a) Peta – following b,c,d,e,f plus one other
b) Jessica – following a,d,e,f plus many others
c) Lloyd – following a,b,d,f
d) Thomas – a,b,c
e) Dianne – unable to identify
f) Ash – following a,b,c,d plus one other
Over the last couple of weeks I have been have been following a few extra people from time to time, really just to check if we are understanding the questions/tasks the same way. I have noticed that others seem to be doing the same. Also to be totally honest I have made sure I have followed my pod mates to show that I am a diligent blogger, I presume others have been doing the same thing too. The social network diagram gives the impression that we are all following each other, but this is not so, to give better information each member of the pod should be given their own colour, then it will look like this.
It can be seen in the above diagram that some of our group have a greater need or desire to follow other members' blogs than others. This shows the dynamics could change greatly if a follower moved on or a new follower came in. I have also noticed that it has been rare that people have commented on others, blogs. I wonder if this is normal behaviour or if it is because of the purpose for which we are using our blogs. I admit I have read some blogs and I have thought "I don't really agree", or "that's an interesting perspective",but I haven't commented, whereas I probably would in another environment.
If I repeated this activity with another Pod group, my observations could be quite different. The reason for this is that a social network, like our Pod blogs are complex systems and they display emergent properties. Jennifer Hallinan explains, these are ‘due to the interactions in a system, and are not inherent in the individual components.
According to the University of Michigan's Centre for the Study of Complex Systems, a complex system displays some or all of the following characteristics and they can be used to explain why we could expect different levels of activity and interaction throughout the various pod groups:
- Agent-based
- Basic building blocks are the characteristics and activities of individual agents – our Pods are made up of individuals, with different levels of confidence, enthusiasm and desire to share.
- Heterogeneous
- The agents differ in important characteristics. The participants in our Pod groups are diverse and not necessarily comparable in the levels of participation in their allocated group.
- Dynamic
- Characteristics change over time, usually in a nonlinear way; adaptation. Our Pod groups have changed over time, with some members dropping out, other members have participating on a very casual bases in the beginning, but towards the due assessment force is applied from the assessment deadline and perhaps other members of the group to participate.
- Feedback
- Changes are often the result of feedback from the environment. Feedback can have considerable effect on the Pod system, there will be pods that have given each other more feedback and support which may have either pulled the group together or divided it. It just depends on the type of feedback and how it has been accepted.
- Organization
- Agents are organized into groups or hierarchies. Our groups were formed by Ken and we were expected to work together. This was done randomly and it depended on the dynamics of the group if there was someone to lead the group by arranging and setting up meeting places and leading group discussions. No doubt some leaders were more active and motivated than others.
- Emergence
- Macro-level behaviours that emerge from agent actions and interactions. The Pod groups have potential to cover a large scope of sharing and discussion, with few rules, in fact most rule have probable been unspoken.
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