15 July 2002

Valdis Krebs: social network analysis Valdis' work on social networks is fascinating. His software tool, InFlow, allows a visualisation of the connections and influences in a network of people. (Related?: The Brain, which seems to have mutated into a knowledge management tool.) Rodcorp thinks InFlow might be ideal for tracking the relationships between artists or between other creative people in history, eg: artists who taught/influenced/broke away from/competed with other artists. In its simplest sense it could be a art historical genealogy of teacher/student relationships, analogous to a family history (a genealogy of genetics/marriage). In a broader sense, there would be a genealogy/network of ideas. However it's more a network than a strict genealogy because it's wider than merely X taught Y taught Z, and for this reason, using genealogical software seems a little limiting. InFlow's network metrics could be run on the map to see who was most influential in the network. 8:46:32 PM     comments

24: it's all about Jack Bauer's phone Last week Bruce Sterling wrote about phones disrupting the plot of thrillers. Only now does it occur to us to mention 2002's hit FBI series, 24, in the mildest of rebuttals. 24 is all about communication (and failure of communication, mostly) on the phone: the many calls between Bauer and the CTU calls that interrupt meetings calls that interrupt other calls calls waiting the undesired call that reveal Jack Bauer is in a silent warehouse mobiles with no signals mobiles with no battery mobiles left on to eavesdrop on a conversation Rodcorp would recommend readers in the UK not to follow the link in the title until the series is finshed though, unless they're happy to learn who the mole is now etc. Bitter disappointment. Oh... and what about The Conversation (OK yes, it's more about listening than it is calls) and All the President's Men. 8:08:16 PM     comments

If Watson had been a cat what Alexander Bell might have said... 7:30:54 PM     comments

Museum of Online Museums "online collections and exhibits covering a vast array of interests and obsessions". However for transit maps, go here. 7:29:53 PM     comments

Swarming as anti-terrorist strategy via Valdis Krebs. 7:29:19 PM     comments

Non-directed interviewing: How to get more out of your research questions Did you find any of this article useful in planning your research? If so, how? [via Peterme] 7:26:22 PM     comments