Via a personal social network, Ed Vielmetti's Vacuum, I came across a great article today from Peter Moreville at Semantic Studios, "Social Network Analysis". It is a wonderful synopsis of the value and power of Social Network Analysis in organizations. Be sure to take a look at it. In particular he mentions two applications I want to check into: Inflow and Babble.
It spurred two thoughts/memories for me:
1) The work of Noshir Contractor at UIUC with I-KNOW which is an acronym for Inquiring Knowledge Networks On the Web.
2) Charles Cameron's Hipbone Games.
What Charles has developed is potentially a strong parallel tool that might serve the Socal Network Analysis framework with another viewpoint. Oh, and this relates to Hesse's Glass Bead Game -- the book and more Glass Bead Games can be found using Google.
Charles writes, "We call them "HipBone Games" because of the old song, "the hip-bone connected to the thigh-bone", and because they are games of connection, of the links between ideas. The HipBone Games site offers you a variety of simple boards, and playing our games is as easy -- and as subtle -- as mapping your ideas onto the board positions. It's pretty much like using one of those "clustering" devices you find in creativity seminars and problem-solving workshops -- one idea goes in a little balloon over here, and it's linked to another idea in a little balloon over there... "
An hipbone game example from last Year's Online Social Networks 2001 Conference.