Live Spaces Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces) 30,000,000[66] Open
Xanga Blogs and "metro" areas 40,000,000[67] Open
Xuqa Colleges 1,000,000[68] Open
Yahoo! 360° Linked to Yahoo! IDs 2,000,000[citation needed] Open to people 18 and over
Zaadz Social consciousness 17,627[69] Open
43 Things Tagging 250,000[citation needed] Open
ActiveRain Real estate professionals 5,374[1] Open
AIM Pages AOL Instant Messenger Unknown[citation needed] Open
aSmallWorld European jet set and social elite 75,000[2] Invite-only
BlackPlanet.com African-Americans 18,000,000[3] Open
Bebo Schools and colleges 22,000,000[4] Open
Blurty Blogs, based on LiveJournal 947,169[5] Open
Bolt General (music and video) 4,000,000[6] Open
CarDomain Car enthusiasts 1,600,000[7] Open
Care2 Activists 6,000,000[8] Open
Classmates.com School, college, work and the military 40,000,000[9] Open
Connect.ee Estonia 39,000[10] Invite-only
Consumating "Consumeetings" 21,000[11] Open
Cyworld South Korea 15,000,000[12] Open
DeadJournal "Dark" blogs, based on LiveJournal 490,310[13] By invite or payment
decayenne young adults of high social standing interested in meeting people in other countries 3,300[14] By invite only
Dodgeball.com Mobile location-based service unknown[15] Open
Doostang Online career community 53,000[16] Invite-only
DowneLink LGBT 250,000[citation needed] Open
Draugiem.lv Latvia 680,000[citation needed] Invite-only
Ecademy Business Unknown[citation needed] Free basic level with tiered paid levels
Eons People over 50 Unknown[citation needed] Open to people over 50
Facebook General 7,700,000[17] Open
Faceparty British teens and 20-somethings 5,900,000[18] Open
Flickr Photo sharing 2,500,000[19] Open
Friendster General 29,100,000[20] Open
Frühstückstreff General 10,100[21] Open
Gaia Online General 4,548,824[22] Open
Gather.com Public radio Unknown Open
Goldmic Hip-Hop 58,000[23] Open
GolfBuzz Golfers and Courses 16,000[24] Open
GoPets Virtual pets 400,000[25] Open
GreatestJournal Uses LiveJournal code 1,514,865[26] Open
Grono.net Poland 830,000[27] Invite-only
Hi5 Worldwide. 50,000,000[28] Open
Hyves Dutch people, but translations available (UK, GE, FR, SP) - many students 2,311,790[29] Open
imeem media-centric social network with instant messaging functionality Unknown[30] Open
Inked Nation Body modification aficionados Unknown[31] Open
IMVU 3D chat software 1,000,000[32] Open
IRC-Galleria Finland 350,000[33] Open
iWiW Hungary 1,000,000[34] Invite only
Janglo Jerusalem & Tel Aviv (Taanglo) English speakers 14,300 [35] Open
Joga Bonito Football (soccer) Unknown Open
Last.fm Music Unknown[36] Open
LibraryThing Books 82,374[37] Free basic level with tiered paid levels
LinkedIn Business 6,500,000[38] Open
Listography Social List Making Unknown[39] Open
LiveJournal Blogging 10,921,263[40] Open
LunarStorm Sweden 1,200,000[41] Open
Match.com Dating 12,000,000[42] Open, Paid memberships
MiGente.com Latinos 3,600,000[43] Open
Mixi Japan 5,000,000[44] Invite-only
MOBANGO Cell phones 1,000,000[45] Open
MOG Music Unknown Open
Multiply "Real world" networking with definable relationships 3,000,000[46] Open
Music Forte Music 37,000[47] Open
myGamma Cell phones 900,000[48] Open, paid memberships
MySpace General 112,944,952[49] Open
myYearbook General 950,000[50] Open
Neurona Hispanic businesses 570,000[citation needed] Open
Nexopia Canada 866,000 Open
OkCupid Dating 500,000[citation needed] Open
openBC Business 1,000,000[51] Open
orkut Owned by Google 27,972,301[52] Invite-only
Passado General (business) 4,000,000[citation needed] Open
Piczo Teenagers, Canadians, Photo sharing 10,000,000[53] Open
ProfileHeaven British teens 100,000[54] Open
Rediff Connexions General 1,400,000[citation needed] Open
Reunion.com Locating friends and family 25,000,000[55] Open
Ryze Business 250,000[56] Open
Sconex American high schools 500,000[57] Open
Studybreakers High school students 34,000[58] Open
Stumbleupon Websurfing 1,200,000[59] Open
Sulekha Desis 1,000,000[citation needed] Open
Tagged.com Teens 2,000,000[60] Open
TagWorld General (tagging) 1,850,692[61] Open
TakingITGlobal Social action 116,000[62] Open
The Student Center Teens and colleges 800,000[63] Open
Threadless General 364,474 Open
Tribe General 554,993[64] Open
Vampire Freaks Gothic industrial culture 550,000[citation needed] Open
Vox Blogging 550,000[citation needed] Invite-only
WAYN Travel 5,500,000[65] Open, pay for useful features
Windows Live Spaces Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces) 30,000,000[66] Open
Xanga Blogs and "metro" areas 40,000,000[67] Open
Xuqa Colleges 1,000,000[68] Open
Yahoo! 360° Linked to Yahoo! IDs 2,000,000[citation needed] Open to people 18 and over
Zaadz Social consciousness 17,627[69] Open
Social network service
Social network service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Online social network)
* the need for democratic structuring of administrative powers
* control over any internal economy or "points" awarded in the system
[edit]
Business applications
Social networks connect people with all different types of interests, and one area that is expanding in the use of these networks is the corporate environment. Businesses are beginning to use social networks as a means to connecting employees together and helping employees to build profiles. This makes them searchable and be connected to other business professionals. One example of a business social network is LinkedIn, a network that connects businesses by industry, functions, geography and areas of interest. Networks are usually free for businesses or at a low cost; this is very beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base. These networks act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses are expanding globally, social networks make it easier to keep in touch with other contacts around the world.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Online social network)
* the need for democratic structuring of administrative powers
* control over any internal economy or "points" awarded in the system
[edit]
Business applications
Social networks connect people with all different types of interests, and one area that is expanding in the use of these networks is the corporate environment. Businesses are beginning to use social networks as a means to connecting employees together and helping employees to build profiles. This makes them searchable and be connected to other business professionals. One example of a business social network is LinkedIn, a network that connects businesses by industry, functions, geography and areas of interest. Networks are usually free for businesses or at a low cost; this is very beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base. These networks act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses are expanding globally, social networks make it easier to keep in touch with other contacts around the world.
Social Software- Wikipedia
Social software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities.
Broadly conceived, this term could encompass older media such as mailing lists and Usenet, but some would restrict its meaning to more recent software genres such as blogs and wikis. Others suggest that the term social software is best used not to refer to a single type of software, but rather to the use of two or more modes of computer-mediated communication that result in community formation.[1] In this view, people form online communities by combining one-to-one (e.g., email and instant messaging), one-to-many (Web pages and blogs), and many-to-many (wikis) communication modes.[2] In many online communities, real life meetings become part of the communication repertoire. The more specific term collaborative software applies to cooperative work systems.
Common to most definitions is the observation that some types of software seem to facilitate "bottom-up" community development, in which membership is voluntary, reputations are earned by winning the trust of other members, and the community's mission and governance are defined by the communities' members themselves.[3] Communities formed by "bottom-up" processes are contrasted to the less vibrant collectivities formed by "top-down" software, in which users' roles are determined by an external authority and circumscribed by rigidly conceived software mechanisms (such as access rights).
Social Networking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A social network is a social structure made of nodes which are generally individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. The term was first coined in 1954 by J. A. Barnes (in: Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish, "Human Relations"). The maximum size of social networks tends to be around 150 people and the average size around 124 (Hill and Dunbar, 2002).
Social network analysis (related to network theory) has emerged as a key technique in modern sociology, anthropology, geography, social psychology, information science and organizational studies, as well as a popular topic of speculation and study. Research in a number of academic fields have demonstrated that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.
Social networking also refers to a category of Internet applications to help connect friends, business partners, or other individuals together using a variety of tools. These applications, known as online social networks are becoming increasingly popular[1].
Social
* Sep 20, 2006 at 4:05 PM
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
so‧cial
1. pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations: a social club.
2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.
3. of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society: a social event.
4. living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation: People are social beings.
5. of or pertaining to human society, esp. as a body divided into classes according to status: social rank.
6. involved in many social activities: We're so busy working, we have to be a little less social now.
7. of or pertaining to the life, welfare, and relations of human beings in a community: social problems.
8. noting or pertaining to activities designed to remedy or alleviate certain unfavorable conditions of life in a community, esp. among the poor.
9. pertaining to or advocating socialism.
10. Zoology. living habitually together in communities, as bees or ants. Compare solitary (def. 8).
11. Botany. growing in patches or clumps.
12. Rare. occurring or taking place between allies or confederates.
–noun
13. a social gathering or party, esp. of or as given by an organized group: a church social.
Networking
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
net‧work‧ing /ˈnɛtˌwɜrkɪŋ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[net-wur-king]
–noun
1. a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest: Working mothers in the community use networking to help themselves manage successfully.
2. the design, establishment, or utilization of a computer network.
–adjective
3. of or pertaining to a network or networking: networking software, a networking system.