{"id":8380,"date":"2012-10-08T05:57:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T12:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/?page_id=8380"},"modified":"2014-08-25T15:18:41","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T22:18:41","slug":"network-discovery-health-care-exploring-meanings-term","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/interscan-in-the-news\/magazine-articles\/network-discovery-health-care-exploring-meanings-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Network Discovery In Health Care: Exploring Both Meanings Of This Term"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Health<\/a><\/p>\n

October 8, 2012<\/p>\n

Network Discovery In Health Care: Exploring Both Meanings Of This Term<\/p>\n\"Network\n

By\u00a0 Michael D. Shaw<\/p>\n

The notions of network discovery and network mapping apply to the field of health care in two ways, and depending on your personal perspective, one of them will probably seem more obvious than the other. The networks described can either refer to how humans interact, or how computers are connected. Clearly, there is overlap here.<\/p>\n

Visionary Valdis Krebs speaks of\u2014and provides software for\u2014social network analysis. For the purposes of this article, “social network” refers to the actual connections of people, and not the websites that might facilitate this. In a widely-cited paper entitled “Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving,” Krebs and June Holley, founder of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, begin with this challenge:<\/p>\n

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Communities are built on connections. Better connections usually provide better opportunities. But, what are better connections, and how do they lead to more effective and productive communities? How do we build connected communities that create, and take advantage of, opportunities in their region or marketplace? How does success emerge from the complex interactions within communities?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The answer, they say, lies in improved connectivity, and this is created “through an iterative process of knowing the network and knitting the network.” A first step here is network mapping\/network discovery.<\/p>\n

For a bit more insight, I looked at a paper entitled “NET GAINS: A Handbook for Network Builders Seeking Social Change,” written by Peter Plastrik and Madeleine Taylor. The authors define a network as “[A] set of nodes and links, of things that are connected to each other. Picture, for instance, networks of roads between cities, or computers emailing to each other, or living cells joined as tissue in the body.”<\/p>\n

They identify and discuss five Network Effects:<\/p>\n