Concept Maps and Learning:

The net has given us the ability to extract the data and examine the way we connect with each other in a host of ways which were less visible in the past. We're still learning what these maps mean but I am always struck by their similarity to the concept maps/mind maps of experts in their fields. In spite of the fact that we build our direct social networks in a somewhat linear fashion through time the way in which we active and use those connections is heavily weighted towards some nodes and less so to others. As we seek to build our physics knowledge we encounter new ideas and strategies sequentially but in the end we must link all those ideas together and identify the most important, or strongly connected, nodes in the knowledge mesh.

Just as an example here is an article that uses social network theory to try to understand the connections among a large group of professionals working on issues of climate impacts in the Pacific Basin. I certainly don't understand what it means but it's very cool and I have no doubt there is interesting and useful information that will be mined out of it. It is my hope that the concept maps that I create for you will have a similar potential for insight though my maps are not nearly so pretty:)