Holonic Interaction

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

I just noted a nice message by Simply D in our group Coffee with the Oracle. She stated she was intending to put some time into Area Light but had a lot on her plate at the moment. That's great and raises for me the question of whether or not I should respond. If I comment back to her acknowledging her intention, then I am creating a task for her to handle if she is following the conversation with autoforward to e-mail. That would put more on her plate, doesn't really add any value to her I think, and perhaps could cause her to decide not to follow the conversation with that feature. In my view, better to demonstrate some patience and not respond. This is part of the holonics concept of cooperation balanced with independance. I think Area Light can become more of a community of choice if people work together with all due consideration of eachother- that can include not sending qeue's where they are not needed, thereby keeping channels open and clear of static noise. On other networks, I see people "touching base" quite a lot. For me, a lot of that is unnecessary. Some people do it too much. Others might do better to drop a line at least once in a while. I'm pretty busy myself, so sometimes I look at the e-mail notices I get and consider closing the channel for the inundation or how to establish my proferences with the other party for a mutual satisfaction- namely iterating my own and assuring my needs do not call for too much assurance. Then there are those who are sending blind canvasses that really do not pertain to me. Those can turn me off a little in terms of my hope/ expectation for a quality interaction with that individual. The mass messages can really be a turn off and that is why I tend to avoid them. There's another network owner out there who sends a mass message nearly everyday and I'm about to block them. I've been testing my own tolerance of his correspondence and considering alternative solutions. Perhaps I could engage him to discuss it and work with him in a manner that actually could be mutual beneficial. I think that is a courtesy to allow some push without premature disconnection. The least I can do for his consideration in outreach is respond. Needless to say, the time I might reserve to correspond is tied up in reading and disregarding hhis frequent messages. So I'm still kind of undecided.

On Area Light, I'm going to be promoting Holonic Interaction. This is a skill I think we can build around the features of the technology. i know Ning puts some considerations into the effect of these features. You can see that in choices in options such as whether to follow a discussion or not. As a community, we might be more intelligent in our interaction by establishing some...understandings (maybe better term than rules). You want people to stay balanced with some openness while allowing them some peace and privacy.

One of the activities I have in mind for this is utilization of the blog feature. I'm going to be maintaining a blog called the Area Light End User Experience. this will be my online journal of interactions written to myself but open to the entire community as an audience. I'm also going to be demonstrating this concept as a suggestion for everyone to employ by way of having the same Area Light End User Experience blog employed by Area Light member Services as an entity. There's plenty to discuss regarding this. For today, I'll just say one idea at play here is I can remark on an encounter without engaging that member directly. If they care to look into my journal, they might be pleased to find themselves appreciated and might find themselves served assurances by this "agent" activity.

How intelligent this network could be if the users were all noting their thoughts and notes without reaching out to eachother each occassion. The natural tendancy is to want to put something out for reciprocation and to reciprocate on every opportunity. However, what we find is a lot of people being overwhelmed by the good networking intentions of others and essentially defeating the purpose. We can do better but I think this is going to imply the development of some skills. Whaqt we can do is create some activities that do in a sense take people through the motions of more intelligent interaction without necessarily covering all the supporting justifications.

Here on this discussion, we can really get into the underlying logic and theories for those who may be interested. Right now I'm going to move over to Holonic Advertising and Marketing discussion because their is a natural progression from this likely professional class action to the organizational level concepts we are developing.

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

I'd like to thank Pierre for reminding me of the concept that Ning itself can be considered one giant social network. I recently set up on another social network and linked in to my site. I felt the cross-interactive holonic nature of the network then. It's something you see people doing all the time. So to suggest that you are networking is really nothing that makes you special! Perhaps the distinction for Area Light is that networking across other social networks is a theme we focus on and hopefully specialize in to do better.

Quick note today about linking. I'm starting to find all kinds of opportunities to link rather than write out content I have already covered. It does raise some issues of complexity but it's just so much more efficient this way. You can link to content within or without a network. Wherever that link goes doesn't really matter. The fact the link is on Area Light, for instance, serves to add the value of whatever is linked as an extended value to any member here. Food for thought...

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

Just wanted to get some quick notes down. I'm doing research and development offsite regarding holonic methodology. I think it's paying off in the development of solutions for my own business ventures. One thing I've picked up on holonic research is how function can be driven by a unit rather than the system. The analogy in manufacturing is some material input is tagged with instructions and therefore is served by processing agents who come into contact. It's really quite interesting intellectually. The basis of this is the same as living systems whether self contained in an organism or in social systems. For example, ants use a system of chemical signature scents. I think they identified 20 scents they can create and respond to. The combinations make up a complex vocabulary of behaviors. Watch ants follow a trail and center on instructions they find. In the organism, enzymes are produced and attached to cells and/ or organs and the system responds to internal needs intelligently.

Anyways, bringing this back to some of the social networking ideas and use of wikis. I realize the one constant of social networking on Ning is the user. As we explore social networks and other things, we want to organize that information in an accessible directory by category, but that is a pretty complex challenge in itself that could essentially be worthless to others. I was reflecting on the fact organizing this information is useful for the research and development of my own business. In my internal systems development, I use a service interface to guide me through- much like Area Light Member Services. So the thought crossed my mind that I could set up sessions for other users to work with member services to find and access information about their interests. It's not the content that matters as much as the end-user experience. The user element represents tags that we should act on. So in developing a system for holonic interaction, we may develop processing capacities based on a vocabulary of user tags- whatever those qeues are that help instruct us on how to serve them to the outcome they need/want.

That's not always going to be a category like "professional". For instance, someone might say they are having a hard time at work. That's a qeue that could take us to a variety of categories from personal, professional, and even organizational. If we are going to serve that user getting them to some information or resource that is helpful, we might have to engage them an work with them to define the need/ want to their specification. The coding is multilayered and therefore combinatory. Food for thought anyway.

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

Here is a review post I just did in my Holonic Manufacturing Systems forum. Thought it appropriate to share here.

Having completed my initial survey of Holonics, I'm now going to begin canvassing previous posts. Here's my answer to the creator's original post. I think I've reached a comfortable starting point to begin an immersion into holonics, the more advanced details/ research, and perhaps some excercises. The first question was the best...from the starting point, then what do we have here, what can we use, and essentially what is next?

Holonics would be relevant to manufacturing wastes associated with information and material processing. I don't think it's understated in the definition. However, I also don't think the very simple definition supported by complex and disconnected research is very useful for answering your practical questions. I've been reviewing, contemplating, experimenting, and sleeping on holonics for a couple months. Here's what I've come up with so far to help answer those questions.

A material or information item is not adding value when the next step in production depends on its transformation and this process is not occuring. What is this material for, where are the instructions for how to change it, why is this machine not in use? Holonics would suggest the information should be with the material and the process responsible for transformation should respond accordingly upon contact.

If you've only got one machine that performs a kind of process, then it is likely pretty obvious where and when to deliver materials. However, some attention may be put into the timing of materials through a production system where you have a low volume/ high mix or you are looking to leverage your production environment with cross functional equipment. In those cases, what goes where and when can be conditional both on the pull of equipment, customer demand, and the status of materials themselves.

The more complexity and variables you add into a system, the more important it can be to distribute intelligence and capacity allowing for the advantages of self-organization. Holonics seems to study how some natural systems exhibit this behavior while maintaining a balance with the whole. There is actually a systematic logic to it, albeit it a little more complex and mathematical than we may be used to. I believe this is why more attention is being put into intelligent distributed control systems than the methodologies applicable to human organization. Be advised the social systems are harder to manage!

In my research thus far, one of the best examples I learned of was a water distribution system. At key points in the system, controls were programmed to act on local water states occuring near them i.e. open/ close valves or redirect flow. To view the system as a whole, it would seem it was being managed by an oversight system. However, the fact was this orchestration was a consequence of autonemous processes following proximal logic. A central management system could be less agile, and perhaps more importantly- more expensive. Think intelligent feul, electricity, and traffic systems. There's a market for that coming into play I would think.

Other applications I am finding holonics applicable to include cooperative knowledge-base building via wiki's. I think this is particularly relevant to organizations that repeat patterns because information is not constructively organized by the employees. We have brief moments of time to put in information and the availability of the wiki platform to do this together. What we lack is the logic of how to use this time and technology easily. However, applying holonics you might evaluate the structure of information around users, processes, and events rather than try to get it to fit into conventional organizational or production models. In fact, the way wiki works with parent linking etc, is terrifically supported by holonics. Think intelligent manufacturing, learning organizations, certifiable improvement, global cooperation real-time, over time, outsourced time, and the controllable acquirement of knowledge/ skill capacities. This is the next level in agile competition.

Also, social networking applications where businesses and their markets are interfacing on a shared playing field. The conventional paradigms of sell/ buy, you are there and we are here- might quickly become obsolete. Instead, through the paradigm of holonics, we might look at how complex systems self-organize, serve eachother where opportunities manifest, intentionally influence supply and demand, and even switch/ split traditionally distinct and dedicated roles i.e. the business can be the customer, the employee is a business, the market organizes around what it wants and lets suppliers bid for pieces, and the customer is directly involved with the development/ production from before design to after as if they were running the company!

If your organization wants to outclass competition in an emergent environment of ever increasing rates, variable proportions, and complexities…then I would think the potential ramifications of holonics to be worth exploring in greater detail.

Comments and participation more than welcome!

Best,

Anthony

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

Today I got pretty involved in my study of Holonics and was thinking about Holonic Social Networking as a pretty useful system or methodology to apply.

So far, most of my networking online has been in business communities. One of the basic conclusions people are coming to is that there is way too much draw for people's attention, traffic, and buy-in to whatever is being sold. The common sense solution to that is that you should approach social networking just like you would any traditional networking opportunity- get to know people, give them some kind of value, and offer them some attention to what they are into. And it is true that is useful for building relationships and perhaps leading in to business. There are other ranges I'm interested in out there. I've joined and explored some personal interest sites. Others are making attempts to organize people and influence their behaviors into some kinds of activities. In Area Light, my intention is to facilitate an environment where we can do all three seamlesly- from personal, professional, to organizational. For that reason, a closer study of the interaction phenomena, design intentions, and corresponding behavior results should be useful. Let's specialize in it..holonic interaction.

I think what I might do to organize the project/ discussion is look at relationship models from various end-user perspectives. So perhaps scrutinizing the definitions of personal, professional, or organizational in terms of intentions, objectives, and maybe satisfaction. Then, mapping out models such as:

Personal to Professional
Professional to Organizational
Organizational to Personal etc, etc.

Today, I was breaking down the relationship between producer and consumer as a model of holons- A to B respectively. I think the traditional model of business has been more autonomous in nature. There is an implied cooperation where the producer anticipates demand and tries to bring a product to market. The consumers know they can go to the market to find something to buy. However, they don't have to. They can shop around or decline altogether. In the U.S. at least, I notice there is not a lot of negotiation on price. The producer sets a price and you either take it or leave it.

Now what I think should be, needs to be, and is likely to be the case- is more of an AB type of relationship where there is more of an emphasis on cooperation. Businesses certainly want and need closer personal relationships with their markets. So I think you'll see a lot more utilization of social networking platforms for that. I was out exploring and caught a complaint mentioned about businesses who were essentially condescending to their markets online. It's a simple problem of approaching people from the traditional buy/ sell perspective when you are really both on a level playing field. So certainly how a business interacts with people is worth refiguring with the emerging phenomena of social networking. With closer relationships to consumers, businesses can increase margins and consumers can get products cheaper and with better service. I worked as a manager where we spent lots of money simply communicating and trying to influence customer behavior when that money could have been saved both if we had simply all been on the same social network- maybe one for our business.

Sure you can improve business against the traditional mediums of interaction, but the real intriguing aspect of this is just how much you can improve business if you can get people to cooperate more intelligently. For instance, we have this social network platform and a bunch of activities for people to enjoy. However, that doesn't immediately translate to people actually using the tools, participating, operating under some agreed rules of engament, and so on.

So more food for thought. More to follow. Comments welcomed!

Best,

Anthony

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

A quick update on some of the research I'm doing into this area. I've been really focusing in on a concept called Multi-Agent Systems, and this has to do with understanding and sometimes even designing the structure of organizations based on autonomous agents cooperating in systems- much like social networks and their members. One thing that stood out to me recently was the fact organizational structures, methodologies, and to an extent even psychologies of network creators are sometime too top-down hierarchially ordered. It's that old issue of control. This network for me is one where I am very open to allowing the community to self-organize in a lot of ways. That's essentially a prerequisite to getting people in to do their thing while choosing to do it here- thus supporting the Area Light inititiaves and me indirectly or directly as applicable.

What the research is showing me is that simply reflecting on that vary nature and essence of the social system imples working in control at the user levels as well as improving the processes of communication, information, and direction from the rest of the organization in parts and as a whole. Should make for some stimulating content for those interested in the science of what we are doing. Consequently, I've made some recent strides in developing the Area Light Collective. In that is a service and platform of organization that will support Area Light and it's end-users. For me, I like looking at the utility of what I find in terms of the benefits it serves to me along my personal, professional. organizational, and even geographical interests. It's a pleasure to make some progress in that direction and I suppose somewhere here I should start elaborating on what I'm doing and the intended benefit I'm extending to our virtual end-users. Additionally, I might define more clearly a target market of like minded end-users who would appreciate tha values we're working on developing.

best,

Anthony