Networks and networking

A recent run-in of an auto passenger with some riders in the bicycle swarm, Critical Mass, in San Francisco led the city fathers to beg Critical Mass to police their members.  Which they did in the next monthly swarm.

Several friends raised the question of how an organization such as Critical Mass operates.  I know because I started and ran a group that had a peak active membership at one time of 600 businesses called the Briarpatch Network.

The chart on the right comes from my 1987 book Mental Snacks which has a chapter on networks.

All human interaction creates a network.  The nature and terminology that is applied to a network depends on its cohesion and complexity. See chart on the right for examples.

There is much that can be said about a network of the form taken by Critical Mass in San Francisco.  The most important is that such a low cohesion (meeting each other once a month and being open to nearly anyone) and low complexity association has a rudimentary structure.  This structure has the core kernal around the founder and founders whether or not the actual original founders (Chris Carlssen) still exist. Around the core are the elders, a secondary core, who know the history of the network and are likely to include a few people who feel a personal responsibility for the continuance of the network.  The members of the secondary core who take responsiblity and are viewed by their peers as competent are the prime movers when decisions need to be made.  It is the circle of friends and associates around this secondary core who convey to all the rest of the members the ideas, values and decisions that operate the network.

Some of you may notice that this structure is visible, but not formal, in most human associations. Right.