Optimizing the construction of network experiences: understanding Networked Flow
The concept of “flow” or “optimal experience” refers to a state of balance between environmental challenges and personal abilities.
This concept was developed by the Hungarian psychologist Csikszentmihalyi and has broad applications within various fields of positive psychology.
In addition, sand as we all can see in day-to-day life, the importance of social networks in human history and innovation has been recognized. As stated before in other reflections shared within this space, Networked processes play a significant role in the lives of individuals and society as a whole.
The concept of “networked flow” combines these two ideas: exploring the possibility of experiencing optimal experiences as a group rather than as individuals. This concept has been studied by professors Giuseppe Riva, Luca Milani, and Andrea Gaggioli from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and Elvis Mazzoni from the University of Bologna, the authors examine how networked processes can be optimized to produce better outcomes for individuals and organizations.
But what, then, is Networked Flow? As we read, in the authors’ words:
It is a networked process that enables individuals to reach creative heights that they would not have been able to achieve on their own and in which the result cannot be derived simply from the sum of the contribution of individuals. The realization of this experience requires the establishment of a “group mind,” a state of trust, sharing, and empathy in which the actions of the individual and the group harmonize into cognitive artifacts (ideas, theories, objects, methods, technologies, artistic products).
The concept of Networked Flow is based on two fundamental concepts: Presence and Social Presence.
- Presence refers to the feeling of being present in a real or virtual environment and being able to enact one’s intentions intuitively.
- Social Presence is the feeling of being with others within an environment and intuitively recognizing the intentions of others.
When we feel present in our environment, we can leverage the affordances it offers to increase our chances of positively impacting the world, as Gibson suggests. This experience of presence represents a form of empowerment that allows individuals, whether alone or with others, to fully implement their intentions and create meaningful change.
These concepts align with recent practices in cognitive science related to embodied and situated cognition.
Additionally, Networked Flow can be broken down into several distinct stages, each with its own unique characteristics.
- The Encounter stage occurs when individuals with common characteristics meet and share experiences.
- The Distance Reduction stage involves subjects perceiving themselves as similar, reducing distances, and forming subgroups.
- The Liminality stage sees subjects orienting themselves and the group towards a common direction and creating a shared feeling of intention.
- During the Sharing Phase, the group fully shares the new context and experiences, leading to optimal experiences and high levels of creativity and innovation.
- In the Creation Phase, the group creates an artifact, which can be a product, idea, practice, or thought, and makes explicit the creative thinking behind it.
- In the Reception Phase, the artifact is applied to social reality, and its success is determined by the group’s ability to effectively communicate its goals.
Building Networked Flow cannot be achieved through planning alone, but rather through fostering, encouraging, eliciting, and stimulating the best possible contexts for it to flourish. Similar to Flow and transformative experiences, Networked Flow requires the creation of optimal environments that allow for the emergence of these experiences.
The benefits of Networked Flow on individual and organizational creativity are undeniable.
The combination of the concepts related to transformative experience design, which I have discussed extensively in other articles, positive emotion management and elicitation, and networked flow fits into a virtuous cycle that can help organizations accelerate their paths of evolution toward more effective scenarios of dealing with the historical period we are going through.
To cultivate this process, we must create inclusive and co-constructed environments that foster collaboration and openness to external influences.
By rethinking our working models in this way, we can pave the way for more effective and innovative approaches to problem-solving and create a more sustainable and prosperous future for all.
