(Not) Counting Trees

Click here for a link to an 11-minute crash course in social networks by Nickolas Christakis at Harvard Univeristy as part of its Harvard Thinks Big series.

Christakis is a professor of sociology, medical sociology, and medicine at Harvard Univeristy and Medical School.

David Kittredge at UMass sent me the video link.

Lack of state funding threatens rural student enrollment at UW-Madison - The Country Today: Guest Opinions

Our Hidden Government Benefits: The threat to democracy today is not the size of government but rather the hidden form that so much of its growth has taken.

What does a trillion dollars look like? | zero hedge

Visualizing data is an important aspect of science communication. This post at zero hedge scales up from a "mere" $100 bill (coming from PA, Ben has a soft spot in my heart) to a trillion--obviously the "real money" of the federal budget.

While I am not a huge fan of NPR's Terry Gross and Fresh Air, I've always appreciated Jeff Nunberg, a linguist with a frequent column. This evening, he shares his insights on bad apples and their implications for lot--it might not be what you think.

[VIDEO EMBEDDED BELOW] More on networks courtesy of Jon Breschak (he should really start using that login I gave him) from Ted.com.

Jon Breschak, the PhD student working with me, is a voracious reader of both academic works and more popular media interpretations of social science and networks. Consider this recent e-mail...

One of my students recommended this. Worth the ten minutes.

The Perils of Performance Measurement
If you want performance management to really take hold in your organization, follow these 6 tips.

BY: Babak Armajani | March 2, 2011
Governing.com

Concise and suggest that performance measures alone won't get it done.

via a twitter feed on LinkedIn.