The difference between the social and the collaborative networks

Collaborative network systems are an important assets to any network because they embrace the modern state of media and technology to bring forth results and shared ideas.

We are in an age that is dominated by media networks from social to business fields that constantly undergo changes. “Network power can be though of as a flow of power in which participants all share. It comes into being most effectively when three conditions govern the relationship of agents in a collaborative network: diversity, interdependence and authentic dialogue” (pg 2, 2002)

It’s fascinating to look at the progress of collaborative networking and the future that awaits it. Collaborative networking systems are almost like a business side of Facebook. Uniting people from around the globe, without the need for a physical presence or space to share and unite in an idea or a topic that the group feels passionate about. The internet is the platform that transcends the need for space that would once make such a ‘connection’ or ‘meeting’ possible.

Even ‘productivity’ has been redefined by these networks; blogging and video sharing are amongst many examples of how the presentation and gathering of information has been changed, with particular emphasis on the journalism industry. Similarly, with Wikipedia access to encyclopedia information has changed. Having said this, it is very important to note the difference between social networking and a collaborative network system. Here are the major key differences:

With social networking you are interacting one on one, with a network you share your ideas through files and focus on pitching and contributing to a source of information of sorts. “Collaborative Networks will increasingly be critically important to business and organizations by helping to establish a culture of innovation and by delivering operational excellence.” (ostatic.com)

The web 2.0 seems to be built on the enterprise of collaborative networks, and there is no doubt they have been a success and make it easier and faster to share and contribute information, however it will be increasingly important for business’ to closely monitor and organise it probably by establishing an excellence and easy network that can be used by all members to deliver the set results.

1-     Booher, David E. and Innes, Judith E. Network Power in Collaborative Planning, Journal of Planning Education and Research March 2002 vol. 21 no. 3 221-236

2-     http://ostatic.com/blog/the-future-of-collaborative-networks, June 2009

where is the love?

The relationship between data and media might not be as blissful as one would image. In fact, in regards to today’s social networking and the internet one really shouldn’t be able to function without the other.

Data we put on our own social networking sites such as twitter or facebook are easy to access, not only to us, but to the rest of the world. Information is easy to store and share, and here is where the relationship between data and media needs no help.

However, when we look at ‘data protability’ (A. Watters, 2011) that is where the fault needs to be addressed between media and data. It is not so easy to transfer or capture information you have posted on one site and send it off or save it to another. Data sharing ‘profiles’ are fixated on their one particular site, you find yourself re-sharing the same information on another site or service too often; facebook for example has its own data system layout. The information you upload is specifically used to satisfy that media outlet. Most information saved on the facebook data cannot be transported or converted onto another site.

Recently, some data information has been able to overcome this barrier, and connect the two networking sites data systems. An application can now allow twitter updates to enter your facebook too, and flickr has connected it’s photo uploading data with facebook. However, separate accounts and profiles must be made and entered and the same data collecting system process needs to take place, separately, for each site before you go ahead.

Why do we need a solution? And why is this so important? Because media technologies and data should rely on one another and in order to move ahead and constantly shift and advance we need a system that can organize these tools of information in a ‘neater’ manner. The Data Portability Project (A.Watters, 2011) is already on it, and has started a “project (that) brings together people from the tech industry to push for open standards, so that regardless of application or platform, data is portable… (allowing) users to share their data their data stored on one site with another site without having to hand out their username and password (and without breaching or jeopardizing any security/privacy risks to the individual) “With data portability, you can bring your identity, friends, conversations, files and histories with you, without having to manually add them to each new service. Each of the services you use can draw on this information relevant to the context. As your experiences accumulate and you add or change data, this information will update on other sites and services if you permit it, without having to revisit others to re-enter it.”  (Data Portability Project, 2007)

Not only will it be more useful to personal users but companies as a whole; for example, take Paul Edwards’ ideas regarding the collection and prediction of global warming, a comprehensive date system like this would not only save time, but would help make details regarding the issue more accurate.
”Climate is the history of the weather-the average state of the atmosphere over periods of years, decades, centuries and more” (pg 100, 2010) says Edwards. But there are two ways of collecting this data, looking through books with previous records and trying to understand climate as a physical system. And here is where data collection and media can combine to ease and advance technology and research for scientists.  

So at this point in time, collecting data doesn’t seem to be the real problem, it’s being able to transport it through different outlets within the media that seems to be a challenge. But with companies such as The Data Portability Project on the rise the direction of media technologies making data more available is looking less bleak.

1-      http://www.justmeans.com/Data-Portability-Who-Controls-Your-Social-Media-Data/18344.html, 2011

2-      Edwards, Paul N. (2010) ‘Introduction’ in A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming Cambridge, MA: MIT Press: xiii-xvii

3- www.dataportability.org/ , last updated 2011, A.Watters