Judith Brouwer
in spreading knowledge among the other members of the correspondence net
work.118 Through the use of the Kumu program, it becomes clear that the mem
bers with the largest Closeness Centrality numbers are Justus Tjeenk (0.712), Mar-
tinus Slabber (0,391), and Pieter Boddaert (0.388).119 These members would be the
most effective in disseminating knowledge among the network of the ZGW. The
ZGW thus functioned as an important centre for the dissemination of knowledge
in different ways.
The fourth and final stage is the employment of knowledge. This stage is more
problematic, as an academy as an institution seldomly employed knowledge. The
turning of knowledge into useful knowledge was the duty of the members, who
could utilise the knowledge that was created by the academy in their professional
and personal lives. The Membership Register showcases that the members of the
ZGW occupied many different positions in society; they were active as medi
cal doctors, government officials, army officers, teachers in academia, etc. The
members were thus in positions where new mechanical knowledge could actively
change society. Whether they used the society's created knowledge to do so is
unknown.
Conclusion
The correspondence of the ZGW presents an interesting view into the workings
of a learned society in the 18th century. The importance of a widespread network
becomes visible when applying the model of the creation of knowledge by Peter
Burke to the ZGW's correspondence. His four stages - gathering, analysing, dis
seminating, and employing -visualise the different ways in which correspondence
networks could be utilised. All stages needed to have an extensive, widespread
and capable network. The recruitment of new members was therefore of utmost
importance. The ZGW approached potential members itself by sending diplo
mas, but members also often brought in new members, whom they had derived
from their networks. SNA shed light on the members of the ZGW who played a
paramount role in the recruitments. The ZGW played the most fundamental role
in both the gathering and dissemination stages for the creation of knowledge. The
115
118 Okamoto, Wei Xiang-Yang, Ranking of Closeness Centrality, 187.
119 The program Kumu was used to generate the Closeness Centrality. On the general calculation
of Closeness Centrality see: M. M. Sathik A. A. Rasheed, A Centrality Approach to Identify
Sets of Key Players in an Online Weblog. In: International Journal of Recent Trends in Engi
neering 2, no. 3 (2009), 86; Okamoto, Wei Xiang-Yang, Ranking of Closeness Centrality, 187.
