New Network, New Value

Energized buzzword particles are flying ahead of the ripples in Riemann space of Supernova 2007, Wharton's little slice of FooCamp Heaven. Fortunately for those of us whose thinking (deep) doesn't match our pockets (shallow, ah shallow), there's the Supernova Unconference being held concomitantly.

My contribution to the seed ideas for possible sessions is included below. I hope to have an opportunity to elaborate on this prior to the unconference. I'll be teaching my IT problem-solving and project management classes at Usenix Annual Technical right before the event, so I'll be in conference mode anyway. :-)

The New Network, even in its present alpha form, can make certain kinds of valuable connections and transactions at rates almost too cheap to meter. These value marketplaces are the hidden unpriceable glue that ties social networks and e-commerce sites together synergistically, the way mycelium act as a resource transport network in a succession forest.

Most social networking sites succeed based on these hidden networks, in which the ability to import connections serves as the equivalent of beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soil. How can we enable emerging Value Marketplaces purposefully, rather than by accident? Even better, how can we enable value transactions in such a way that everyone wins?

Some starting points are:

• transactions are flexible,
• interfaces are extensible
• serendipitous discovery is facilitated (including cross-correlation of data sets)
• privacy granularity is controlled
• trust/reputation is inherent

Discuss, please!