The Micro-Sociology of Networks

futurelab default header

by: David Armano

Next week I am giving a guest lecture at the Parsons School of Design, specifically an innovation course being taught by BusinessWeek’s Bruce Nussbaum. I’ve been fortunate to establish a relationship with Bruce over the years—ironically all initiated and somewhat sustained by social networks.

But the premise of my talk is going to be somewhat different (hopefully) from what we see and hear in the business world which is currently infatuated with the latest and greatest bright and shiny object to hit the scene. What I’m hoping to delve into a bit more is how these bright and shiny objects influence our behaviors and how these behaviors are evolving even though our basic needs remain relatively the same.

As I do with nearly all my presentations—I post them up before I give them so you can have a look and I can initiate a first feedback loop before the "launch" on Monday. Working this way always benefits me as I usually get one or two gems of insight that end up impacting the presentation before I give it. So put yourself in the mindset of a student—someone who knows this space pretty well, is uber connected on networks like Facebook and is looking to change the world after they graduate. These are a very smart group of people and I’m going to make sure there is enough time for a good discussion. Hopefully the "lecture" turns into something more conversational. I prefer the latter anyway. Got thoughts? Speak your mind.

Original Post: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2009/03/the-microsociology-of-networks.html