NeckerCube

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The Necker Cube : is a cube drawn by the Swiss geologist Louis Albert Necker in 1832, in which the front and back faces are equal measurements, contrary to the traditional layout in perspective in which the front face is larger than the back face. Two images of the cube can appear and our perception passes to one to the other one.The NeckerCube is an ambiguous figure, an optic illusion.

Visual representations of network

Necker Cube can be used as a reference for visual representations of a network, or various networks and their possible inter-connections. This visual representation is a manner to approach a network simultaneously under different points of view. Each one define contexts of possible interpretations. Relations between the different points of view built a form which evolves in a space.

NeckerCube can be used to let appear links which draw the shared map of the different elements suitable for each network and also between different networks.

The network is a ["Machine Relationnelle"]

Model established by Albert Bressand and Catherine Distler (1995) which approach the network as a "Machine Relationnelle" which is defined as:

"a whole of means (infrastructure) and rules (infostructures) allowing the actors who have access to them to take part and get a successful result in shared projects since those are in conformity with common waitings and uses (infoculture)".

(BRESSAND, Albert & DISTLER, Catherine. - La planète relationnelle, Paris, Flammarion,1995)

In others words

"in the infrastructure your computer needs to be connected to each other (a sort of connection tree). in the infostructure you need to be connected to each other person (a sort of connection tree). in the infoculture your words need to be connected to each other word (a sort of connection tree ( see also [BaumWiki] ). --[sigi]

infoculture   | uses
infostructure | functionalities
infrastructure| technnologies

3 Dimensions / [Les 3 Niveaux]


              uses
                ^
                |
                +......+
               .|......
              ..|......
             ...|......
            ....|......
          ......|......
         .......|......
         .......+-----+--------------> functionalities
         ....../.......
         ...../.......
         ..../.......
         .../.......
         ../.......
         ./.......
         +
        /
 technologies

The network is a « machine relationnelle » - Albert Bressand et Catherine Distler (1995) -

Infrastructure include the whole of the material equipment; so its physical nature. But nowadays, it tends more and more to integrate immaterial elements like the standards, the software and the norms. The actors of infrastructure are the manufacturers of technologies like the manufacturers of materials, the suppliers of the software and of the programs, the systems engineers who install the equipment and the programs and ensure the follow-up and maintenance of it.

Infostructure indicates the whole rules which govern the operation of the network. It's express the formal of the network translated by a system of obligations which defines the nature of the relationship between the partners (contracts, conventions, etc.)

Infoculture refers to the culture network which partners share. The network is also, others would say above all, a frame of mind, an attitude and a philosophy which dayly impregnates with the behaviors and the reflexes of the professionals and determines in a significant way the performance of the network, and even its durability. Albert Bressand and Catherine Distler speak about complicity.

 Original texte : ["Machine Relationnelle"]

  See also 
 SocialSoftware
 UserInterface
 [A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools]

NeckerCube

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