Bioteams and natures social networks: NLAB Conference
Stumble It!Ken Thompson presented on the topic: "Bioteams: what can we learn from natures social networks" at the NLab Social Networks Conference (19th June 2008) at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Picture: The amazing symbiosis of the Crocodile and Crocodile bird
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.
Download the full presentation (PDF):
Bioteams: what can we learn from natures social networks
To stream the presentation with narration (10MB)
The presentation lasts about 25 minutes and may take a minute to stream. I recorded it in one take after the NLAB conference (rather than slide by slide) so look out for my mobile phone ringing in the background and me having horrendous difficulty correctly saying the word ORGANISM.
Tags: bioteams, mobile phones, nlabnetworks, social networks, swarm
Digg | 
del.icio.us | 
Reddit | 
Yahoo! | 
Add to my favourites
Bioteams Books Reviews
When not to collaborate
A team of one is sometimes best. It might sound like heresy but sometimes the most effective way to produce something is not through collaboration. Collaboration is best for tasks which cannot be fully achieved by a single person – if a job can be completed best by one person then to collaborate to do it will only make it worse.
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
Related Bioteams Features Articles
Which teams need bioteams: free bioscore calculator
I explained previously how to spot if a team or community or network was a bioteam - a team with a life of its own, where well-established models of team simply do not work. Here is a simple 10 question Group Bioscore Calculator - the higher the "bioscore" the more the group need bioteams!
Recovering team and group Messaging Instincts
My research into biological teams has revealed that they make extensive use of short messages as their primary means of communications. For example, Ants use chemical messages, Bees use visual messages conveyed through dance and Dolphins use sonar: unlike human teams they all exhibit strong Messaging Instincts.
Virtual team connectivity - three action rules from nature
Bioteams are highly connected virtual networks
In this article I will introduce the second overarching principle of Bioteams, “Bioteams are highly connected virtual networks”, and describe the second triad of supporting action rules (rules 4, 5 and 6).
Leave a comment