Virtue-nets: toward a model for expanding knowledge networks

Technological innovations in communications infrastructure and software applications such as electronic mail and Internet browsers have increased the volume and complexity of available information. Changes in the demands on time and interest are so prevalent that the "attention economy" has become an observable challenge for today\´s knowledge society. Advances in information technology provide the capability to manage the information overload. This paper explores virtue nets and their advantage in grouping data based on qualitative attributes to support knowledge work. A survey of communication technologies and theories supports the need to develop a network infrastructure to enable intelligent business practices. A network architecture is proposed to support network connectivity using qualitative measures. The paper concludes by providing examples where this infrastructure would be useful.