The effect of co-location on human communication networks
| Autor: | Carmody, Daniel, Mazzarello, Martina, Santi, Paolo, Harris, Trevor, Lehmann, Sune, Abbiasov, Timur, Dunbar, Robin, Ratti, Carlo |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43588-022-00296-z |
| Popis: | The ability to rewire ties in communication networks is vital for large-scale human cooperation and the spread of new ideas. We show that lack of researcher co-location during the COVID-19 lockdown caused the loss of more than 4,800 weak ties -- ties between distant parts of the social system that enable the flow of novel information -- over 18 months in the email network of a large North American university. Furthermore, we find that the re-introduction of partial co-location through a hybrid work mode led to a partial regeneration of weak ties. We quantify the effect of co-location in forming ties through a model based on physical proximity, which is able to reproduce all empirical observations. Results indicate that employees who are not co-located are less likely to form ties, weakening the spread of information in the workplace. Such findings could contribute to a better understanding of the spatio-temporal dynamics of human communication networks, and help organizations that are moving towards the implementation of hybrid work policies evaluate the minimum amount of in-person interaction necessary for a productive work environment. Comment: 19 pages, ~2500 words, 6 main figures. Supplementary information included as appendix. v3/v4 cleaned supplementary info. First two authors are co-first |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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