Valdis commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Excellent analysis!!! We must remember that people in a group are connected by direct AND indirect ties. We can keep tabs on many via indirect ties.
View ArticleTom commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Chris, this is a very impressive and useful piece of thinking - quite a contribution. The formulation '7 plus or minus 2', which I have often heard (and used) over the years as an ideal team size is...
View ArticleKyle Shannon commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Chris, Pretty amazing stuff. I'd like to add another break-point. It is anecdotal (but amazingly consistent based on my experience.) I was part of a company that grew very quickly both organically and...
View ArticleRaph commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Nice job. FYI, we have intentionally segmented the forums on SWG and other games in order to reduce the admin load--this also entailed getting rid of the “general” forum, because it served as an...
View ArticleRob Kost commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Interesting stuff. But, what is a "group"? If it means 'the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships', the what is "stable" and what is a "relationship"? What is...
View ArticleRoss Mayfield commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Well put, its important people understand the scaling limits at 12 and 150. I never ventured a guess at optimal group size, as its heavily context dependent. Instead I would suggest that our challenge...
View ArticleAJ Kim commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Great article & comment thread, Christopher -- thanks for posting that. Was there something in particular that prompted you to write this? Love to hear the backstory if there is one.
View ArticlePeter Kaminski commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Great stuff, Christopher! I like to include the following in explanations of the 147.8 number, because the range is pretty large (100 to 231): "Because the equation is log-transformed and we are...
View ArticleHarold Jarche commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Interesting. I just finished an analysis of the e-learning industry here in New Brunswick, Canada. of the 40+ companies surveyed, almost all of them were less than 8 or more than 50 employees. Nobody...
View ArticleWes Connell commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
The references to Ultima Online parallel my experiences with the game. Most guilds that I socialized with or had battles with showed the most solidarity with only 5 to 8 players present in the same...
View ArticleMatt Mihaly commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Just wanted to add my agreement. The larger the general communities get, the weaker the signal in any discussion. I think barriers to globally-broadcast participation can alleviate that to some extent....
View Articlemark oehlert commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Chris, Must be tough keeping up with all the compliments :-). Let me add mine but also point back to Raph's comment earlier. The most amorphous piece here is the defintion of a group. I would also...
View ArticleWill Hertling commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Although I haven't read Dunbar's work directly, the material I have read suggests that individuals are keeping track of "who did what to whom", suggesting that group complexity grows as n^2. When n=40,...
View ArticleShally commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Anthopological research shows that primate groups thirve at about the size of 30 members. Human tribes in traditional tribal communities around the world demonstrate that same ideal number. Here's a...
View ArticleRick Thomas commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Dunbar would agree with your main point: "... the suggestion [in his paper] is simply that there is an upper limit on the size of groups that can be maintained by direct personal contact. This limit...
View ArticleThena commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
I've never seen this stuff before but it jibes really well with a hypothesis I had made, based on personal observation of group dynamics in my local pagan community, particularly the coven(s) with...
View ArticleChristopher Allen commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Sébastien Paquet had a comment in his blog http://radio.weblogs.com/0110772/ I thought was interesting: "Note that if this graph is accurate, jury duty (size=12) must be pretty nerve-wracking!)" I...
View ArticleJohn Robb commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
The applicability of Christopher's work to analyzing terrorist networks. http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2004/03/what_is_the_opt.html
View ArticleBob Bechtel commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Dunbar's original work was concerned with social groupings that were effectively the whole of an individual's "stable relationships". Ignoring for a moment his insight as to the utility of language in...
View ArticleChristopher Allen commented on 'The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes'
Someone asked me via email "Is there a format for assessment which you have found useful which you share with others?" I've been thinking about assessment, but I'm not sure about how to approach it....
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