http://disqus.com/by/davebevan/enWed, 26 Aug 2009 09:23:25 -0000http://blackbeardblog.tumblr.com/post/172055522#comment-15417619<p>This reminds me of Clay Shirky's discussion of how, as networks increase in size, they become 'networks of networks', with small-ish groups connected by a small number of hyper-connected individuals. I would imagine thatm, given their online footprint, these people would be amongst the easiest individuals to find...</p><p>In a completely separate field, the excellent political website GlobalDashboard is edited by Alex Evans and David Steven, who wrote this for the UK's foreign office: <a href="http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/publications/publications/pd-publication/21c-foreign-policy" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/publications/publications/pd-publication/21c-foreign-policy">www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the...</a></p><p>I think what they have to say about influence makes interesting reading, even if it's not coming form anything like the same angle...</p>davebevanWed, 26 Aug 2009 09:23:25 -0000http://blackbeardblog.tumblr.com/post/161393796#comment-14832095<p>Excellent point, and I agree that it's the research project as we know it that is under threat, rather than anything else. In my view, it is a good thing that there is now more freedom over the amount and type of information that can be gathered, as it stops square pegs being forced into round holes. How many times have you wished you could re-write a reserach brief after you've started getting the data in, realising (for example) that some segmentations are irrelevant and others could be explored so much further?</p><p>I'd draw a a parallel with the newspaper industry here: flexible content is replacing the (long-lived) anomaly that was a printed collection of international news, horoscopes, job ads and features. The key for researchers is to find alternative ways of packaging what we do. And unlike jourmnalists, no-one's doing MR for free, they're just providing the data...</p><p></p>davebevanFri, 14 Aug 2009 09:46:46 -0000