Weblog Collaboration Blog

There's a nice article in the January 10 edition of Computerworld about the work of Bernardo Huberman at Hewlett-Packard. He has developed software algorithms to analyze e-mail flows through an organization in terms of a concept called "business centrality," which measures the visibility of individuals within the organization. Through this analysis, Huberman identified communications patterns that he interpreted as belonging to communities of experts (either de facto or otherwise).

Huberman has also developed software that creates profiles of users based upon their access of documents and Web pages through the computer network. These profiles can then be used to help other users identify experts.

All of this activity is in the patent process, but it is interesting to think about the possibilities. This type of information could help an organization formalize some of its communities of practice and improve communication between the expert community and the larger organization.