The original testing ground for new possibilities
James Glassman has been in the UK for the last couple of days, and along with marking 9/11 he has been celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Programme at Downing Street, speaking at Chatham House and appearing on the Today Programme. Whilst his view of the rhetoric in the years immediately after 9/11 is … Read More “Glassman in the UK” »
James Glassman’s first speech on his vision for Public Diplomacy, hosted at the Council for Foreign Relations, provides an interesting view of the tensions that arise when the US perspective on Public Diplomacy is articulated. To be fair to Glassman, the tensions he faces are not unique to the US. They are problematic for any … Read More “Is there a glass ceiling in “network engagementâ€?” »
As I’ve starting to pull together the elements for a project on dispersed networks of influence, I thought I’d better start by thinking about the idea of networks in Public Diplomacy and then more specifically dispersed networks. Within the study of public diplomacy there has been various discussions about networks vs. hierarchies. For example RS … Read More “The meaning of networks” »
Due to busy week I’ll just put two great links that demonstrate the importance of creating empowering links between peopel and particularly between different specialisms online. Yochai Benkler: Open-source economics from TED and a site sharing the Many Eyes; A service that combines information visualization with social software, enabling collaborative visualization by groups of users. … Read More “Linking ideas” »
The publication of Mapping Iran’s Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere by John Kelly, and Bruce Etling at Harvard demonstrates the way in which mapping the networks of bloggers can provide and insight into the way they cluster around certain topics. This is the image that study produced; Both image and report … Read More “Looking at the Iranian Blogosphere” »
The rapid development of new technology has enabled the creation of mass instant communication and rapid information dissemination. This technology also allows rapid collection of data and the production of data maps and network diagrams. While I’ll pursue the important variations of network diagrams another day, today I’ll focus on highlighting the potential of these … Read More “of networks and data maps” »
Each community, particularly online, has its own cultural and social expectations. To be able to engage successfully, the international actor has to navigate not just the practical barriers, for example learning how to upload videos, but also these cultural and social barriers. (Options for Influence, p. 43) Recognising the social and cultural expectations online will … Read More “Engaging with the social and cultural expectations online” »
The current vogue in many practitioner organisations is for developing networks as part of their public diplomacy activity. After surveying the technological landscape and their options online, some organisations may seek to continue this network building in virtual worlds and social spaces. This presents a vast array of options – as such it requires an … Read More “Wandren PD; considering online networks” »
Online developments have unleashed the power for the spreading of ideas from peer to peer, at low transactional cost, lowering or levelling barriers to entry. Clearly with the speed of current development some new technological developments will be truly revolutionary, while others will become a technological cul-de-sac adopted by only a few hardy fans. How … Read More “Notes from virtual worlds” »
Success in the virtual community business hinges not on technology-driven differentiation but on strategies designed to accelerate member acquisition and to create deep understanding of the needs of those members. This accurate comment comes from Net gain; expanding markets through virtual communities. Arguments for greater engagement with political groups around the world have appeared in … Read More “Engaging with networks and virtual communities” »