ICQ Builds a Social Network
An interesting twist to the social networking software story unfolds today as ICQ launches an a social networking site. Yes, ICQ, the instant messaging program now owned by America Online. More...

Networks...

A moment...
Give me (lever and) a place to stand, and I will move the world.

The network seeks its own balance.

Not a posteriori, not a priori; in the moment.

Quality, quantity, moment.

To perceive a moment, one must be outside space and time. A forest perceived only by seeing more than the trees, a wave perceived only by seeing more than the droplets of water. The moment is created not by types of entities, or numbers of entities, but combinations of entities. More...

Self-Regulated Inquiry with Networked Resources
Approaching learning from the point of view of there being "extremely accessible networked resources," the authors examine "questions about how existing designs for learning activities should be revised, extended or supported with different tools." This paper sets out a "a Resource Inquiry model consisting of five stages: (1) Set resource inquiry goals, (2) Plan for resource study, (3) Search and select resources, (4) Study and assess new knowledge, and (5) Critique and recommend resources." This approach, a self-regulated learning model, is set in the context of problem based learning, collaborative problem solving, and project based learning. More...

OddPost
George Siemens wrote of my article, The Semantic Social Network, that it was written ahead of its time. I don't think so. Oddpost, for example, is an email and RSS aggregator combined into a single platform, just released. Meanwhile on my discussion board for this item, Eurekster "shows you What's Hot with your friends" and Zopto "is building on the idea of foaf + rss + open APIs. More...

The Semantic Social Network
Two types of technologies are about to merge. The technologies are content syndication, used by blogging websites around the world, and social networking, employed by sites such as Friendster and Orkut. More...

Social Nets Not Making Friends
Brief article recounting the (inevitable) backlash against social networks, but without really getting into the heart of it. More...

How Many Social Nets Are Too Many?
Several people have linked to this short article and lengthy list of more than fifty social networking services. Having finally received my invitation to Orkut, I can report that it's pretty much like the rest, though authored with Google's usual style and clarity. But it doesn't matter. Systems like Orkut and Friendster (which I have also tried) are not the future, not because (as Cory Doctorow says) "There are only so many hours in the day," but because they are incorrectly designed. More...