Tom Peters (week 7's reading response)
From Collectivate Course Wikis
- This page is for week 7's reading response to Tom Peters' research. For his main page, see Tom Peters. For his research page, see Tom Peters (research page).
The quote:
This all leads me to hypothesize that the optimal size for active group members for creative and technical groups -- as opposed to exclusively survival-oriented groups, such as villages -- hovers somewhere between 25-80, but is best around 45-50. Anything more than this and the group has to spend too much time "grooming" to keep group cohesion, rather then focusing on why the people want to spend the effort on that group in the first place -- say to deliver a software product, learn a technology, promote a meme, or have fun playing a game.
My response:
As a real quick background, Allen has been arguing how the Dunbar number should truely be defined. The Dunbar Number of 150 is the cognitive limit to how many people humans can maintain stable relationships with. Allen argues however, that this number applies only to survival type networks. In non-survival oriented groups, Allen suggests this number hovers around 80. After this number there is too much work involved to create group cohesion.
I've become real interested in the various aspects of Allen's take on the Dunbar Number and how we can implement this into Socially Networked Video. In my last reading response, I was discussing how we can expand our social networks to sizes that online sites such as MySpace (which people have friend totals in the thousands). However, after further thinking about it, I wonder if we should place some kind of social constraint. Or maybe perhaps, allow up to around 50 friends, and then have an unlimited amount of acquaintances. I'd have to further look into the benefits of having someone as a friend and only as an acquiantance but I think it's a possible we should look into.
Allen also talks about the social networks of various online multiplayer games such as Ultima Online. He argues that typically these factions or guilds are best run at active members hovering around 40 people. Some guilds have peaked over 1000 members, but most of them are inactive. When tallying only active members, they typically were 150 or less. I think this is also another concept we should try and include, the difference between active and inactive members. Afterall, if you think of real life connections, it's a lot easier to get a favor from a close friend you've had a long lasting relationship with than someone whom you haven't spoken to in four years.
Works Cited
Allen, Christopher. "The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes." Life With Alacrity. 10 Mar. 2004. 3 Mar. 2006 <http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/03/the_dunbar_numb.html>.