Blog Assignment 2 - Networks

Blog Assignment 2

Aaron Conner

October 1st, 2015

1. I agree with multiple network laws. One of which is Reed's Law, which describes the value of a network as (2^N - N - 1). This formula is used to describe the ways that the users in a network can grow, connect and multiply by connecting one another. The amount of users in a network have the possibility to make connections with each and every member of the network. Group membership and group interactions have the ability to expand very quickly given the structure of the network. I also agree with David Sarnoff's law that describes the way network's value is directly related to the amount of viewers that are engaging with content. This law seems relevant today as companies use quantitative statistics to determine the success and ultimately the value of their content. TV shows' success are measured by the amount of people that watch at a given time, and the same process is used with the continuing development of the digital age and content made available to users through the web. Users/viewers are becoming increasingly more important in today's day and age, so Sarnoff's law is relevant in the way it places the key value of a network on the amount of people using it. Criticism of this law could come from the amount of emphasis put on individual numbers, that individual numbers used to generalize on a large scale can be invalid.

2. I believe in 5 people will get their information much like the way we do currently. This involves receiving information from various outlets and mediums, on a wide range of devices. For example, I get my news and information from tuning in to the news on TV, as well as social media platforms I access from my smartphone as well as my computer. I believe the technology trends will stay the same for the most part, although there will likely be improvements made to connectivity and speeds. I also feel there will be new players that try and get into the market of providing users with new platforms and/or devices to use in their daily information intake.