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2nd Visible Path Award Competition
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*In early 2005, INSNA announced a newly-created Visible Path Graduate
Student Award at the Sunbelt XXV International Social Network Conference
in Redondo Beach, California. INSNA will give the annual award, which
carries a $5,000 prize plus paid expenses to the Sunbelt conference, to
a graduate student in recognition of research on how social networks are
used to improve individual and inter-organizational performance.*
*The Visible Path Graduate Student Award recognizes a graduate student's
research on how social networks improve professional performance. The
award is given annually to a graduate student in recognition of research
at the interface between inter-organizational science and social network
analysis. The award recognizes research on organizational science, in
which social networks are used to improve individual and
inter-organizational performance. For example, research focusing on how
people in organizations, especially corporations, use their own social
networks to accelerate strategic processes with people outside their
organization would be eligible.*
*"Social network analysis touches many disciplines -- anthropology,
sociology, psychology, political science, economics and communications
science for starters - yet there are few awards that are specifically
designed to support basic social network research," said Bill Richards,
INSNA president and professor of communications at Simon Fraser
University. "This award seeks to encourage research for benefit of
everyone who is interested in the juncture of social network analysis
and organizational performance." *
*The award taps into broadening awareness of social network analysis
sparked by articles, popular business books and new companies selling
web services and software that capitalize on social networks.*
*"The timing is right for graduate students looking to uncover social
network insights that can advance an increasingly popular discipline
with growing opportunities for application" said Stanley Wasserman,
professor of sociology, psychology, and statistics at Indiana University
and chief scientist for Visible Path Corp. in New York."*
*The winner of the 1st Visible Path Graduate Student Award was Nathaniel
Bulkley, a doctoral student working with Assistant Professor Marshall
Van Alstyne at the University of Michigan School of Information. His
research involved conducting surveys and studying six months of email
data and accounting records from an executive recruiting firm
representative of professional services firms organized around client
practices. An interesting finding was that characteristics of the
recruiter’s internal networks were statistically significant predictors
of performance, but the size of their private rolodexes were not.*
*To apply for the 2007 award, students should submit a paper (written in
English) to the committee before 1 September 2006. The paper must be
written between September 1, 2005 and August 31, 2006. Eligible students
must be sole (or first) author on the submitted paper. Letters of
support should accompany the submission. Submitted papers will be
evaluated by a committee of four judges; their decision will be final.
Judging will be on the basis of the level of originality in the ideas
and techniques, the possible applications and their treatment, and
potential impact. The winner will give a formal presentation at Sunbelt
2007 in Corfu, Greece. The committee may arrive at the conclusion that
none of the submitted papers merits the award. *
*The award will be made for the second time in 2007. Funds for the award
have been provided by Visible Path Corporation, New York
<http://www.visiblepath.com> (http://www.visiblepath.com).*
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*Address for submission (electronic submissions (.pdf files) required):*
*The address for submissions will be announced when the composition of
the adjudication committee is finalized. In the meantime, please address
any inquiries (or send submissions) to Bill Richards: [log in to unmask]*
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*About Visible Path
Formed in October 2002 and based in New York City, Visible Path
(www.visiblepath.com) develops a Relationship Capital Management (RCM)
platform that uses social network analysis to locate, leverage and
create relationship capital across the enterprise. Visible Path for SFA
is the first web service built on the RCM platform, delivering
unprecedented reach into companies and access to decision-makers by
allowing sales teams to discreetly leverage the relationship capital of
the enterprise throughout the sales cycle. The result: shorter sales
cycles, improved close rates and a vital competitive sales advantage.
Visible Path is a privately-held company with investment from Kleiner,
Perkins, Caufield & Byers.*
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