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

1. A method for inferring a contact, comprising steps executed by a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable for:

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;

inferring a dominating contact to the requesting member by searching the social network in increasing distance along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member, wherein each dimension comprises a different hierarchy in the social network, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions, wherein the dominating contact is a shorter distance from one of the nodes than a non-dominating contact in all of the plurality of dimensions, and wherein the dominating contact is a strictly shorter distance from the one of the nodes than the non-dominating contact in at least one of the plurality of dimensions;

establishing an upper bound on the distance in each of the plurality of dimensions when a required type of dominating contact is discovered; and

displaying the inferred dominating contact to the requesting member.

2. 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 dominating contact.

3. 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.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accepting the inferred dominating contact; and

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

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

inferring a plurality of non-dominating contacts, including the non-dominating contact, 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.

6. A computer-implemented system for inferring a contact, comprising:

at least one computer, including:

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;

a system for inferring a dominating contact to the requesting member by searching the social network in increasing distance along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member, wherein each dimension comprises a different hierarchy in the social network, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions, wherein the dominating contact is a shorter distance from one of the nodes than a non-dominating contact in all of the plurality of dimensions, and wherein the dominating contact is a strictly shorter distance from the one of the nodes than the non-dominating contact in at least one of the plurality of dimensions; and

a system for establishing an upper bound on the distance in each of the plurality of dimensions when a required type of dominating contact is discovered.

7. The system of claim 6 , 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 dominating contact.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the plurality of dimensions is selected from the group consisting of management, location, member-type, and job responsibility.

9. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:

a system for accepting the inferred dominating 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 dominating contact.

10. The system of claim 6 , further comprising:

a system for inferring a plurality of non-dominating contacts, including the non-dominating contact, 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.

11. 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;

inferring a dominating contact to the requesting member by searching the social network in increasing distance along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member, wherein each dimension comprises a different hierarchy in the social network, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions, wherein the dominating contact is a shorter distance from one of the nodes than a non-dominating contact in all of the plurality of dimensions, and wherein the dominating contact is a strictly shorter distance from the one of the nodes than the non-dominating contact in at least one of the plurality of dimensions; and

establishing an upper bound on the distance in each of the plurality of dimensions when a required type of dominating contact is discovered.

12. The program product of claim 11 , further comprising program code for performing the steps of:

accepting the inferred dominating contact; and

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

13. A contact inferring method, comprising steps executed by a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable for:

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, wherein each dimension comprises a different hierarchy in the corporate social network;

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

inferring at least one dominating 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, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions wherein the at least one dominating contact is a shorter distance from one of the nodes than a non-dominating contact in all of the plurality of dimensions, and wherein the at least one dominating contact is a strictly shorter distance from the one of the nodes than the non-dominating contact in at least one of the plurality of dimensions;

establishing an upper bound on the distance in each of the plurality of dimensions when a required type of dominating contact is discovered;

accepting an inferred dominating 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 dominating contact.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of dimensions are selected from the group consisting of management, location, member-type, and job responsibility.