The Wisdom of Crowds

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/student-life/orientation/files/the_wisdom_of_crowds_reading.pdf

Robin Dunbar speech

Robin Dunbar explains his research into the number of relationships we can maintain.

http://fora.tv/2010/02/18/Robin_Dunbar_How_Many_Friends_Does_One_Person_Need

Collaboration

Power Law Distribution
80/20 Rule - also known as the Pareto principle
Long tail


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html

Dunbar's Number

Questions from Lois Weisberg

• What is Gladwell’s main point?
• What role does someone like Weisberg play?
• Why is someone like Weisberg important?
• What lessons can we learn from Cindy Mitchell’s story?
• How did Weisberg influence the Chinese democracy movement?
• What makes Weisberg good at connecting people?
• What factors determine whether 2 people will be friendly?
• What is the “small world” problem?
• What did Milgrim want to determine?
• How did Milgrim develop the “6 degrees of separation” idea?
• Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg
• What makes Meredith Burgess connected to so many actors?
• Why does Gladwell say that it’s not how many people Lois knows, but the different worlds she belongs to? 
• Gladwell identifies 3 aspects of power. What are they and which does Lois have? Why are each important?
• Lois says “I don’t believe poor kids can advance in any way by being lumped together with other poor kids.” What does she mean? Is it true?
• Explain what Gallery 37 is. What factors were necessary to make it succeed?
• Why does Granovetter say that weak ties are good for getting a job?
• What partly determines how much you’ll earn and how satisfied you are  at a job?

Questions about Hidden Influence

• What is the widower effect?
• What did they discover when studying the obesity epidemic?
• What are the three main factors that lead to clusters of similarities? 
• What is an ‘emotional contagion’?
• What is transitivity?
• What determines 47% of the number of friends you have?
• What plays an important role in determining whether your friends know each other?
• How are carbon atom structures similar to human networks?
• What is a super-organism? What are some examples?
• What does Christakis think determines our experience of the world?
• What does he think that the world today needs more social networks?

The Hidden Influence of Social Networks

http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks.html 
If you want to see the transcript or subtitles, watch the video here.