Redes sociais dentro e fora do ecrã

Quando acedemos a uma rede social ou ao IM, temos uma série de amigos ou contactos que podemos interpelar, nomeadamente se procuramos uma informação. Qualquer um pode responder, mesmo que não esteja próximo ou não o conheçamos bem.

Contudo, como funciona uma estratégia semelhante fora do ecrã, por exemplo num contexto profissional? A quem vamos interpelar? Que rede é formada com a organização e execução das tarefas da sua equipa de trabalho? Um estudante do MIT apresentou uma modalidade alternativa para estudar a interacção de grupos designada reality mining.

O artigo
Real-World Social Networks vs. Facebook 'Friends'
By Clive Thompson 07.21.08

Benjamin Waber has a grim piece of news for managers and CEOs: You're out of the loop.
Waber, a PhD student in MIT's Human Dynamics Group, studies the way groups interact socially — based on who's talking to whom. But unlike most social scientists, who simply ask people about their behavior, Waber and his colleagues measure it. They outfit employees with special badges that work with base stations to log all conversations between employees, including location and duration. With this data, Waber's team can plot exactly how information flows inside a firm.

Almost every time he analyzes a group, Waber discovers that the super-connector — the crucial person who routes news among team members — isn't the manager. "The manager is almost always peripheral," Waber says. "It's some random guy." And that person is usually overworked and overstressed. He isn't given enough support to fulfill his role, because nobody in the firm knows he's doing it in the first place. If you study the org chart, the higher-ups are in control. But if you study reality, those same managers barely know what's going on.

This type of research has evolved into a new field called reality mining. By tracking people using location-aware devices like mobile phones or electronic badges, scientists are revolutionizing our understanding of how social networks function.

in Wired.com - Tech Biz