"The golden rule of networks is: Location, location, location".

So says Valdis Krebs in his introduction to Social Network Analysis. SNA is "the mapping and measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organizations, computers, URLs, and other connected information/knowledge entities" and is a concept we are contemplating as part of our journey through the fairy-floss haze of connectivism. Krebs gives a very clean description of the elements of a network that warrant analysis - namely the centrality measures of Degree Centrality, Betweenness Centrality, and Closeness Centrality - although as yet I am uninformed as to why they warrant analysis. Further reading in cck11 required...


Wikipedia tells us:
"Network analysis, and its close cousin traffic analysis, has significant use in intelligence. By monitoring the communication patterns between the network nodes, its structure can be established. This can be used for uncovering insurgent networks of both hierarchical and leaderless nature."


Intelligence? As in international espionage? Would I know a hierarchical insurgent network if I tripped over it? I am not sure why we need to know about network analysis in relation to connectivism... yet.


...


Ok, now I have listened to Stephen Downes' presentation on Learning Networks and as I listened to him talk about his first design principle of a network - Decentralize - the centrality measures of SNA popped into my head and I understood the importance of knowing the strength of a network, and how easily it can, or cannot, be broken. Stephen defined eight of these design principles: Decentralize, Distribute, Disintermediate, Disaggregate, Dis-integrate, Democratize, Dynamize (sic), and Desegregate. As I listened (and learned), I felt suddenly that the value of a learning network, in my profession in general, but also in my own learning journey, was remarkably clear. The big leap for me now is to see and accept that connectivism as a learning theory, and learning networks as a learning framework, are the way to go in terms of teaching and learning in higher education. I can't quite let go of my belief that I need clear organisation and structure to learn most efficiently, and that higher ed students generally need (or at least want) it too.In addition to our teaching institutions, do we have to convince the students that this is a better way to learn?