Clive Thompson writes in this month's Wired Magazine about researchers at MIT's Media Lab who are studying the differences in how people connect and organize in the real world and in online worlds. What they have found is that the two are completely different, and the people who play vital roles in making things happen in each are also completely different:

On the Web, the best way to solve a problem is to engage an extensive network; the person who provides information, advice, or answers is often someone you know only vaguely — a weak link.

In the face-to-face world, though..., groups are more productive when the team members know each other well, sharing extremely strong links. That's because face-to-face teamwork requires intimacy, he says, and "when you're among friends you can really capitalize on preexisting protocols" — nods, grunts, in-jokes — for talking and listening.

Using a method for tracking interactions within a group (based on with whom and when individuals have conversations), these researchers can do incredibly useful things like: predict with incredible accuracy when conversations will take place (very useful in cause-related word of mouth campaigns), locate and resolve inefficiencies in a working environment (usually by introducing people that don't know each other or resolving personal conflicts between key connectors), or model how to create or manage groups to maximize their productivity (creative groups apparently work best when allowed to "fan out to gather information, then regroup").

The research shows us that we cannot create online and real-world networks in the same ways, nor tap the same types of leaders. If we want healthy online AND offline networks and groups that are ready to solve problems, we need to think differently about how we organize them, and specifically who we should invest special support in in their role as "super-connectors" within the group.

Rolling Stone Magazine interviewed Barak Obama and asked a number of interesting questions related to music + culture.

You've gotten enormous support from the music community. Why do you think they've responsed so strongly to your campaign?

Musicians and creative folks, generally, may be inclined toward the idea of change, or at least open to it--to not just settle for what is, but what might be...


Overall, what do you think of pop culture today? It is harmful or a healthy influence?

I'm not somebody who thinks that popular culture should carry the whole freight; it both shapes and reflects what's happening in the country as a whole. What I have seen is a shift in attitutdes of young people wanting to be more engaged and more involved, and you're going to start seeing that increasingly reflected in music as well...