Tutor/Mentor Connection

Connect knowledge, volunteers, youth and make a difference.

Understanding networks can help "cultivate a collective empathy" and can be a way to rethink citizenship and help develop a feeling of responsibility in individuals and groups that these people are part of."  Read this paper and find many ideas that support the the type of network building and information mapping that the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC seeks to be part of.

(Note: in the comments below I've added additional links to SNA articles and software. The most current message is last on the list below.)

In this section of the Tutor/Mentor Connection library I have many links to web sites that talk about concept mapping, network mapping and similar ideas. In this section of the Ning site I encourage people to post articles they find so we can all learn more about this concept and ways to use it for our benefit.


In this section are links to articles about social capital. If we can map the expansion of personal and organizational networks we can demonstrate the growth of thick and bonding social capital.

 

in 2009 we received donated software from Valdis Krebs and orgnet.com We  have attempted to use that and other types of free software to map the networks Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building since before 1993. We have not had consistent manpower to do this work.

In the discussion forums I've added links to additional articles and new software. Please add your own links and offer comments on how you feel this can be use to build networks of people and resources that support the work each of us does to help kids in poverty.

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Here's another link, to an article titled "Managing the 21st Century Organization", by Valdis Krebs

Follow Valdis' ideas in this blog.

Here's a 2010 interview with Valdis Krebs.


Here's another article written by Valdis Krebs, titled Social Capital: Key to Success of 21st Century Organization

This blog article shows some interesting applications of data visualization.

Here's an article titled Social Network Analysis Can Help Enterprises Achieve a Pattern–Base...

Here's an article posted by Valdis on his twitter account, that shows the value of "bridging individuals" in a network. If our work in mapping the connections created by the Tutor/Mentor Connection through the conferences, and other work we do, demonstrates this value, we hope it leads to investors providing money to accelerate the pace of what we do, and to support others who might duplicate this in other cities, building even more connections between the T/MC and others.
Here's another article worth reading, posted by Valdis Krebs on Twitter. The article shows that people with wider networks are likely to be more prosperous.

Studies like this seem to support our efforts to expand the networks of inner city kids by connecting them to volunteers and experiences from beyond the poverty areas where they live.
Here's another article by Valdis Krebs that he is circulating on Twitter today. It's title is Power in Networks.

If you're trying to understand our goals with this group, and social network analysis, I urge you to read the articles I've been pointing to in this discussion thread. You can learn about it along with me.
This Virtual Community/Social Media Stanford 2010 Course Wiki demonstrates creative uses of concept maps and mind maps. It's taught by Howard Rheingold. We can learn much about how we share our own ideas by learning from how others do this.
This article shows how an app was created to mine the email addresses in a file and create a network map. I'd like to figure how to adopt this to our work.
This web site is titled "Learning for Sustainability" and offers a library of articles and information about "Building networks for learning" and helping people collaborate and innovate.
I encourage you to read this PDF titled "Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale" written by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze of The Berkana Institute.  While I use different terms than "Name, Conect, Nourish and Illuminate" in the 4-part strategy of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, I think we aim for the same goals.

this presentation shows value of networks and demonstrates uses of network analysis.

 

Measuring the Return on Investment of Relationships is the topic of this blog article written by Claire Diaz Ortiz (nee Williams) who leads social innovation at Twitter and wrote Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time (http://ht.ly/4RirJ)

 

This is exactly what we're trying to do in the Tutor/Mentor Institute's Social Network Analysis project. We want to a) map relationships that have been built over 20 years; b) show the connections that result; c) show our influences; and most of all demonstrate value so investors will support the work of intermediary groups  like Tutor/Mentor Connection.

I've been in correspondence with Clement Levallois, who uses Gephi, an open-source software to do SNA work. 

I asked him "If you can share information about the open source SNA tool you're using perhaps I can find others to help map the infrastructure.  If it's easy enough to learn I might do some simple mapping myself just to demonstrate the value.  Just point me to web sites and/or blogs with "how to" info and that will be a help. "


Clement Levallois: The best I can point to is: http://gephi.org/users/
Clement Levallois: Then there is the forum (http://forum.gephi.org) where I am an active user - questions are usually answered very quickly.
Clement Levallois: Gephi is a software which requires no programming skills so with these tutorials you should be able to make good progresses rapidly. Good luck and have a good day!

 

Thank you Clement. If there are volunteers and/or interns who might want to work on this project using the Gephi software please step foward.

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