Monday, June 16, 2003

social software reading list. Some of my colleagues have asked for a summer reading list of books related to social software. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, just a few personal favorites. Feel free to add suggestions for additional items in the comments, or provide any other feedback on the choices. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, by Steven Johnson. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, by Duncan Watts. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, by Howard Rheingold. Linked: The New Science of Networks, by Albert-László Barabási. Small Pieces Loosely Joined, by David Weinberger. “The... [mamamusings] Lucky loves exploring this area and will be reading some (hopefully all) of these books this summer.  The intensity of work at Insead is great, but it is also its weakness: you simply don't have time nor energy to devote to ancillary pursuits.  Everything has its price, and this one is costly for me.   9:14:05 PM    comment []

One of the best poems about teaching that I've ever read.  Take three minutes to read it, and then take ten minutes silently thanking the people who made you what you are. 8:31:19 PM    comment []

If you like short web animation, bunnies, and swords: Samuraï Lapin. Lucky has read both The Art of War and Hagakure, and highly recommends both of them.  Read Hagakure first, though it is harder to find; it's more eloquent and abstract than the Sun Tzu text.  Just seeing some of its quotes on Samuraï Lapin made me ache for my bookshelf at home... Thanks Martin for the pointer.   5:18:31 PM    comment []

A few days ago I wrote about the "Three Way Negotiation", and how I anticipated that it would be unpleasant at best.  I was right.  Here is what happened. To refresh your memory, as the seller, I own land which is worth 200 to me.  Buyer B wishes to purchase the land, and it is worth 600 to him.  Buyer C also wishes to purchase the land, and it is worth some undisclosed amount in between 200 and 600 to him.  What to do? The buyers initially met and thought about offering me 210, leaving me with a surplus of 10 and allowing them to split the remaining 390 surplus between the two of them.  Needless to say, this did not go down well with me. Logistical issues prevented all three participants from meeting together.  There were numerous one-on-one discussions, but no agreements.  Buyer C was also gone for the weekend, and I (as the seller) was in class all Monday morning; the deadline occurred before I got out of class. Evenutally I got tired of bargaining and offered the land for 400 to the person who responded first; I added that I would check my email just before the deadline to see the results.  If there were no takers, I suggested that we all walk away with zero. Buyer B responded with an offer of 275; this was less than his previous offer of 333.  Buyer A responded with 276.  Buyer A did send the offer with this personal message: It is sooo disappointing that we don't have process scoring this time. Lucky, you are the MOST uncooperative person I have ever met. You didn't even try to do something to make the deal. If you want my bid - 276. Economic theory predicts that I would take the offer for 276.  OB predicts that I would take 275. My apologies, Professor Dierickx, but I took 275. 5:16:26 PM    comment []