This is now week three of Web Science and i have started to go backwards. I think I follow what the Network Analytics ideas are about. they can work out a measure of power and influence through models and statistics. But I think this is only one aspect of what is happening. I try to relate this blog and associated tweets for instance to ideas about system and process over time. I am still working on the #Deming20 tag so think about the "voice of the process" and "voice of the customer". Some of this flow of messaging has a function within a system.

One problem I think is growing is that a lot of professional operations within social media sites are following the idea that volumes of messages are what determines the rankings. There seems to be quite a lot of stuff without much meaning. There is also a return to broadcast mode rather than conversation. I realise network analysis will detect this but i am rambling just a bit.

So meanwhile the Networked Learning hotseat series is making more sense for me. Last week was about how computer assisted qualitative data analysis software had the consequence for research of encouraging coding and statistics. The discussion is in favour of qualitative analysis and selection of text based on interest. I'm thinking this is well worth exploring and mixing with the analytics on offer from social media sites.

( I still expect the Web Science course to be more positive about the web by the end of the course though, and still wondering when the Networked Learning community will find anything positive to say about a MOOC )

The hotseats are open to anyone, not just people who have been on previous conferences

http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/

http://networkedlearningconference.ning.com/

One of the references from the Web Science course is available online

http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss39/best%20papers/dm/03-03-08.pdf

Fisher, D. (2006). You Are Who You Talk To: Detecting Roles in Usenet Newsgroups. Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences