Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Stronger ties are characterized by increased communication frequency and deeper,
more intimate connections. However, weak ties tend to link individuals to other
social worlds, providing new sources of information and other resources [8]. Their
very weakness means that they tend to connect people who are more socially
dissimilar than those connected via strong ties. Weak ties contribute to social soli-
darity; community cohesion increases with the number of local bridges in a com-
munity [7]. According to Friedkin [6] the mix of weak and strong ties increases
the probability of information exchange, and tends to comprise social network in-
telligence for collaborations.
2.1 Exploring the Social Context
As mentioned in previous section, this chapter focuses on discovering proximal
social intelligence from leisure service participants to obtain useful information so
as to improve decision quality. Since making decision is related to personal per-
ception and the circumstance people belonging to. Previous research found that
social context and the decision strategy affected decision acceptance, understand-
ing, decision time, and affective reactions to the group [19]. Consequently, in this
chapter, both content data and context information from user's social network re-
lationships will be utilized as diversely information sources, including their het-
erogeneous and homogeneous social network structures.
Social context of an individual is the culture that he or she was educated and/or
lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts [21]. So-
cial context reflects how the people around something use and interpret it. The so-
cial context influences how something is viewed. Personal experience could be
various from different social context they encountered. Even when participate in
the same event, the social context may influence people's perception and result in
different experiences. For example, when watching a movie at the theater with
friends, the feeling would be quite different than watching a movie provided from
our boss for propaganda and education. Seeing a movie with friends look more
joyful than the other that boss may require us to do more analysis and tasks. De-
pending on the social context we encountered, the gained experience will be quite
different.
However, from the proximity perspective, people from proximal social network
are more likely to form a cooperative behaviors since they may have similar be-
lieving and values. The social context of leisure entertainment participants is like-
ly to feel solidarity of its members, who are more likely to stay together, trust and
help each other. Members of the same social context will often think in similar
styles and patterns even when their conclusions differ [21]. In this chapter, leisure
entertainment participants are encouraged to provide their personal experience for
reference. By gathering updated and proximal leisure information, the provided
service could benefit from those timely, relevance, and personal experience for
further utilization.
Owing to the dynamicity and complexity present in our world, it is unrealistic to
expect humans to be able to reason and act effectively to devote themselves for a
collaborative environment. According to Maier, 1970, the results generated from
