What is "hyperconnectivity"

n. 1 (context computing English) The state of a network in which the number of nodes is far in excess of the number of users. 2 (context pathology English) The state of the brain, in schizophrenia or epileptic seizure, in which an excessive number of connections are made between neurons. 3 Increased connectedness of human beings through social media, etc.

Hyperconnectivity is a term invented by Canadian social scientists Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, arising from their studies of person-to-person and person-to-machine communication in networked organizations and networked societies. The term refers to the use of multiple means of communication, such as email, instant messaging, telephone, face-to-face contact and Web 2.0 information services.

Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, “Networks of Distance and Media: A Case Study of a High Tech Firm.” Trust and Communities conference, Bielefeld, Germany, July, 2003; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman. 2004. “Local Virtuality in a High-Tech Networked Organization.” Anaylse & Kritik 26 (special issue 1): 241–57 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, “How Computer-Mediated Hyperconnectivity and Local Virtuality Foster Social Networks of Information and Coordination in a Community of Practice.” International Sunbelt Social Network Conference, Redondo Beach, California, February 2005.; Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman. “Hyperconnected Net Work: Computer-Mediated Community in a High-Tech Organization.” Pp. 281–333 in The Firm as a Collaborative Community: Reconstructing Trust in the Knowledge Economy, edited by Charles Heckscher and Paul Adler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006

Hyperconnectivity is also a trend in computer networking in which all things that can or should communicate through the network will communicate through the network. This encompasses person-to-person, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine communication. The trend is fueling large increases in bandwidth demand and changes in communications because of the complexity, diversity and integration of new applications and devices using the network.

The communications equipment maker Nortel has recognized hyperconnectivity as a pervasive and growing market condition that is at the core of their business strategy. CEO Mike Zafirovski and other executives have been quoted extensively in the press referring to the hyperconnected era.

Apart from network-connected devices such as landline telephones, mobile phones and computers, newly-connectable devices range from mobile devices such as PDAs, MP3 players, GPS receivers and cameras through to an ever wider collection of machines including cars refrigerators and coffee makers, all equipped with embedded wireline or wireless networking capabilities. The IP enablement of all devices is a fundamental limitation of IP version 4, and IPv6 is the enabling technology to support massive address explosions.

There are other, independent, uses of the term:

• The U.S. Army describes hyperconnectivity as a digitization of the battlefield where all military elements are connected.
• Hyperconnectivity is used in medical terminology to explain billions and billions of neurons creating excessive connections, within the brain associated with schizophrenia, or epileptic seizures or DS