Network Parameters: Harmony

Where This Fits

After Resilience and Autonomy, this unit completes the RAH triad with Harmony: the quality of internal relationships and mutual benefit within a system. Harmony determines whether a system's elements cooperate or compete destructively.

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Network Parameters: The Interface Between Levels

Sitting in between the system and object level, the network parameters are a powerful interface between the top-down and the bottom-up. They help to unravel the complexities of the system level indicators, reveal complex system interactions, test and explore them, and find the object level drivers of these behaviors. This gives concrete handles on finding the best intervention points to improve system dynamics.

The standardized network parameters in SiD are split into the RAH system indicators: Resilience (CRAFTDCCV), Autonomy (SSCNE), and Harmony (PEAIE). They have been derived from existing network science literature and refined in practice over about ten years.

The Playground of System Dynamics

On the network level we find more powerful systemic behaviors that remain hidden to us on the object level. It exclusively concerns itself with groups of connections throughout the system. The network is about "how," rather than "what." For example, it matters more to the network level that people can communicate instantly over long distances, rather than what is being said or what device they use.

The network parameters can be observed from both the top-down and the bottom-up. Because they can be approached from both sides, they are extremely flexible and derive much of their meaning from the context of the challenge at hand. Combined with their flexible nature, the network level is often a playground for creativity.

The Harmony Set: PEAIE

PEAIE are the five main network parameters that inform Harmony. These allow you to investigate to what degree the system has internal tension, or equilibrium within itself. They reflect the balance between peace and war, orderly and disorderly society, and pressure towards revolution and rioting. These are the hardest to quantify of the three sets, and the most influenced by social science.

• Power Balance
• Expression
• Access
• Inclusion
• Equity

Working with the Parameters

Common Network Parameters

Several network parameters are much more commonly used than others. "Diversity," for example, has been used for decades as a field of exploration in the social sciences. It is widely proven that increasing diversity improves the strength of socio-cultural systems. Likewise, "Transparency" is a common term in policy development and governance.

We should also take care not to miss out on less familiar parameters that may bear powerful dynamics. We are less knowledgeable about the effects of "redundancy" in the evaluation of a social system, for example, but that does not make it less important.

Mapping Interdependency

The power of each parameter becomes apparent when seen in the greater context of the system. For example, transparency of governance makes a country's system work faster and better, and increases Harmony's Equity parameter at the same time. Things that seem very complex can become rather straightforward when you have the network overview at hand.

The parameters also tend to influence each other. To use network parameters effectively, create an analysis system that provides an overview of all the important outcomes: list all the parameters, their area of influence, and give them a qualitative score. This way you and your team can tweak the system and evaluate possible pathways for improvement.

Clarity From Network Parameters

For many, the network parameters require time to get used to. Once you have internalized them, you will experience the clarity these tools yield. Within the network parameters lie hidden opportunities we can use to find radically better solutions for current societal problems. Some of these we have already discovered, for example the benefits that decentralized energy production gives to the autonomy and resilience of communities.

Practicing Network Parameter Analysis

A Box of Network Glasses

A handy mental exercise is to imagine a box of eyeglasses. Each pair represents a network parameter and allows you to "see" the network in a different light. Imagine putting on the "diversity" glasses and looking through them at a village or a company. What does "diversity" mean here? Also imagine pushing the parameters to an extreme: all houses identical, or each unique? How about the ages and professions of the people?

Learn to See the Light

Network parameters are most helpful for strategic decision making where complex systems are involved. Learning how the parameters affect one another in a system tells a great deal about a system's overall behavior, and allows you to instantly see possible effects of a certain measure, strategy, or policy decision.

To get good at this, practice on a daily basis. Apply the parameters to any complex system you encounter: a train network, a supermarket supply chain, a city park, natural systems, political networks. Before you know it, you can start to "see" the behavior of complex systems intuitively.

Quantifying Network Parameters

The network parameters can be used to physically measure the performance of a network if you attach formulas to each indicator. You can do this by hand, or use agent-based modeling or systems modelers. Wikipedia is a good starting point for finding formulas: just type in the network parameter's name. For example, the Wikipedia article on Centrality lists five distinct ways of measuring it.

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Takeaway

Harmony measures the internal health of relationships within a system: equity, justice, inclusion, access, and cooperation. A system can be resilient and autonomous yet still fail if internal tensions tear it apart. These parameters help you diagnose and address the social and relational fabric of any system.