What happens downstream?: Scott Mattoon's blog

"I feel like we're embarking on a very interesting social experiment ...learning about the social behaviors of architects... How does this strange black turtleneck wearing species interact when they are not at a cocktail party?"
- Kate Stohr, Co-founder of Architecture for Humanity.

This was the reply I received from Kate after sharing a post on tips for fostering a community online. The post couldn't be more relevant to her and the rest of Architecture for Humanity as they approach the launch of the Open Architecture Network (OAN), which will coincide with this year's TED conference. Lessons from the social networking front line are pouring in, and I expect the OAN will begin it's contribution of do's and dont's, how-to's, and testimonies to the power of the network soon.

Anyone who has launched an online social network will tell you that the experience is, indeed, a very interesting social experiment. Some of the most compelling communities have taken shape with minimal intervention and control from it's founders, yet their vision and values manage to persist through its evolution by virtue of their participation. The social networking movement puts Metcalfe's law squarely back in good standing as a reasonable measure of the value of the network, which the law says is proportional to the square of the number of users. In fact, it may be time to revise the formula as we see true benefit reach well beyond the network itself, to those who have never touched a computer. And the Open Architecture Network is poised to be one of the those networks whose beneficiaries may have never before been touched by the network effect.

If you give a damn, listen to the Treehugger interview with Architecture for Humanity's other co-founder, Cameron Sinclair. And watch this space for breaking news about the new Open Architecture Network.