Critical Reflection on The Networked Professional course reader

Axelrod`s idea has started from simple questions ` when should people cooperate? and when to be selfish, do people cooperate even there are no benefit to them?`
Cooperation;

I actually never really thought of why people cooperate till I started this course.
I always thought that is just a common sense to cooperate to the others and make our life easier.
Then, I thought, why do I cooperate? Do I make an effort to corporate to the others, only because that is what I have been told to do since when I was young? 

R Axelrod`s Prisnor`s Dilemma game proved an interesting result for this question.

TIT FOR TAT was the best strategy to survive the game.

Technically that is just copying opponent`s footsteps. I am not even sure that we can call TIT FOR TAT as a strategy? Any ways, however, TIT FOR TAT produced the best result in the game.
I guess quite often same strategy functions in our network too. If, people wanted to know some informations, one of the most direct and effective ways is to open the informations we have to the others. Like hand shake. I am going to show you what I have in my hand, so can I see your`s?
It is like a business, I give you mine, so would you like to share yours? I guess in human society, our relation ships with the others are like a circle. My father, who is a business man, he always reminds me to share things with people, to be given more. What comse around goes around. Very true!
People are being nice and I also try to be nice to people too, let`s say give a respect to the others to be given. I use to think because that is how decent people behave.
However, TIT FOR TAT proved that people try to be nice to each other, only because most likely we are afraid of being nasty, isolated and being socially executed. Human can not live and function our potential to the maximum if not cooperate to the other human beings. We created packs to survive from the danger or life threatening, with time that became society. So, I agree with what Alexrod says.

However, I think TIT FOR TAT works really well, only if people want to archive the same goal in the network they are in. And, also people can provide incorrect informations sometimes, tensionally or intentionally. In that case, the person who provided the right information does not benefit any thing from the others. So, if we use TIT FOR TAT strategy, we should be aware that that could cause some confusion some times. As long as we are aware of it, TIT FOR TAT sounds like the strategy.


However, when people decided there is no link or bond, also if there are no benefit to us, we easily insist to cooperate. Other wise there can not be any poor people or poor children in this world. However, there are. And there will be always. We all feel a little bad about these people. But, not feeling bad enough to make an action, maybe donate some changes.
There are tragedy every where and in every country, it is very easy to find if we see the news everyday. We all feel sorry about these sad things, but not sad or worry enough to to do something about it.
However, very interestingly, once we find a link to incidence or to people, i,e, tragedy is happening where we use to live or tragedy is happened to our relatives. Then, suddenly we pay so much attention and try to do our best to help the situation.
I realised that, as really bad earth quake stroke Japan a month ago. And, all of my friends called me and sent me messages on Facebook checking that how I am.
It was an example, that if my friends did not have any Japanese friends like me, probably they did not feel as bad or as worried as they did then. Only because about a month before the earth quake stroke Japan, a really bad earth quake hit New Zealand. And, my friends and relatives are very sad about the news, however, it just was not the same how my surroundings and the people who are in the same networks as I am in reacted when things happened to Japan.
Also, I was talking to my mother who live in Japan, she mentioned that people usually do not cooperate these days. However, tragic like that makes people`s bond stronger and make them closer after the incidence. People in Japan started to cooperate more than before. Because that is only way to survive the situations. Ironic.


Affiliation;
 I think affiliation as  big circle or network of human relationships. To help others, to be helped.
Crisp&Turner mentioned “If experienced and influential individuals are likely to be at their preferred level of affiliation, why is it common for them to still assist younger, less experienced individuals?”.

I think there are few answers to explain why experienced people assist and help lees experienced individuals.

One of the reason is because, that is how networks function. Passing on what we have learned from the experiences to next generation. In this case, we are helping others without thinking of why.

i,e, if we see old people struggling to carry stuff, when we see child crying alone, makes us feel like should go up to them and help. These habits are in our body, almost like a reaction or reflections. Because that is what we have been told to do since when people are young.

Another reason I can think of is, some people like to help or teach less experienced people, to make them feel better. Obviously, when people is teaching  to the less experienced individuals, the hierarchy exists while the person is teaching to the less experienced people.

Also teaching something new could influence a lot to less experienced individuals, also easy way to gain some respects and being looked up. Some people use that as an advantage to secure their networks. Often, that makes stronger bonds to each others, or possibly introduce to the wider networks. Also, experienced people can manipulate less experienced people in to their network. In that case, experience people help less experienced individuals to create better, secure, safer network for them.

I personally help less experienced people because people always helped me when I was young and when I needed. So, it is my way of returning back to the society and the network I am in.

Communities of practice;
Communities of practice are groups of people which share the same or similar interests, and work together, share the informations with. The advantage of sharing common interests is to help archive the goal quicker as the organisation`s focus is clear.

However, some times at communities of practice, people become very narrow minded and blinded by the way of thinking. Because end of the day, communities of practice are full of specialists of a genre.

i,e, Often, when people create a new piece at dance companies and when choreographer is creating a piece,often choreographer see things from dancers point of view, as most of the choreographers are ex-dancer. 

Because of that, the piece could become quite self indulgent sometimes.

The best way to avoid the problem is constantly bring people from different genre in to check how things are seen from their eyes.

My job and my profession are very much based on communities of practice.
Dancers life and dance companies are like small communities, but very closed one! Like a local village pub, a signboard says `Visitor welcome!`, but not really. Once you go in to the pub people look at you funny and it just does not feel comfortable being there. Also, dancers use technical terms which only understood between them, so often when outsider join a conversation, they do not understand what dancers are talking about. It is same in different communities of practice. 
Dancers do not intentionally use these terms to isolate them self from the others. It is just people spend so much time with the communities of practice that, they forget majority of people do not get these technical terms. Often, if they spend too much time in a communities of interest more than necessary, they struggle to fit in to normal communities of people.
i.e. English language is the most widely spoken language in the world. So, English spoken people sometimes blindly think that every people speak English in this world. And, when people travel to abroad, they try to communicate with local people only using English language. And, they get confused and sometimes get angry that foreign people do not understand English.
Similar things happen when people from communities of practice go out from the community and try to communicate with others.
I guess it is comfortable to stay in same communities of interest. And, to use technical vocabularies and understand each other is like having a secret language, it makes people feel closer and feel connected. However, I personally think that is just sad. Because people start to stay in their own shell and do not wish to come out again. It makes people very small and insecure in a way. My self, Yes, I do like to spend time with my colleagues who have same interest as me, however, I always try to talk to people out side of work. It feels fresh and nice to know different people`s view.

Social constructionism;
Marleau-ponty and Heidegger stated that the world is always already there, objectively.
However, also it is us create the world by our experience and it is up to us to give a meaning to it. Also, world it self changes with us, as we learn more and experience more in life. The world do exist as many as we exist, So is reality and truth. And, also they all effected by our mood or emotional state we are in.
We have an ability to share our own experience, compare the experience to the others, and re-construct and adjust our internal world to be acceptable by others.

Networks are large social constructions (Network Professional 2010)
It says all. It is our responsibility to keep our network strictly processional. And, the networks do exist because we construct them. Network has created and constructed by us and it is still developing with us.
New, better ideas need to be shared to up date network. It is up to us to take control of networks and keep them fresh and alive.
Connectivism
We learn how to find the right answer and how connect to people through network by connectivism.
Because of the development of technologies, more source of information we have, more chance to access to knowledge we need. It is better to have more than one friend, more brains we have more experience and knowledge we can access and share.
We use all the network tools I have previously blogged, to maintain our knowledge and informations. Especially because of Web 2.0, now we can access to so many informations, also to share the informations to everyone. Web 2.0  really changed the way of learning, as Karen Stephenson mentions on The network course reader 2011, `Experience no longer considered the best teacher of knowledge. since we can not experience everything, other people`s experience, and hence other people, because because surrogate for knowledge through collecting people`