Method, system, and computer program product for enhancing collaboration using a corporate social network

• US 20070038594A1
• Filed: 08/10/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ranganathan, Anand, Goodwin, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for enhancing collaboration using a corporate social network to infer contacts. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: providing a social network for an organization, the social network including a plurality of nodes and links, wherein each node represents a member of the organization, and wherein each link represents a relationship between a pair of the nodes; receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; and inferring a contact to the requesting member by searching the social network along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

Claims

1. A method for inferring a contact, comprising:

providing a social network for an organization, the social network including a plurality of nodes and links, each node representing a member of the organization and each link representing a relationship between a pair of the nodes;

receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; and

inferring a contact to the requesting member by searching the social network along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the social network further comprises:

searching the social network in increasing distance along the plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the social network further comprises:

searching the social network for a member of the organization, the member having a link to the required type of contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of dimensions is selected from the group consisting of management, location, member-type, and job responsibility.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting the inferred contact; and

updating the social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting member to a node representing the inferred contact.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inferring a plurality of non-dominating contacts to the requesting member;

accepting one of the plurality of non-dominating contacts; and

updating the social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting member to a node representing the accepted, non-dominating contact.

8. A system for inferring a contact, comprising:

a social network including a plurality of nodes and links, each node representing a member of an organization and each link representing a relationship between a pair of the nodes;

a system for receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; and

a system for inferring a contact to the requesting member by searching the social network along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the system for searching the social network further comprises:

a system for searching the social network in increasing distance along the plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the system for searching the social network further comprises:

a system for searching the social network for a member of the organization, the member having a link to the required type of contact.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of dimensions is selected from the group consisting of management, location, member-type, and job responsibility.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a system for accepting the inferred contact; and

a system for updating the social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting member to a node representing the inferred contact.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a system for inferring a plurality of non-dominating contacts to the requesting member;

a system for accepting one of the plurality of non-dominating contacts; and

a system for updating the social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting member to a node representing the accepted, non-dominating contact.

15. A program product stored on a computer readable medium for inferring a contact, the computer readable medium comprising program code for performing the steps of:

providing a social network for an organization, the social network including a plurality of nodes and links, each node representing a member of the organization and each link representing a relationship between a pair of the nodes;

receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; and

inferring a contact to the requesting member by searching the social network along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

16. The program product of claim 15, wherein the searching of the social network further comprises:

searching the social network in increasing distance along the plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.

17. The program product of claim 16, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions.

18. The program product of claim 15, further comprising program code for performing the steps of:

accepting the inferred contact; and

updating the social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting member to a node representing the inferred contact.

19. A contact inferring method, comprising:

providing a corporate social network including a plurality of nodes and links, each node representing a member of the organization and each link representing a relationship between a pair of the nodes in one of a plurality of different dimensions;

receiving a request by a requesting employee of the organization for a required type of contact;

inferring at least one contact to the requesting employee by searching the corporate social network in increasing distance along the plurality of different dimensions from the node representing the requesting employee;

accepting an inferred contact; and

updating the corporate social network by adding a link from the node representing the requesting employee to a node representing the accepted inferred contact.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of dimensions are selected from the group consisting of management, location, member-type, and job responsibility.