Hi Everyone,
I feel that the class is getting more and more interesting. I really enjoyed the material this week about Networks and Network Properties. While I have looked at networks a little in my past experience this has been my formal introduction to the content.
We start with the basic concept of networks (vertices and nodes, weighted vs unweighted, directed vs undirected) and move into node characteristics such as centrality. I think that these principals are fundamental to understanding networks. Only when we understand the core concepts of networks can we use them to discover fresh insights.
It is very interesting to immediately start thinking of yourself as a node (as least I did) and how you fit in to a network.
The most interesting reading coming out of this week for me was the Easley and Kleinberg book, Chapter 3 on Strong and Weak ties. It’s very interesting to see how the structure of a network can so easily be changed by a bridge and the benefits that one can obtain through weak ties. For those who may not have had a chance to read it, the research shows that most people find jobs not through a close friend (strong tie) but through an acquaintance (weak tie).
This is because weak ties connect you to knowledge and opportunities outside of your close circle.
“The argument is that these are the social ties that connect us to new sources of information and new opportunities, and their conceptual “span” in the social network (the local bridge property) is directly related to their weakness as social ties. This dual role as weak connections but also valuable conduits to hard-to-reach parts of the network — this is the surprising strength of weak ties.”
I started thinking more about this concept of strong and weak ties and other situations in which they come into play in our lives. This brought me back to a topic of interest for me at the start of the pandemic, Go Fund Me. Probably everyone is this class has given to a Go Fund Me, knows someone who has started a Go Fund Me or both.
I consider myself to be a charitable person, but I am very conscious of where I donate and want to understand how the money I am donating is being put to use. I typically really on Charity Navigator when donating to a new organization. I like the idea of Go Fund Me as putting money directly into the hands of those who need it but I wondered if this system is really the best distribution of funds for people in need.
I read this long Atlantic article on the topic which brings to light the importance of networks on Go Fund Me.
It’s a super interesting read if you have the time and are interested. It follows two very different campaigns on Go Fund Me, one that was able to leverage a wide network, gain publicity and raise a lot of money and another that without the network connections was unable to reach their goal. The main excerpt that relates to this course is below:
Part of the allure of GoFundMe is that it’s a meritocratic way to allocate resources—the wisdom of the crowd can identify and reward those who most need help. But researchers analyzing medical crowdfunding have concluded that one of the major factors in a campaign’s success is who you are—and who you know. Which sounds a lot like getting into Yale. Most donor pools are made up of friends, family, and acquaintances, giving an advantage to relatively affluent people with large, well-resourced networks. A recent Canadian study found that people crowdfunding for health reasons tend to live in high-income, high-education, and high-homeownership zip codes, as opposed to areas with greater need. As a result, the authors wrote, medical crowdfunding can “entrench or exacerbate socioeconomic inequality.”
I think that this highlights another case in which weak ties can be extremely valuable.
References:
D2L Materials.
Easley, D., & Kleinberg, J. (2012). Networks, crowds, and markets: Reasoning about a highly connected world. Significance, 9, 43-44.
Monroe, R. (2019). When Go Fund Me Gets Ugly. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/gofundme-nation/598369/. Accessed on October 6, 2020.
Thank you for sharing the Go Fund Me article. It's a great example of finding insights from networks.
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