Padrões de links

- Um excelente artigo no Many to Many da Danah. Ela procurou demonstrar a não-neutralidade da tecnologia a partir de uma investigação de padrões de linkagem em blogs e como o gênero influenciaria isso. Além de dar bons insights sobre a questão do poder dos links, o artigo ainda oferece várias sistematizações das observações da autora.

Traditionally, there is power in keeping your black book shut; one?s position in a network can be quite powerful. You get kudos by helping two unconnected people. You can limit information flow and acquire credit when you take something from one group to another. (This is the basis for some interesting work on creativity - creativity is when bridges connect information from disparate worlds.) While some think that transparency is good, some hide their network to maintain power. For example, if as a blogger, you provide ?cool links,? you want others to read you, not the collection of people you read. Of course, a reasonable counter argument is that this person is no longer needed as a bridge, but as a curator. Still, some people hide so that they must be asked for recommendations directly and thus can control who they send people to. (Note: this is a particular kind of power move; transparency can also be a power move by through gifting.)

O artigo me fez ainda pensar que os links, apesar de parecerem iguais, podem ter suporte diferente na interação (essa é a hipótese, na verdade), o que permitiria uma análise mais aprofundada do que representam no blogroll.