Connectivity refers to the structure and strength with which resources, species or actors disperse, migrate or interact across patches, habitats or social domains in a social-ecological system. This principle applies to life-sciences but even more so to the digital habitat.
Usually, clusters form around common purposes, you have the science community, and within this community there are different fields of research, institutes, groups that are more determined by demographics, etc. How well different circles are linked together determines how easy it is for an organism (let's say, an individual scientist) to move from one circle or patch to another. In every system, connectivity refers to the nature and strength of the interactions between the various components. From a social network perspective, people are individual actors within a system embedded in a web of connections. Connectivity can positively influence the resilience of an organism or a circle within the system but it can also accelerate the spreading of a disturbance or a disease, in the same way a wildfire spreads if there are no strategic corridors that keep the fires small and controllable. (Think cyberbullying or fake emergencies) In our physical habitat, we usually focus on the quality of our connectivity to get somewhere, and we connect „forward“ quite instinctively, which means, we are active in catching the next train or to drink a glass of water when we are thirsty, etc, which means, we make ourselves center in a web that we construct on the go . When we look at digital networks like a navigator (there once was a web-browser of that name, the most compelling one to this date, and considered one of the best technological products of all times) in the 15th century looks at the ocean, exploring currents, winds and anticipating the rockier shores, then it becomes clear that the ocean is the sailors’ „network“, he is connected to that network just as we all are connected to our habitat, and that network supports him and „collaborates“ with him to carry him to his destination.
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AuthorThomas Behrens Visual Communication is not only taking part in the digital transformation - actively and passively - he will also reflect on it. Hence the blog. Archives
January 2021
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