***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/ *****

I think the shift from Moose Lodges etc. to other forms of networking has to
do with the rise in technology that makes geographical location less and
less a factor. Now, with the internet, for many occupations it doesn't
matter at all and people network very successfully without ever leaving
their homes.

A related change is the shift of jobs from geographically intensive to
industry intensive. E.g. a miner has to work in a mine (which has a
specific physical location), a farmer has to work on a farm, but a knowledge
worker can work anywhere (within the constraints of the company's policies).
We are now on the path of completely removing geographical constraints for
knowledge workers and it is being manifested in the movement toward
out-sourcing, virtual organizations, and telecommuting.

In my organization, Software Product Marketing eGroup, we believe we are on
the leading edge of creating white collar professional guilds that are
organized first by industry and then by function. This contrasts greatly
not only with Moose Clubs (organized by geography), but also with today's
professional organizations such as the American Marketing Association, which
are organized first by function (marketing), then by geography (e.g. Silicon
Valley). With the power of the internet what makes a lot more sense is to
have professional organization that are structured first by industry (e.g.
software) and then by function (e.g. marketing). Software Marketing
Professionals need to network with each other and other software
professionals (e.g. software engineers) much more than with marketing people
in other industries (e.g. automotive marketing professionals).

We are working on framework and prototype to implement these professional
guilds in a general way and I welcome comments and suggestions. I made a
presentation at the Planet work conference last weekend and will soon post
this presentation on my website (actually Jan Hauser made the presentation
for me as I was out of the country).

Cynthia Typaldos
www.softwareproductmarketing.com
www.typaldos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of G B
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: organized networking events


***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/ *****

Interesting question and although I don't have an answer based upon
research, I do have an answer based upon some observations and hunches that
could help you. Although there seems to have been a decline in popularity
of "traditional" sorts of social/work network/groups -- things like Moose
lodges, and Lion's clubs, Mason's, etc -- around the time of 1960s -- there
also seems to have been a rise (albeit about a decade later) in "support"
type groups throughout the 70s and 80s - particularly in the area of popular
psychology and "self-improvement." Just a hunch, but I think you'll find
some sort of relationship there in regard to the emergence of the networking
groups you are examining.
Happy hunting,
Glenn Brown
[log in to unmask]




>From: Carrie Lane Chet <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Carrie Lane Chet <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: organized networking events
>Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 15:08:31 -0400
>
>***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/ *****
>
>I am a PhD student in Yale’s American Studies Program and am currently
>working on my dissertation, an ethnographic study of unemployment and
>job seeking in the Dallas-area high-technology industry.
>
>I'm hoping the list might be able to help me overcome a research hurdle
>I’ve encountered.
>
>The majority of the job seekers with whom I’ve spoken regularly attend
>organized networking events where they socialize and exchange job leads
>and job search advice with fellow job seekers. I would like to offer a
>brief history of these events in my dissertation— particularly the
>shift from understanding networking as something to be done with one’s
>current social and professional circles to its current incarnation as
>the practice of seeking strangers to “network with” at events organized
>and attended for that purpose. I have had little luck in my search for
>historical or media sources on the origins and evolution of these
>events, even in online archives and museums of business history. I am
>writing in the hope that some of you have come across information of
>this sort in your own work.
>
>Thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer.
>
>Sincerely,
>Carrie Lane Chet
>Doctoral Candidate
>Program in American Studies
>Yale University
>[log in to unmask]
>tel 940.387.4311

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