Hyperconnectivity

"Hyperconnectivity" is a term invented by Canadian social scientists Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, arising from their studies of person-to-person and person-to-machine communication in networked organizations and networked societies. [Barry Wellman, “Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Networked Individualism.” "International Journal of Urban and Regional Research" 25,2 (June, 2001): 227-52. ] The term refers to the use of multiple means of communication, such as email, instant messaging, telephone, face-to-face contact and Web 2.0 information services. [

Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, “Networks of Distance and Media: A Case Study of a High Tech Firm.” Trust and Communities conference, Bielefeld, Germany, July, 2003; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman. 2004. “Local Virtuality in a High-Tech Networked Organization.” "Anaylse & Kritik" 26 (special issue 1): 241-57 SEQ CHAPTER h 1; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, “How Computer-Mediated Hyperconnectivity and Local Virtuality Foster Social Networks of Information and Coordination in a Community of Practice.” International Sunbelt Social Network Conference, Redondo Beach, California, February 2005.; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman. “Hyperconnected Net Work: Computer-Mediated Community in a High-Tech Organization.” Pp. 281-333 in "The Firm as a Collaborative Community: Reconstructing Trust in the Knowledge Economy", edited by Charles Heckscher and Paul Adler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006]

Hyperconnectivity is also a trend in computer networking in which all things that can or should communicate through the network will communicate through the network. This encompasses person-to-person, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine communication. The trend is fueling large increases in bandwidth demand and changes in communications because of the complexity, diversity and integration of new applications and devices using the network.

The communications equipment maker Nortel has recognized hyperconnectivity as a pervasive and growing market condition that is at the core of their business strategy. CEO Mike Zafirovski and other executives have been quoted extensively in the press referring to the hyperconnected era.

Apart from network-connected devices such as landline telephones, mobile phones and computers, newly-connectable devices range from mobile devices such as PDAs, MP3 players, GPS receivers and cameras through to an ever wider collection of machines including cars [cite web | url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/lighthouse/articles/car.html | title=The Fully Networked Car | publisher=International Telecommunication Union ITU] [cite web | url=http://www.popsci.com/popsci/futurecar/f2909aa138b84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html | publisher=PopSCI | title=Future of the Car] refrigerators [cite web | url=http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2003/04/22/55.asp | title=Surf the Web…From your lettuce crisper | date=April 22, 2003 | author=Shannon Bentley] [cite web | url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1146821 | title=Component-oriented design of an intelligent, networked refrigerator | date=Oct. 4, 2002] and coffee makers [cite web | url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6501173 | title=New Office Perk | publisher=informationweek] , all equipped with embedded wireline or wireless [cite web | url=http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_time_nowswim_swim/ | title=The time is now-swim and swim fast: | author=Richard Sewell | date=Feb 16 1998 | publisher=Telephony Online] networking capabilities. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6637865.stm | title=Hyper-connected generation rises | publisher=BBC News | 9 May, 2007] The IP enablement of all devices is a fundamental limitation of IP version 4, and IPv6 is the enabling technology to support massive address explosions.

There are other, independent, uses of the term:

* The U.S. Army describes hyperconnectivity as a digitization of the battlefield where all military elements are connected. [cite web | url=http://www.defence.gov.au/raaf/airpower/html/publications/fellowship_visiting/sharp_battlefield_helicopters.pdf | title=COMMAND AND CONTROL OF BATTLEFIELD HELICOPTERS | author=Martin Sharp ]

* Hyperconnectivity is used in medical terminology to explain billions and billions of neurons creating excessive connections, within the brain associated with schizophrenia [cite web | url= http://www.ecnsweb.com/journal/ECNS%20Abstracts/2005%20Web%20Abstracts/2005%20AnnualMtg.Abstr.pdf | title=A Four-step Approach for Developing Diagnostic Tests in Psychiatry | publisher= CLINICAL EEG and NEUROSCIENCE] [cite web | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7840887&dopt=Abstract | title=Schizophrenia and the corpus callosum: developmental, structural and functional relationships. | publisher=PubMed] , or epileptic seizures [cite web | url= http://www.angelfire.com/va/MFMartelliPhD/CCPN_2002_Handout_Part_2.pdf | title= Epilepsy: Classification of Seizures] [cite web | url= http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/16/2/163 | title= Dissociation, Hemispheric Asymmetry, and Dysfunction of Hemispheric Interaction | publisher= The Journal of Neuropsychiatryand Clinical Neurosciences] or DS [cite web | url=http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1113/jphysiol.2006.114868?cookieSet=1&journalCode=tjp | title=The functional nature of synaptic circuitry is altered in area CA3 of the hippocampus in a mouse model of Down's syndrome | publisher=The Journal of Physiology]

Examples

Some examples to support the existence of this accelerating trend to hyperconnectivity include the following facts and assertions:
* About 2.8 billion mobile phones are already in use with another 1.6 million being added every day ("The Economist", April 28, 2007)
* The network will need to accommodate a trillion devices, most of them wireless, in the next 15-20 years' time (David Clark, MIT)
* Sales of wireless modules for devices, sensors and machines are forecast to grow to $400 million by 2011 (Harbor Research)
* Tens of billions of e-mails, mobile text messages and instant messages are being sent through the world's public networks each day ("The Economist", April 28, 2007)

Further reading

* Mark A. Sportack, Frank C. Pappas, Emil Rensing, and Joshua Konkle (1997),"High-Performance Networking Unleashed" (ISBN 978-1575211879) [http://docs.rinet.ru/NeHi/ch30/ch30.htm]
* "New Media: The time is now-swim and swim fast," (1998) "Telephony"
* "Trends to track for the millennium" (1999) "Target Marketing"
* Christopher S. Rollyson, (2001) [http://rollyson.net/download/IC-Stars.pdf E-Business Market Dynamics]
* Jim Carroll (2002) [http://www.jimcarroll.com/acrobat/articles/2002oct_command_and_control.pdf Opportunity awaits companies that master hyperconnectivity]
* Mark Pesce, (2006) [http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=16 Hyperpeople]
* John Roese (2007) [http://blogs.nortel.com/johnroese/2007/02/02/megatrends-part-1-hyper-connectivity/ Megatrends Part 1: Hyper-Connectivity]
* "A World of Connections" (April 28, 2007), "The Economist"

References

External links

* Nortel [http://www.hyperconnectivity.com Hyperconnectivity]