Results

I gained a significant amount of respondents for my survey's. Starting from 42 to 39. They decreased as each one was created, not by many but this could have been because my network was slowly becoming disinterested in my research area and overloaded with questions.

Quote

I came across this quote:


"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean", Ryunosuke Satoro from BrainyQuote. 


I really liked this concept on describing working together in a metaphorical way. I think this quote can link directly to networking, translating that on our own we a small but together we can see the bigger picture. 


Quote: Individually, we are one drop... at BrainyQuote. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ryunosukes167565.html. [Accessed 24 February 2012].

Facebook Group

I have made a Facebook group, this is just another way for me to share my research and gain peoples opinions to generate ideas surrounding a questionnaire. I will be posting images, articles, questions and quotes and seeing what response I acquire, the page is also available for others to post there own individual research, articles, images, questions and opinions on the subject.

Image: Print screen from: Facebook. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/343006375732948/. [Accessed 09 February 2012].

Ensuring a Diverse Network

A Network in organic and ongoing, you need to invite members on a regular basis and rather than populate your network with like minded people avoid Mr and Mrs Average. Invite people who are from fields of sectors which radically differ from existing members, encourage innovators who develop new thoughts. There are some key points to enable a strong diverse network:

1. With a mission statement, to sum up the reason for your networks existence. 
2. List the fields related to this issue that you would like to address.
3. Use this list to identify the type of people you want to approach.
4. Exclude friends as they tend to have similar opinions to you, use them to identify friends of friends and develop your weak-ties.
5. Once the initial membership has been created, create online profiles to establish what you are and what you are after.
6. Include examples of what you are after linking this to special-interest groups.
7. Visit bars, clubs, stores, streets and neighbourhoods. Hand out flyers containing details of your network and its mission.
8. Create an ideal list, to explain what it takes to be a network member and why you are collaborating with these different people.
9. 
   
10. Recrute members you are keen to attract, give an attractive tittle with positive characteristics so that people are keen to exhibit. Like when recruiting for a job, make them feel proud that they have these.
11. Avoid alienating phrases that suggest you are being judgemental towards the differences you are trying to nurture.
12. Be collaborative and constant in your communication with your network, speaking to them on a regular basis and that all network discoveries are shared equally, fairly and with enthusiasm. 

Raymond Martin, 2010. Trend Forecaster's Handbook. Edition. Laurence King Publishers.

Diversity

The more diverse (hetrophilous) you make your network the greater the network will become in terms of diversity that flows through it. Your weak-ties should come from all paths of life, different countries, cities, sexuality, gender, class, intellect etc. This is to avoid groupthink which is how friends, associates and networks who know each other intimately begin to think alike; this limits their capacity to explore alternative attitude, views and ideas. 

When creating my networks I need to develop strong weak-ties with a high level of diversity in order to optimise performance and output. 

Image: John Flood's Random Academic Thoughts (RATs): Diversity in the Legal Profession?. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://johnflood.blogspot.com/2010/09/diversity-in-legal-profession.html. [Accessed 09 February 2012].

The Benefits of a Network

Networks in basic form are individuals with a mutual interest that come together to change ideas, products or services. Networks use the collaborative potential of a whole crowd of brains working together as a single organism to determine an outcome, they harness the power of many 'the wisdom of crowds'. In network diagrams (as previously show) people are drawn as nodes, the more nodes the more information and the more powerful a network becomes. The individuals within a network may not be wholly correct but the sum total of a group will always bring you closer to the correct answer. For example in Who Wants to be a Millionaire when asking a friend 61 per cent of contestants get the correct answer but when asking the audience 91 per cent get the correct resulting answer. If harnessed correctly networks can be used to extract more accurate answers from people working collectively rather than individually, even if they are not known to each other. In fact the less individuals know each other the more beneficial they are to your network.

Raymond Martin, 2010. Trend Forecaster's Handbook. Edition. Laurence King Publishers.

Twitter search in Plain English

This video (click the image) simply explains twitter search in an easy format to understand. This can enable me to hash tag search to see the worlds opinions on my chosen subject, enabling me to get an insight, I could even start my own HashTag and see what follows.

Image: Print screen from: Twitter Search in Plain English - YouTube . 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM&feature=youtu.be. [Accessed 09 Februaury 2012].

My Facebook Network

These diagrams were created using an App that visualises your Facebook network. They show the same results from different perspectives; you can see a very complex Collaborative (Decentralised) network. The diagrams are very complicated and crowded visuals which can be off-putting and unattractive. However, what this clutter does display is the enormous quantity of accessible people available to one person. I am at the centre of this abundance of names, and all the nodes, which in this case are people stem out of my central point. The nodes of people in this diagram are my Facebook 'friends' only, what this diagram does not include, is the ongoing nodes that stem from each stemming individual and interlink creating an ongoing and never-ending network. Making for a greater complexing diagram.

Although not very comprehensible, especially as unpleasant viewing in such a small size, they do display this vast network which is so readily available to most people. (If you click on the image it should enlarge). Just think; if this is what I actually have access to, what will all these people have access to and then all these people and then all these people and then......


Image: Authors own using MyFnetwork Facebook App

What is a Network

'A group or system of interconnected people or things: a trade network.
A group of people who exchange information, contacts, and experiences for professional or social purposes: a support network.'


Dictionary Definition