Trust Networks: Analyzing the Structure and Function of Trust

For those of you who attended the INSNA SUNBELT conference in Corfu, Greece this past week and saw the poster presentation I made based on my recent research with Dr. Dominik Batorski, or if you didn’t attend or happened to be tanning on the beach while I was presenting, I posted up a full link to a scaled-down version of the poster. For further questions just email me.

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Open Doors

I just returned from a large social network analysis conference (INSNA 2007) in Corfu where I had a slew of worthwhile conversations with people, which seemed more human and less utilitarian than most conferences.

I will relay to you one such funny exchange, which was more of a story than a strict conversation. This is a true story.

Before the conference started, a Canadian woman and her travel partner decided to rent a car and roam around the island of Corfu. They heard about a great bed and breakfast situated on the north of the island, and with address-in-hand they decided to wander over to rent a room for a few days. The Greek housekeeper greeted them with open arms, and without speaking a word of English, motioned them to their room. The Canadians stayed there for a few days, and when they were about to leave, they reached for their wallet and asked the housekeepers how much they needed to pay. The Greeks were completely bewildered, and shook their heads motioning that they didn’t want any money. As it turns out, this home was in fact, a private home and not a bed and breakfast at all!

After chuckling for a few minutes, I stopped to think utopian thoughts about a perfect world where everyone acted like the Greeks. While a hospitality exchange network like Couchsurfing functions similarly, it is still a community with homogeneous ideas regarding trust and travel. This community is still aware of the fact that outside of the community, norms function differently and we can not go over to a Greek home and ask for room and board.

But this story I just relayed caused me to ask a Mary-and-Joseph like question: if someone knocked on your door asking for a room, would you in fact reject them? Honestly. Put yourself in the shoes of the two Greeks. Would you let them in? The guests had the excuse of the language barrier – but if they spoke the language, and Greeks insisted they stay, would they? Why do we refrain from knocking on other people’s doors in search of hospitality. Fear? Social norms? Although this is a quite extreme case, it made me think of our private-public boundaries and our approach to trust.