This vision of the network, commonly held as a political ideal for networked publics and sometimes misunderstood as the actual structure on which the Internet is based, is taken from RAND researcher Paul Baran’s famous model of the distributed network. So far, networked publics have found ways of routing around such damage, providing ways of getting around China’s censorship and exposing the NSA’s infamous room at the AT&T switching station in San Francisco. Whether network culture plants the seeds of greater democratic participation and deliberation, or whether it will only be used to mobilize already like-minded individuals, remains to be seen.

Check out the event schedule to see a listing of all of the social media events in San Francisco this week. Susan Tenby is the Online Community Director at San Francisco-based nonprofit TechSoup Global and leads an active community of nonprofit staff and volunteers in Second Life. Bill Johnston, Director, Online Community Research Network, ForumOne February 1st through 5th is Social Media Week . Social Media Week features a week of social media events, including, conferences, discussions, and meet-ups that take place simultaneously in multiple cities

Check out the event schedule to see a listing of all of the social media events in San Francisco this week. Susan Tenby is the Online Community Director at San Francisco-based nonprofit TechSoup Global and leads an active community of nonprofit staff and volunteers in Second Life. All Marino, Executive Director - Community Operations & Social Media, Edmunds.com Liza Sperling, Real-Time Sentiment & Trends February 1st through 5th is Social Media Week . Social Media Week features a week of social media events, including, conferences, discussions,