"Linked: The New Science of Networks" by Albert-László Barabási is the most approachable description of network science I have encountered. Barabási is a pioneer in the development of network science so he understands the subject deeply. Coupled with a clear and engaging writing style, the book was a pleasure to read.
This book does not focus on learning or education, but the descriptive phrase on the cover, "How everything is connected to everything else and what it means for science, business and everyday life" highlights how the topic spans many disciplines. Network science allows us to understand many types of networks, from circulatory systems to the internet. Within the instructional design and learning technologies field, we might focus on social networks or knowledge networks. Insights from this book can help clarify how we might best approach research into these phenomena, including research into web 2.0 technologies.
Barabás, A.L.. 2002. Linked: The New Science of Networks. Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA.
Lee,
ReplyDeleteI am curious, how did you first encounter this book? It sounds like an interesting read.
When I was exploring the literature on learning ecology, I came across an article by Hutchins (2010) called "Cognitive Ecology" that mentioned the book and the potential to use this method for understanding cognitive networks.
DeleteThanks for sharing this, Lee! Networks are very interesting. Actually your post reminded me of Social Network Analysis. I remember that last summer in research group meetings, Vanessa shared two resources as part of reading SNA. One of the resources is from Albert-László Barabási. He mentions how he involved in networks and how his very first publication got rejected for a couple of times (uh oh)! I may not remember very accurately but it was very interesting. I just wanted to share the links to these resources in case you may want to check them out. Link 1: https://bit.ly/3bUAUvi and Link 2: https://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/. Also, it was the summer Vanessa shared a very basic example; phone number network. That's still with me and she explained whole SNA just less than a minute!!! Wufff... Want to read more about networks from you!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the links, Omer! I really enjoyed Barabási's history on how these ideas came to be. I love his writing style. His description of networks in the book is as engaging as the article!
Delete