Task 3B Reflections on Network Theories

Task 3b

Before looking at the reader “The Networked Professional” I am convinced that I know a lot about networking and that the theories behind it are simple. Networks are essential contacts between people that help forward our careers, socialising and learning. I am sadly mistaken that there is actually a lot more to professional networking than just this and there are a lot of complex theories in the thinking behind it.

My initial thoughts were quite ignorant. I couldn’t believe that there were so many theories behind networking, something that appears to be so simple. Initially I found it difficult to understand why there are so many arguments and debates on things that I have never before thought of as being significant or that even exist. Is networking really as complicated as what it is being made out to be or are the concepts thoughts that are over analysing the way we network to have a more complex meaning behind it? Is it really important to analyse how we network? Why can’t we just let it happen naturally?

Here are some of my reflections :

Cooperation

My initial thoughts about cooperation were that obviously it works to your advantage to cooperate with somebody. If you help somebody out they are more likely to help you out in the future. Upon reflection this was quite naive of me to think, and I found the example of “prisoner’s dilemma” with the “tit for tat” strategy (Axelrod, R. (1984) pages xi- xiv) very helpful in aiding my understanding that whilst professional networking you can be taken advantage of or you can take advantage of someone else. There has to be some sort of trust with in the network, so how do we gain that trust?

I found a good example to me was our blogs. I have noticed that the people that leave more comments on other people’s blogs tend to get more comments back themselves and have also learned that not leaving comments after someone has done for you can leave people less willing to interact with you again as you are giving nothing to them so they are not benefiting from sharing their thoughts with you.

In the world of dance and employment it is important to build a strong reputation for yourself so that people want to cooperate with you. Reflecting further on the question raised from Axelrod, R (1984) pages xi-xiv: “When should a person cooperate, and when should a person be selfish, in an ongoing interaction with another person?” I realised that sometimes you have to let people down to keep your reputation, like not helping out someone by recommending them for a job because you know they are not strong enough. First impressions are also essential as they are difficult to change.

Affiliation

I can see how affiliation is associated with personality and how your personality traits can affect how you socialise and make connections with other people. For me this concept is the easiest to relate to as I feel that naturally I like to spend a lot of my waking time with other people and that I have almost been trained in my profession to work through my inhibitions and speak and get to know people a lot more and a lot faster than I probably would if I wasn’t in a profession that required as much contact in order to progress.

A lot of dancing contracts are about 6 – 8 months, some shorter and a lot of times you will be working and living with people who you do not know. Over time you learn how to get to know people quickly and also learn which characters to avoid and which to connect with. You also learn how to tolerate and live with those who you maybe wouldn’t choose to in real life. It is a big help to have a web of affiliates to support you in times of stress. Even being away from home for a long time can be upsetting and  so it’s important to have a group of people around to help you feel like you are not alone.

Connectivism

Looking from a connectivist point of view I can see that the internet has benefited us greatly in being able to gather information from which we can learn.  Having the internet at hand with developed search engines such as Google means that you have so much more information available to you from different sources than not having the internet and having to search individual sources for example books at a library.  The internet has also made looking for the knowledge a lot faster because it looks for words related to your search and usually finds what you are looking for in a matter of seconds. It knows where to look, whereas you may have to look through a lot of books to find what you were looking for in a library. This all links back to the advantages of web 2.0 and having so much knowledge on the internet that is constantly being updated means that people are more likely to want to find out more and learn new things. It becomes more of a hobby than a chore as there is not as much effort needed on the learners part to find out the knowledge. I have found that I use connectivism in the real world while in rehearsals for shows. To me connectivism is about using all the people in your network not just learning from one particular person. For example there maybe other people in my cast that I can ask about particular parts of the choreography not just the main choreographer. In relation to the internet I can use sites online such as you tube to watch dances in order to learn them myself instead of needing one particular person to teach me the choreography.

Social Constructionism

When you make a new social connection the properties of the relationship with the person or network are not yet determined. That means that you have the opportunity to construct the properties in ways that are suitable. For instance, if you meet a potential employer you can create an environment that is more professional than you would if you were meeting a co worker. You would be able to do this in many ways, perhaps by using more formal language and limiting the topics of conversation. An example of when I have done this is when applying for a job, my CV has a professional head shot rather than a photo taken by the pool on holiday. This creates a first impression that starts to define the properties of the connection. As this connection becomes stronger it is possible to change the boundaries depending on the relationship.

I decided to read an introduction to Connective knowledge by Stephen Downes that is referenced in the reader.  Downes talks about a lot of other different concepts that are related to connective knowledge, some of which are argued by readers who have commented. I tried to look up connectivism and found that there is not a lot of information about it. Wikipedea does have a page but more citations are needed and there are only a few paragraphs suggesting that there haven’t been mountains of research to do with this theory. I am not surprised as this concept is particularly difficult to understand in the grand scheme of connectivism as a whole outside of networking. Many of the theories behind the concept are also being debated so there does not seem to be a clear line in some cases of what is connectivism and what isn’t.

Communities of practice

This is a concept that I have been unaware of but actually am involved in without realising it. “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ I found that this website was a great help in explaining further in maybe a more simple way what the extract in the reader from Lave and Wenger (1991 pp. 98-100) was talking about.

 I have found that I haven’t needed to challenge this concept as I can really see the benefits myself. Being involved in a group where all of the participants share the same domain that interact often to share knowledge about what worked best, or solve problems taking part in group experiments, finding an answer together, this is a community of practice. I asked myself if I was involved in any communities of practice and found that there are many:

On board my ship where I am working at the moment I am involved in a community of practice. Outside our work hours we take classes regularly. The classes themselves are fairly informal but you do have to be a part of the cast to take part. We mess around with choreography, trying to make up new dances. We also practice tricks and help each other out. For example I have never been able to cartwheel but I’m trying to learn and other members of the cast who can cartwheel successfully give me tips and pointers on how to do it better and the techniques that they use. We all leave each class having learned something new and it’s an ongoing process.