Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The Social-Network Toolkit by Patti Anklam

Cheers to my colleague Patti Anklam, whose book The Social-Network Toolkit was recently published by the Ark Group.
I am a sucker for good graphic design and really like the cover of this book, although I get the impression that no one at Ark Group has ever played the planar graph game. Let this cover stand as another example that network layout is a decidedly subjective exercise in visual storytelling.

Moving beyond the cover, we discover Patti's exceptionally thoughtful perspective on organizational performance, which she views through the combined lenses of social network analysis and knowledge management. Lots of people see business-SNA and KM as related, but few people see them with the refined eye that Patti has. Here is a map from her introduction, outlining relationships of the key concepts to be covered by the rest of the book:
The book includes chapters on "Why networks matter" and "Applying networking practices to knowledge problems in the business." The latter chapter tantalizes the reader with short SNA case studies, which collectively deliver a good overview of the relevance of SNA to business.

You can find out more here.

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