Method and system for using a situational network
A network system for accessing situation related information is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system includes a network connection for receiving an indication of an occurrence of a situation; a situational network formed based on the occurrence of the situation, the situational network including a plurality of participant devices determined to be geographically proximate to the situation, each of the participant devices corresponding to a participant in the situational network; a second network connection for presenting a roll call query to each of the plurality of participant devices soliciting a reply related to a status of the participant; a plurality of network connections established for receiving a status response from the participant devices; and a database for aggregating the status responses from responsive participants into a roll call list.
1. A method for forming a situational network and providing supplemental information comprising:
maintaining a database of a plurality of user nodes and multi-dimensional node-to-node links characterizing relationships between the plurality of user nodes via dimensions in a multi-dimensional information network;
obtaining an indication of an occurrence of a situation;
forming the situational network as a subset of the multi-dimensional information network based at least in part on the situation by:
establishing an event node corresponding to the situation, wherein the event node is discoverable to each respective user device of a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of user nodes by browsing a data feed provided based on the database and wherein the event node contains information pertinent to the situation;
creating a first subset of the plurality of user nodes based on a determination that the first subset of the plurality of user nodes is associated with devices that are in geographic proximity to the situation;
presenting the information pertinent to the situation to devices associated with the first subset of the plurality of user nodes;
joining at least a first node of the first subset of the plurality of user nodes to the event node based on interaction with the presented information pertinent to the situation;
receiving an indication of the supplemental information;
analyzing the database that comprises the multi-dimensional node-to-node links to identify a second node included in the database that is connected via at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to a third node of the database, wherein the at least one dimension is indicative of potential interest in the situation;
providing to a device associated with the second node the supplemental information; and
in response to interacting with the supplemental information, causing a redirection of a web browser application operating on the device associated with the second node to a webpage containing information related to the situation.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to interacting with the supplemental information, joining the second node to the event node.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database comprises:
identifying a direct link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is one of the first subset of the plurality of user nodes.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database comprises:
identifying a direct link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is joined to the event node.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database comprises:
identifying an indirect link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is joined to the event node and wherein both the second node and the third node are connected by a preference dimension to an additional node.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the second node comprises identifying the second node based on a dimension in the multi-dimensional information network other than a dimension indicative of interaction with the event node.
7. A system for forming a situational network and providing supplemental information comprising:
one or more central processing units of an event node server configured to:
maintain a database of a plurality of user nodes and multi-dimensional node-to-node links characterizing relationships between the plurality of user nodes via dimensions in a multi-dimensional information network;
obtain an indication of an occurrence of a situation; and
form the situational network as a subset of the multi-dimensional information network based at least in part on the situation by:
establishing an event node corresponding to the situation, wherein the event node is discoverable to each respective user device of a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of user nodes by browsing a data feed provided based on the database and wherein the event node contains information pertinent to the situation;
creating a first subset of the plurality of user nodes based on a determination that the first subset of the plurality of user nodes is associated with devices that are in geographic proximity to the situation; and
one or more network controllers of the event node server configured to:
present the information pertinent to the situation to devices associated with the first subset of the plurality of user nodes;
wherein the one or more central processing units are configured to:
join at least a first node of the first subset of the plurality of user nodes to the event node based on interaction with the presented information pertinent to the situation;
receive an indication of the supplemental information; and
analyze the database that comprises the multi-dimensional node-to-node links to identify a second node included in the database that is connected via at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to a third node of the database, wherein the at least one dimension is indicative of potential interest in the situation;
wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to:
provide to a device associated with the second node the supplemental information; and
wherein the one or more central processing units are configured to:
in response to interacting with the supplemental information, cause a redirection of a web browser application operating on the device associated with the second node to a webpage containing information related to the situation.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to:
in response to interacting with the supplemental information, join the second node to the event node.
9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to identify the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database nu:
identifying a direct link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is one of the first subset of the plurality of user nodes.
10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to identify the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database by:
identifying a direct link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is joined to the event node.
11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to identify the second node included in the database that is connected via the at least one dimension in the multi-dimensional information network to the third node of the database by:
identifying an indirect link between the second node and the third node, wherein the third node is joined to the event node and wherein both the second node and the third node are connected by a preference dimension to an additional node.
12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more network controllers are configured to identify the second node by identifying the second node based on a dimension in the multi-dimensional information network other than a dimension indicative of interaction with the event node.