Topic: Social Networks and Networking

Robert Scoble is a Microsoft technical evangelist, but is most know as the world famous "Scobleizer" blogger. He discusses his early days of blogging and how his blogging at Microsoft was often risky. He also explains how blogging is proving to be a valuable corporate communications tool. Robert discusses other important issues such as Windows Vista, podcasting, weblog search, opml and attention.xml. [Web Talk audio on IT Conversations]

Recent technological advances in hardware and software, broadband connectivity, and the decreasing cost of computers, cell phones, and other such devices have created an environment where we can connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere almost effortlessly. However, how do we determine with whom we want to connect? The answers to this question can be found by studying the underlying socio-technological motivations for the creation, maintenance, destruction, and reconstitution of knowledge and social networks. Dr. Noshir Contractor discusses some of his research in communication theory of dynamically linked knowledge networks over the past ten years at MeshForum 2005 through the examination of real-world examples. [MeshForum audio from IT Conversations]

First came the blogosphere, then the podosphere, and now, the eventsphere is coming! Brian Dear is building it at EVDB, the Events and Venues Database. The founder and CEO of EVDB, Brian sat down during Always On 2005: The Innovation Summit at Stanford, to speak with Scott Mace. Learn how to publish events on the EVDB service, how to subscribe to EVDB searches, and more about "simple event sharing." [Opening Move audio from IT Conversations]

There are hundreds of people who call themselves eBay experts -- type "eBay expert" on Google -- but Jim Griffith, also known as "Griff," is the official dean of eBay education & eBay University instructor. Hear Larry Magid talk to Jim about buying and selling on eBay, how sellers make a profit by simply buying product X from Wal-Mart for $20 and selling it for $25, and what buyers should do before they get out their credit cards. A must for all kind of eBay retailers. Fact: there are approximately 430,000 eBay sellers who either make a profit full time or part time in the US alone. [Larry's World audio from IT Conversations]

How do you establish trust between between strangers on the Internet? Identity federation is one way to create a community of trust, but it relies on establishing the trust domains before the interaction. That doesn't work for many Internet transactions. Phil Windley interviews Professor Kent Seamons to discuss some specific ways of solving this problem. [IT Conversations audio of Phil's Technometria series]

IT Conversations audio from Pop!Tech 2004 (Renaissance Prospects): Douglas Rushkoff analyzes, writes and speaks about the way people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other's values. He sees "media" as the landscape where this interaction takes place, and "literacy" as the ability to participate consciously in it.

The four presenters in the session on Connected Politics get together for Q&A moderated by John Sculley: Andrew Rasiej, Adrian Wooldridge and Joe Trippi. [The last of four IT Conversations audio recordings from the Pop!Tech 2004 session on Connected Politics.]

A bi-coastal panel explores how some of the most successful web-based dating and wedding related Internet businesses are faring. Hear how the Internet is creating wealth for these savvy Internet entrepreneurs. What is the secret sauce behind their business models, and what lessons can be applied to other businesses not in the "romance" space?

This presentation is part of a series of events produced by SofTECH.

Humans are inherently social, but computers have traditionally been solitary beasts. No more. Yet ten years into the Internet era, with wireless connectivity and broadband links sprouting up everywhere, we're just starting to grapple with the forms and practices of social software. Weblogs, social networking tools, and cameraphones are manifestations of a people-centric digital ecosystem. How should the tools evolve to take into account the subtleties of human social behavior? Can they survive as businesses? And what about the unintended consequences, like spam, when people and large-scale networks intersect?

This talk demonstrates several technologies and concepts that show promise as ways to enhance online communities, making them easier to discover and making it easier to select high-quality content, evaluate that content, and motivate others to contribute significant value. In short, these tools may catalyze collective action by highlighting participants' histories and relationships.