[nlab social networks conference - ken thompson]

Bioteams: what can we learn from nature's social networks?

Ken's current job grew out of his investigation of "nature's best teams." Have a look at www.bioteams.com.

Nature’s teams, such as bees, geese, ants and dolphins, are based on a small number of fundamentally different principles than human teams. Interestingly these “bioteams” seem to bear a much closer resemblance to today’s virtual/ mobile social networks than the traditional organisation teams we all know and love. Ken will explore whether an awareness of these principles can help us get much more value out of both social software and social networks.

Ken Thompson: "Bioteams - What Can We Learn from Nature's Social Networks"

Prizes?! Ken says we're going to be interacting and we get prizes!

Most networks are networks of convenience.

Check out Ken's most recent book The Networked Enterprise.

Three principles of swarms: ask the network, all nodes, network invention

www.swarm-pro.com/private/messageboard.aspx - the name of the swarm is NL owned by ken.thompson. to join, text "JOIN NL username to 07786203958

After we've registered Ken asks us a variety of questions to which we respond via sms to this swarm team. We can all see the (often quite funny!) responses to the questions by browsing to the url. Ken is going to add this to his site later.

Apparently we're a collective brain. If there was one question we wanted to ask the room, what would it be?

How any of those constantly twittering get any work done? Ken rephrases: "Does Twitter distract from work?"

Are current group structures natural?
Bioteams share 4 common behaviours:
any group leader can take the lead - nature's groups are never led exclusively by one member. Collective leadership is...the right leader for the right task at the right time. Single leader teams are no longer appropriate.

Pheromone-style Short messaging. Nature's groups use short instant message. Instantly broadcast and received in situ. Short and simple...all species have a message instinct.

Small is Beautiful and Big is powerful

Crowds - everyone does the same thing at the same time...Scale or the Wisdom of Crowds.
Sall groups...everyone can do different things at different times

Read the many through the few. Nature's networks are clustered. Some group members have many more connections than the average. These members have extreme connectivity.

Humberto Maturana on Autopoieses: "a living system is one whose only products are itself." (more on Maturana here: http://www.oikos.org/maten.htm)

Boundary, processes, nervous system, external communications = living network

Check out swarm tribes: http://www.swarmtribes.com/Public/getswarming.aspx?sname=jd4

*The most successful teams on the planet are not human teams.*

[kate pullinger: digital writers resist!]

In her article in today's Guardian, Kate Pullinger shares her ideas on the move from publishing print to publishing digitally. She raises some interesting points including how it is actually much cheaper to publish digitally (especially after fees have already been worked into a paper copy which is being converted into a digital edition) but authors are still expected to accept their *usual* 10-20% cut. Hrm...doesn't seem quite right.

"At the end of the day, the writer herself is a more valuable brand than the publishing house and it's time for writers to wake up to this fact: why should we sign contracts giving us a paltry 15% royalty in an industry where actual costs are being massively reduced overnight? Why aren't writers jumping up and down over this?"

Check out the whole article here.

[blog-vertising]

Simpleology has this deal: blog about their multi-media course on blogging and in exchange bloggers get the course for free....it's about:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

You can grab yours while it's free.

hrm...

[putting the "I" in business models]

AmieStreet.com Announces Series A Financing Led By Amazon.com

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AmieStreet.com, a fast-growing digital music store with a unique demand-based pricing system, announced today the completion of its Series A financing led by Amazon.com, Inc. . The amount of Amazon's investment and the terms are not disclosed.

"Amie Street has a very smart and innovative team," said Jeff Blackburn, Senior Vice President for Business Development, Amazon.com. "The idea of having customers directly influence the price of songs is an interesting and novel approach to selling digital music."

AmieStreet.com is the first digital music store propelled by social networking, where members of the community drive the discovery, promotion and pricing of music. All songs on AmieStreet.com start at a price of zero cents. As more people download a song the price rises, capping at $0.98.

For recommending their favorite songs to their friends, members are rewarded by receiving credit for the purchase of additional music on AmieStreet.com. The more popular a song becomes after a member has recommended it, the more credit he or she receives to spend on music.

The recommendation system brings the music discovery process and the dynamic of social networking full circle, giving members the incentive and the means to continually discover and share new music. AmieStreet.com is a music network where people's passion for music, and their desire to share it with one another, generates commerce that benefits the entire community.

"AmieStreet.com grew from the idea that we needed to make buying music social and fun," said AmieStreet.com's co-founder and CEO Elliott Breece. "The Amie Street community took over from there, driving a shift toward a music marketplace where consumers decide what is popular and what music is worth. We're thrilled to have Amazon.com's support in empowering music consumers."

Anyone can upload their music to AmieStreet.com, and all songs are downloadable in DRM-free mp3 format.

In conjunction with the announcement of its Series A, AmieStreet.com is debuting releases from Audio Bee, Daptone Records, Nettwerk Music Group, United For Opportunity (UFO), Dualtone Music Group, RoyaltyShare and INgrooves. As always, all songs start free!

About AmieStreet.com

AmieStreet.com is an online music destination that is changing the way people discover and buy music. Founded in the Spring of 2006 by then Brown University seniors -- Josh Boltuch, Elliott Breece and Elias Roman -- AmieStreet.com is a site where the members of the community determine the price of songs, which start out free and rise in price the more they are purchased. The site also rewards its members with downloads when they recognize and recommend tracks that rise in price, giving users an incentive to find and recommend good music first, while giving artists the platform to promote and sell their music.

Amazon.com Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and all subsequent filings.


Contact:
press@amiestreet.com

http://amiestreet.com/page/for-press

[women, business & blogging conference]

I can't believe it's over...already! Yesterday was an amazing day and we were very lucky to have stimulating speakers: Meg Pickard (I am so copying her ppt style!), Eileen Brown (good use of cartoons! and she's already blogged about it), and Jory des Jardins (lots of hints and tips and helped a few of us win that buzzword bingo!) - they were all excellent!

I have loads to say (I'm sure conference delegates do too!) but I'm off to catch a flight now. I'll upload some photos to flickr of course and I hope all the delegates, (yes you! I know you're reading!) and anyone else interested, join our google group called "nlabwomen." MEN can join too!!

[the business of new media]

With less than two weeks to go until the Women, Business & Blogging conference I found this article timely:From Postcards, to Podcasts.

"According to the American Advertising Federation's Media Investment Survey 2007, 73% of nearly 1,000 organizations polled said they are allotting up to 20% of their budgets for 'experimentation and new media options.' Further, 78% of respondents said they are 'always open to new ways of using traditional media.'"

Blogging is important for business:

Have a look at what Lori Reed, Director of Marketing at InsureMe.com has to say about search engine optimization:

Some key points from the article, well worth bearing in mind:

[google says "no" to essay mills]

Google Bans Essay Writing Adverts
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter



Google is to ban adverts for essay writing services - following claims that plagiarism is threatening the integrity of university degrees.
There have been complaints from universities about students being sold customised essays on the internet.

The advert ban from the Google search engine has been "warmly welcomed" by university authorities.



But it has angered essay writing firms which say this will unfairly punish legitimate businesses.

From next month, Google will no longer take adverts from companies which sell essays and dissertations - and the internet company has written to advertisers to tell them about the policy.

Plagiarism software

Google's forthcoming ban on adverts for "academic paper-writing services and the sale of pre-written essays, theses, and dissertations" means that essay websites join a blacklist of "unacceptable content" including adverts for weapons, prostitution, drugs, tobacco, fake documents and "miracle cures".

The move has been applauded by universities which have struggled with the problem of students dishonestly submitting material copied from the internet.


"Making life harder for these cynical web 'essay mills' is a step in the right direction," says Professor Drummond Bone, president of Universities UK.

"We welcome this move. Essay writing sites claim that students pay hundreds of pounds for model answers - but do not then submit these as their own work. We all know this claim is absurd."

The universities organisation says that in particular there have been difficulties with essays bought by students from companies which sell tailor-made answers, where fees can be up to £5,000 for a single piece of extended work.

There have been reports of up to 12,000 essays being sold to students in a year, says Universities UK.

These essays and assignments can be written by freelance academics or other students - and it is less easy for plagiarism software used by universities to detect such work.

Google, commenting on the change, says its advertising policies are "developed and evaluated based on multiple factors, including legal and cultural considerations plus user and customer experience".

And a spokesperson said that the advert ban was expected to be applied across Google's global network.

Unfair ban?

But one of the UK companies fearing that it will be prevented from advertising, Essaywriter.co.uk, is angry at the threat to its business - with 80% of its customers coming through Google.

Managing director Matthew Wilson says this will punish the legitimate, transparent companies, which sell essays, but which warn students that they must not be used dishonestly.

Mr Wilson says that such a bespoke service, selling tailor-made essays at short notice, with prices around £70 and upwards, can be used as a guide for students wanting extra assistance.

Overseas students are frequently customers, he says - but the firm makes clear that essays should not be passed off as being written by the student.

And he says that such a blanket ban will not stop the search engine from generating links to rogue essay selling companies, which have been accused of scamming customers by providing poor quality material.

From BBC News

[women, business & blogging conference OH MY!]

Come to the Women, Business and Blogging Conference on Friday 8 June 2007 at De Montfort University to find out how blogging by women and for women builds networks, improves customer reach, monetizes creativity and infuses your business with Web 2.0 goodness!

Business is becoming increasingly interested in social media and especially in blogs. In Europe over the last year several conferences have explored the
potential of Web 2.0 networks to increase business opportunities - see LIFT07 (Geneva) and Le Web (Paris) for just two examples. But there have been no European events focusing specifically on women and social media - until now.

Women, Business and Blogging is organised by NLab at De Montfort University, Leicester. NLab was developed in the Faculty of Humanities by Professor Sue Thomas to connect creative businesses with writers and generate pioneering partnerships. In 2006 NLab ran a series of professional workshops and seminars on blogs, wikis, games and new media writing. In 2007 NLab is proud to present this first-ever European conference for and about women who read and write blogs.

Who should come?
This event is for small businesses, individuals, researchers, nonprofits, artistic and educational organisations interested in:
- women bloggers
- women in business
- women customers
- social media and networking
- creative communications
- innovation and cooperation
- customer relationships
- opportunities of Web 2.0 and the Long Tail
- usability
- you!!!

And, just to be clear, men are definitely invited. All the speakers are women, and we'll be talking about women users, readers and bloggers. But everyone is welcome to attend the conference and participate in the sessions.

Join the conversation
We'll be blogging right up to the day and beyond it too. Join the conversation at Tracy Harwood's Biz Benefits and Jess Laccetti's Blog This

How much does it cost?
The conference fee includes refreshments, lunch and a delegate pack
Full Rate: £60 GBP including VAT
Concessionary Rate: £40 GBP including VAT
Bursaries: A limited number of Full Rate bursaries are available for delegates living in the UK East Midlands.

Where is it?
Bede Graduate School, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. A 5-minute cab ride from Leicester Train Station.
Leicester is in the heart of the UK, less than 90 mins from London by train and 30 mins from East Midlands Airport.

We hope to see you there!

See the website for more information and how to register http://www.nlabwomen.com

For all enquiries, including press and sponsorship, please contact:

Margaret Barton
Short Course and Conference Co-ordinator
De Montfort Expertise Ltd
De Montfort University
Innovation Centre
49 Oxford Street
Leicester
LE1 5XY
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 116 250 6213
Fax: +44 (0) 116 257 7982
mbarton@dmu.ac.uk

add this button to your site!

[she blogs ergo book deal cometh...]

IT’S the blog that captures the mood of the
moment for thousands of middle-class families — and could make its author’s fortune. Less than six weeks after starting to write about downshifting from London to rural Northumberland, a mother of three young children has landed a £70,000 publishing deal.
Early last month Judith O’Reilly launched Wife in the North, an online chronicle of her battles with three children, two elderly parents and an absentee husband while living in a northern hamlet, with the nearest town half an hour’s drive away.
Last week, after whirlwind approaches from an agent and a publisher, she signed a deal to turn the blog, which has become a surprise hit in Britain and America, into a book to be published by Viking Penguin.

Read the rest of The Times article here and see the Wife in the North in action here.