An approach to systems/networks:

Humans break down and build up structures of meaning in order to communicate with themselves and others. These structures are used in our "unconscious" cognitive abilities (how we process visual information) as well as our "conscious" technological/communicative structures (language, ergonomics, cellphones). The interactions of these structures are described as systems and define the use and involvement we can have with an object/system.

 (Understanding the conditional structures of water freezing in the winter allows us to freeze it in the summer).

Methods of interaction

The most common interaction we have with systems is the constant "unconscious" organization produced by our nervous systems. We take in and give meaning to our senses continually. We make and understand gravity and "up" from our inner ear, our eyes give us depth and the combination gives us love and the desire to "Do it". In these systems the descriptor and described have meaning based on their use value in the system (if you get water in your inner ear you do not have a "up" anymore). They become "self regulating" systems because they are linked and specified to time and place and therefore are mutually defined.

Metadata and communication

The situation changes when we start describing systems with other systems. The system of language gives us a freedom from instance but in doing so disassociates its use value from the system it is describing. The checks on language are based on a two-tiered process: the first tier is the ability of a person to interact and perceive a system the second is the ability to describe the system to themselves and others. This slows the feedback process and makes the functionality dependent on a removed interpretation.

Human technologies and metadata

Although Metadata historically isn't a very efficient means of interacting with a system, the power to transduce the functionality of life has made it very popular. The content of most of our technologies/networks are based on the principles of metadata and description. This is done so much that we have replaced many personal/social functionality with Meta function e.g.: reading an article on consumer confidence and then filling out a questionnaire on the subject right below the article. The question of time is removed and taken for granted in the new Meta systems allowing for the logical refusal of systemic parts and the growth of parasitic systems like hedge funds.

The change in human technologies
With the advent of new technological/informational systems/networks there is no longer a separation of timed input/output, the metadata is now the current actual data of the system Example: if the above article on consumer confidence was presented digitally the response could happen in “real time” creating a linked relationship between input and output. Effectively this would make it one system of information instead of two. This would have the clear result of making data structures not just representations of systems but binding them with the systems themselves, negating any outside or time based influences.

Inclusion
Everything that touches a system is in a system. Systems are based on the functionality of all parts not just the ones in immediate focus.  If one-person lies, then everyone lies. This may not be a bad thing, but if you function as if nobody lies, it is .So to have a functional system it has to self represent itself as clearly as possible and to make the modes of change explicit as possible. In this way the interaction of parts will become dynamically allocated.

Encapsulating personal language to make it socially digestible.
A well functioning system has to be specific to the individual while being able to communicate with the social. A good interface needs to be scalable to need (represent one thing or many things) and have parallel relationships to the things they control. Allowing for a personal language/system to develop that could then interface a personal system with a larger group.