The Network Connection Yasmin Merali

Thoughts about  Context: the interconnected world  Socio-economic systems as CAS  The network signature  Knowledge Management and the “networkness” of networks

Interconnected world Internet connectivity information Dynamic context organisation Emergence... Networks and the Inter-connected World © Yasmin Merali 2013 Network dynamics Network effects Responsiveness and Fitness Adaptive &Transformational capacity Uncertainty Discontinuity Speed

Network economy...  Non-equilibrium dynamics  Nonlinearity, network effects  Uncertainty  Ecologies Yasmin Merali 2013

Agility and Intelligence  Intelligence: internal and external  Dynamic contextualisation  Speed and Resilience  Act fast (and recover fast from mistakes)  Keep options open  Maintain reconfiguration capacity (structure and components)  Exploit the networkness of networks

Complex Adaptive Systems  Open  Network signature – non-linear dynamics  Emergent systemic properties

CAS and the “Networkness of Networks”  Nonlinearity – potential for  maintaining steady state and  transformation  Requisite Variety: microdiversity, heterogeneity of  Types of links  Properties of the nodes  Types of info and knowledge flows  Degree of connectivity and density of connections  Patterns of connectivity and combinatorial potential  Potential/latent/active reach/connectivity  Mutually defining relationship of dynamics and structure  Yasmin Merali 2013

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND THE NETWORKNESS OF NETWORKS

Social networks as Information Networks  social networks viewed as information networks embodying communication and meaning  Complexity of social information networks – Nodes – Links – Informational Content } Dynamics Heterogeneity Variable persistence Co-presence

Risky Business  Connectivity: the speed and spread of diffusion of information (or mis-information)  Information content: the ability of nodes to transform the message, strip or attach context  Signal or Noise?

STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS

Examples: Network Structure and Non-linear Dynamics Matter  Internet: structure and vulnerability to attack  Epidemiological models for spread of diseases  Social applications: —Imitation, flocking and herding behaviours —opinion dynamics, —influencing behaviours, —logistics (e.g. mobility patterns and urban planning)  Yasmin Merali 2012

Patterns of Connectivity and Control  CAS as networks of networks  Han et al (Nature, 430, 88-93, 2004) – Date Hubs: regulators, mediators or adaptors (selectively connected across modules) – Party Hubs: integral elements within distinct modules (densely connected nodes within modules)

Networks of Networks Yasmin Merali 2013

INFORMATIONAL COMPLEXITY

shift from dealing with observation s of the world to dealing with others’ representations of possible worlds…  Yasmin Merali 2013

Information Quality  Interpretation  Representation Both are selection, abstraction and recombination exercises raising questions about the need for —Context (-ual filtering) —Cognitive Filtering —Social Filtering  Yasmin Merali 2013

Cognition  Sensemaking and Heuristics: —the embedded rules we have are derived from the environment —social media present us with a different environment from that of the past  Social Strategies: Lower cognitive load, search cost etc —Rely on others’ opinions (e.g. recommendations, reviews, likes) —Decide who we trust (whose recommendations we follow) vs decide what we think of the “raw data”  Yasmin Merali 2013

The Problem of Abstraction  Choosing the requisite level of abstraction  Moving between levels: loss of detail vs loss of dimensions  Moving between dimensional views?  Who controls − the level of abstraction − the dimensions to include?  A requisite dimensionality?  Yasmin Merali 2013

Representation & Interpretation  Technical level: storing, reconciling and choosing between alternative interpretive and representational frames.  Individual level: application of appropriate interpretative frames for received representations and for creating for a diverse audience  Collective level: legitimisation and imposition of representational and interpretive frames to be used by individual agents on behalf of the collective  Yasmin Merali the importance of context, social and cognitive scaffolding

Big Data  Looking for correlations and patterns in large volume data to extract meaning and trends  Some Issues with attributing causality to correlations: - Loss of context – Loss of meaning – reference problem - Checking big data- generation of history expensive and many possible paths exist.  Yasmin Merali 2013

shift from dealing with observation s of the world to dealing with others’ representations of possible worlds, where others may be humans or machines.  Yasmin Merali 2013

Who controls the network? Who controls the message?