What Is a Node Community?
As mentioned in chapter one, a node is part of the taxonomy used in peer-to-peer (P2P) IT architecture. In this type of architecture, a node represents each computer in a network, and a node community represents every computer in the network. Unlike a client-server system, where there are two distinct entities in the computer network system (the server that selectively provides resources and the client that uses resources for their work), in peer-to-peer IT architecture, there is one primary entity: the node. Each node shares resources in order to do its work, and each node both provides and requests services. Each node is able to communicate directly, without passing through intermediaries.
In a P2P organization network community, individuals represent nodes, and the node community is comprised of individuals working for a common purpose or toward a common result. In the response to Romney’s Big Bird comment, each individual posting to social networks represented a node that was able to instantly connect with another node—another person or group—simply by sending or receiving information about firing Big Bird. Each node both shared information and received it. Some nodes were Big Bird sympathizers, some rallied behind Mr. Romney, and both were able to communicate their messages instantaneously, without any third party intervention.
Node communities formed within minutes of Romney’s comment. They started spontaneously, originating from sympathizers upset at the perceived potential elimination of Big Bird. Each node was an individual connector in the larger community—a community where a plethora of connections and receptors could rapidly send messages and receive them in nanoseconds. They could send and receive information both within their immediate surroundings and across continents and around the world.
Within a node community, information is received by one node and is easily and quickly passed to another. As new nodes join, the community expands. Individuals and organizations now no longer have to rely on a central source for information as in a client-server network or the traditional hierarchy in organizations. Technology has enabled a new communication model and paradigm and has disrupted the traditional organization communication pattern and hierarchy. Where information once flowed from manager to subordinate, it now flows freely from peer to peer.