This is a proposed course – we don’t yet know if or when it will be taught – but I figured I would share. Comments welcome.

SI124 – Network Thinking

We live in a world of networks. We increasingly depend on each other’s knowledge when we play together, work together, and learn together. We think of Google, Facebook, eBay, and the Internet as our own personal assistants that help us answer questions, make decisions, or buy goods and services. We happily use all these tools and interact with people near and far and never really think much about how or why things work the way they work. Is there a reason, logic or science behind EBay’s bidding scheme or Facebook’s privacy policies? How and when does a YouTube video go viral? How can we understand and take advantage of connected thinking, where the group has more intelligence than any one of us alone? How do Netflix and Amazon predict what you might be interested in seeing or reading or buying? How does Internet search and advertising work and who is making money advertising on the Internet? How might you maximize your blog post’s position in Google’s search results? Why do people volunteer to work on Wikipedia without being paid? This course examines human nature, information structures, and enabling technologies that contribute to networked ‘intelligence.’ You’ll learn how groups behave and function from technical and non-technical perspectives. You’ll finish the class fascinated by network thinking and ready to dig deeper into the social and technical underpinnings of today’s technological landscape.

And the course already has a cool web site: www.network-thinking.com (which points to this blog post for now)