Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4.1
Contacts, Meetings, and Networks of Stakeholders
Networks are termed endurances in the ontology by [8] as they are non-physical enti-
ties that persist over the time span of the analysis, although their shape and intensities
may vary. For this study, it is presumed that networks evolve through contacts that
may either be physical by meeting other agents at assembly sessions or non-physical
by phone or mail. One implication from interview statements is that network ties be-
come more intensive with higher contact frequencies (table 1). The frequencies of
contacts can be derived from interview statements as well (table 2).
2
From these
rules, average contact frequencies were deduced and converted into daily contact
probabilities.
Every agent saves a list of other agents met, with those met most recently being
tossed to the top of the list. The position that a particular agent holds in a list of a
fellow agent may hence be interpreted as the intensity of the tie between these two
agents. Note that they are also directed, i.e. one agent may have a strong tie to another
agent, while the latter has stronger ties to other agents than to the former. This proce-
dure is applied for all types of contacts, within and outside of the regional assembly
meetings.
Table 1.
Selected interview statements concerning network ties and their transformation into
agent rules
Interview statement
Interpretation
Agent rules
“With stakeholders from the
neighboring municipalities, I have
only few contacts. I'm a man in
the economy, not represented in
the municipality. I did make con-
tacts here and there, but it's hard
to keep them. I feel like an outsid-
er sometimes.” (economic stake-
holder)
“We mayors often meet in ad-
vance and talk about these things.
We mayors have strong ties due to
the many other opportunities
where we meet.” (political stake-
holder)
The frequency of
contacts has an influ-
ence on the intensity
of network ties.
Ties will be
stronger for agents
meeting more often.
“But just for the meetings every
four or six weeks, I don't have the
time and the desire to build up
relations with these people.” (po-
litical stakeholder)
2
The interviews were conducted in German or Swedish, the original statements were translated
into English for this paper by the author.
