Flow of blood and flow of information share many characteristics. New perspectives on information flow emerge. New terms such as information clotting, information holes, information coagulation and information viscosity emerge as well.

1. Ali Anani, PhD
EXTENDED METAPHORS
FOR INFORMATION FLOW

2. I dedicate this presentation to an inspirer of some
thoughts that are highlighted in this presentation.
Matt McWilliams.
Proudly I dedicate this presentation for youThe
proof is in the next slide

3. Ali Anani
Matt - I want to record my acknowledgement for the
inspiration this post provided me with.
I have been thinking for a while about correlating the
flow of blood with the flow of information.
I wanted to describe the "information clot" that acts
as... Now, I may complete this as acts as an
information plug.
I am preparing a slideshare presentation. Matt, you
are an inspirer.
http://www.mattmcwilliams.com/leadership-lessons-avoid-crisis/

4. According to Opara (2003) information is the life
blood of modern organizations. That is to say that
without information, an organization is bound to
collapse. Information is needed to control the
day-to-day running of an organization. This means that
data are necessary to produce information which in
turn is necessary for creating knowledge that is
conveyed (e.g. via paper, network, speech,
observable action
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/oyadonghan.htm

5. Information Flow

6. Mapping information flow using NodeXL
software for a hypothetical company with names
substituted for by the first letter of employees.

7. I introduce the concept of information veins
instead of edges to highlight the similarity of
blood flow and information flow.Notice also the
use of “Information Hubs”.

9. The next slide shows the strength of ties and
whether they are reciprocated or not.Like blood
running in veins with different diameters; so is
information flow.

11. The diameter of the blood vessel affects the speed
of the flow of blood. Blood flow slows down as it
moves from arteries to arterioles and subsequently
to the capillaries because the cross-sectional area in
the capillary beds is much bigger than the arteries
or any part of the circulatory system.
And so is information as it runs through the edges (veins)

12. Information clotting
Information circulation
Information momentum
Information conversion- to produce information which in
turn is necessary for creating knowledge that is conveyed
Information as a raw material- Information constitutes the
raw materials from which options or alternatives emerge.
Information duality role
Information Coagulation
Information Poverty
Extrapolating ideas from
blood flow to information flow

13. Blood Flow
Blood clotting
Blood circulation
Blood coagulation
Blood Anemia
Blood Viscosity
Information Flow
Information clotting
Information circulation
Information coagulation
Information Anemia
Information Viscosity
Extrapolation Ideas

14. Blood has a seemingly difficult job:
it must flow continuously and smoothly for an
entire lifetime, but quickly form a blood clot
when bleeding occurs. This clot serves as a plug
to stop bleeding.
Stop and Heal

15. Information has a seemingly difficult job:
it must flow continuously and smoothly for an
entire lifetime, but quickly form a blood clot
when bleeding occurs. This clot serves as a plug
to stop bleeding.
Information Clotting

16. Information leakage and bleeding is
demonstrated by many activities such as
Passwords with different levels of strength

17. Information leakage and bleeding is
demonstrated by many activities such as
Two level security codes such as a lengthy
14-character code followed with a shorter 3-4
digits code

18. Information leakage and bleeding is
demonstrated by many activities such as
Use of patents as information plugs

19. Still, we suffer from information leakages such as
embedding hidden spying software and the leak
of personal information as experienced with six
million FaceBook subscribers recently

20. We need a superior information clottingWhat
can we learn from blood flow?

21. There are 13 blood clotting proteins
(coagulation factor) found in the blood. When a
blood vessel is damaged, these clotting factors
are switched on in a certain order (Blood
Clotting Cascade) [link to coagulation page] and
work to form a clot. Specifically, these 13 factors
normally combine to a clot.
http://www.hemophilia-information.com/blood-clotting-proteins.html

22. May be we need to consider a mechanism
whereby a cascading information protecting
system may be more effective in controlling
information bleed.

23. Blood viscosity is
a measure of the resistance of blood to flow.
Viscous blood leads to poor blood circulation

24. Information viscosity
is a measure of the resistance of information to
flow. Viscous blood leads to poor blood
circulation

25. The social network structure determines how
information flows

26. When a liquid molecules can slide around each
other, a liquid has the ability to flow. The
structure of veins and their thicknesses control
the sliding of blood molecules

27. Information to flow has to pass through the veins
(edges) of social networks.

28. Poor information circulation will lead to painful
situations in similarity to poor blood circulation.
Beware of information holes

29. Stop the information bleed and then heal it
Remove information holes to heal
Cascade information protection like blood
cascades its healing
Care should be made to ensure the safety of
the “information hubs; else big information holes
shall appear.

30. I thank Omar AL-Husseini for his great support in
making the graphics of the presentation