Kristin Henry [07.18.05 11:26 AM]

One thing you've said (at talks) that really hit home for me what that social software should help us remember who we've been talking not to introduce us to new people. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I had a real-life personal assistant to keep track of my conversations at working-social events, and then help me to maintain those little sparks.

  Otis [07.18.05 03:37 PM]

You should take a look at Divmod.

  DSB [07.18.05 03:48 PM]

Check out Spoke's Outlook tool

  Jeremy Zawodny [07.18.05 04:33 PM]

Tim:

How many different vendors supply your communication tools?

  Ross Stapleton-Gray [07.18.05 05:09 PM]

Simon Cozens' talk on Twingle at Foo Camp addressed some of these issues, though for organization-level analysis; I'm an advisor to Cataphora, which provides the legal community tools and services to paw through organizational e-mail and docs to reveal communications networks. Sounds like what you want, though, is some sort of homunculus to sit on your shoulder, and monitor all your contacts, and make useful suggestions.

  Kristin Henry [07.18.05 07:57 PM]

LoL, Ross!

I think something more like a smart business card work well...not so much a software package for myself, but a tangible token that individuals can exchange with time and event relavent information attached. Let's say you and I are introduced just outside of one of Tim's talks, and we exhange business cards. I've developed the habit of jotting down a quick note about the person who's just given me their card...usually regarding what we're discussing. If the card was enough aware, that it could note what session we were attending, and at what conference, that would be a useful integration of technology and real-life to me. The technology isn't trying to "make friends for me", but is helping me keep in contact with the friends I've made.

  Doug Sherrets [07.19.05 07:28 AM]

Your comment is interesting and I can see where such a service could be applied right now to individuals. It would be an application that analyzes the information you are talking about, then tells you who you have been connecting with and who you haven't, giving us ques to make a concious effort to contact those people we deem important to stay connected with.

That said, I don't think this would hold up as well to force everyone in a workplace to utilize this kind of application. People aren't ready to accept it yet. But an app for an individual I think would be an important first step in that incremental change.

  Suresh Kumar [10.02.05 01:51 PM]

Tim,

http://www.morphix.com/

Morphix have a product called Meta Sight that does this for MS-Exchange...

if only GMail would build these heuristics... afterall the infrastructure/platform is already there....

  Iceman [12.20.05 01:02 PM]

weel Tim,
an individual has a finite number of contacts friends, relatives, acquaintances that he/she has a direct relationship with. If that individual makes all his contacts available to one another, then the act of bringing the group together created a dynamic network all connected in the first degree to the first individual. If each of the contacts in the network brings his/her personal contacts, friends, relatives, acquaintances to the network, then each of those members will be connected to the first individual in the second degree and the total contacts of the first individual grows exponentially. A social network is born. The momentum and dynamics generated in the intrinsic activity of the network can be capitalized to help the participants or members of the network to take advantage of the network community resources for the betterment of either individual members or the community at large.