.:|randgaenge|:. » Research http://randgaenge.net thomas n. burg - on social media, software tools and its benefits for us, and sometimes wine Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:14:35 +0000 en hourly 1 Links http://randgaenge.net/2008/links-31/2665/ http://randgaenge.net/2008/links-31/2665/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:30:05 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2008/01/15/links-31/ I found these lately:

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]]> http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-9/2586/feed/ 0 Links http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-6/2580/ http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-6/2580/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:30:11 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2007/10/14/links-6/ I found these lately:

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]]> http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-6/2580/feed/ 5 Links http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-2/2568/ http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-2/2568/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:30:18 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2007/10/06/links-2/ I found these lately:

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]]> http://randgaenge.net/2007/links-2/2568/feed/ 0 On Social Networks http://randgaenge.net/2007/on-social-networks/2570/ http://randgaenge.net/2007/on-social-networks/2570/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:21:46 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2007/10/05/on-social-networks/ Since [tag-tec]social networks[/tag-tec] are a steady buzz these days the excellent article referred below helps to understand the fundamental elements of online social networks by going back to research papers and linking their outputs to real world examples.
For designers/facilitators of [tag-ice]online social networks[/tag-ice]: take care that the flourishing of disconnected sub-networks is supported and that the big-component zombie doesn’t get all the fresh meat. Otherwise innovation is missing in the long term. And of course don’t forget those single nodes – the users that just joined – and make it easy for them to hook up with those sub-networks.

Social Networks And Group Formation: “When designing your social network, be aware that most of the network will be outside the giant component. In a sense, social networks themselves are thousands of sub-networks. The more mechanisms that you provide for those sub-networks to flourish, greater the overall network growth. Social networks are fundamentally virtual [tag-tec]ghettos[/tag-tec]. Networks like MySpace and [tag-tec]Facebook[/tag-tec] that encourage ghettos grow the most. [tag-tec]Ning[/tag-tec], which lets you create your own network and join others too, cleverly understands this concept and leverages it.”

[tags]socialnetworks[/tags] [tags]research[/tags] [tags]socialcapital[/tags]

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]]> http://randgaenge.net/2007/on-social-networks/2570/feed/ 0 the 2 parties in ePortfolioland http://randgaenge.net/2007/the-2-parties-in-eportfolioland/2446/ http://randgaenge.net/2007/the-2-parties-in-eportfolioland/2446/#comments Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:02:25 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2007/06/13/the-2-parties-in-eportfolioland/ Only recently I started my quest into the area of ePortfolios. That topic seems to be very hot and lots of different religions emerged in a short period of time. The day after my initial post on that topic I received Serge Ravet‘s, from EifEL, position paper: For an ePortfolio enabled architecture. Aside from the architectural aspects his credo is: “[...] providing a pathway for innovation and standardization, keeping the power of free personalized expression and interoperability.”

Serge Ravet is raising a lot of relevant topics that are densely coupled with the notion of ePortfolios. Those are:
- identy
- innovation
- data-mining for (as an example) automatic extraction of CVs

And above all he starts out to sketch an architecture for an ePortfolio enable environment that consists of three components:
- the ePortfolio
- the ePortfolio Management System (organisational)
- the ePortfolio System (individual)

What I like especially is that he brings in the notion of social capital (comp. Francis Fukuyama’s notion of sociability) as something you could create and showcase with the help of ePortfolios. Haven’t read anything about that networking aspect before.

Further the question is raised if we should use special tools (ePortfolio authoring systems) or just tools that provide the proper import/export mechanisms. I cut a chart out of his paper that represents that ecosystem
ecosystem.gif

This debate somehow reminds me of the lively discussions about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) Tools and whether you as a knowledge worker should own them or if it is even thinkable that an organization provides them. If we look how modern tools that support more innovative approaches to sharing knowledge and supporting innovation are implemented in firms then I’d say it is a long way for the vision of personal ePortfolios. Although we might be in a different situation that might better make it reasonable for institutions to support the personal approach.

Deeply connected to that strategic debate is the question of what standards should be supported by ePortfolio systems. The broad perspective that is presented here refers to open standards (OpenID ( ), HR-XML ( ), FOAF ( ), ATOM ( ), SIOC ( ), … ) that are successfully implemented on the greater web. If you are in favor of more institutionalized closed shops (ePortfolio ecosystems) you might vote for IMS.

Every post that deals with ePortfolio ( )s will start/close with such a ceterum censeo, at least as long as I don’t change my mind:
“ePortfolios are digital representations of a person and thus need to be an integral part of a person’s digital life. Thus ePortfolios need to be either aggregators of data or citizens in bigger digital environments”

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]]> http://randgaenge.net/2007/the-2-parties-in-eportfolioland/2446/feed/ 0 On Knowledge and Culture http://randgaenge.net/2007/on-knowledge-and-culture/2443/ http://randgaenge.net/2007/on-knowledge-and-culture/2443/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:45:18 +0000 Thomas N. Burg http://randgaenge.net/2007/06/07/on-knowledge-and-culture/ Love this definition from George Siemens

A Simple Definition of Knowledge: ” ‘At its simplest, information is a node which can be connected. When connected, it becomes knowledge ( ) (i.e. it possesses some type of context and is situated in relation to other elements). The combined nature of many such connections results in understanding…i.e. understanding is an emergent property of the network ( )‘.”
elearnspace

‘though something is missing. “Can be connected” and “When connected” and “Understanding” do not explicitly mention an agent. An agent ( ) that is part of a culture. This culture ( ) manipulates/creates what is a node and what’s the meaning and relevance of [tag-tec]connecting[/tag-tec] and understanding. Thus I think though this definition is elegant it’s somehow short, too structural, and forgetting the agent and her surrounding culture.

[tags]knowledge[/tags] [tags]research[/tags] [tags]definition[/tags]

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