Week 9 Symposium

 

 

 

 

 

Every day I catch the train to and from uni, to and from work. It seems to be almost second nature now, hopping on and off, connecting from one line to another. In yesterday’s lecture Elliot explained that when we deal with distributed networks, we are effectively dealing with nodes and restrictions of the “emerging hub system”. This relates to the map of Metro because for example – Richmond Station is a hub station, and the nodes are the many lines that transfer off of it. When dealing with networks, this says that some websites link to other information.

Another point I really liked was brought up by Adrian, when he was speaking about the idea of linking and connecting to others on the internet through common ground, where we can search what meets our requirements or understandings, and find several others who think likewise. However this theory is not to be confused with something like hashtags on twitter, where that is a more open, free-flowing realm.

Finally, bacon. No, not bakin’ bacon, Kevin Bacon. This was something I had heard of before, the “6 degrees of Kevin Bacon”, which ironically rhymes with the theory it links to, “6 Degrees of Separation”. The Bacon theory suggests that all celebrities, no matter how well known or not, have 6 or less “bacon points” between them, and all those on the big or small screen are in some way “related” to Kevin Bacon.

This symposium went in so many different directions, it was a really good one.