by zoewinther -

Links, pictures, TEDs… sharing is caring

“The same mathematics of networks that governs the interactions of molecules in a cell, neurons in a brain, and species in an ecosystem can be used to understand the complex interconnections between people, the emergence of group identity, and the paths along which information, norms, and behavior spread from person to person to person.”

— James Fowler answering the question “If you only had a single statement to pass on to others summarizing the most vital lesson to be drawn from your work, what would it be?” inStarting Over, SEED, Aprill 22, 2011.

CREATIVE NETWORKING BLOG
CREATIVE NETWORKING BLOG

T H E STRENGTH O F WEAK TIES

Th e argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less
likely to be socially involved with one another than are our close
friends (strong ties).Thus the set of people made u p of any individual and his or her acquaintances comprises a low-density network (one in which many of the possible relational lines are absent) whereas the set consisting of the same individual and his or her close friends will be densely knit (many of the possible lines are present).

The hidden influence of social networks: Nicholas Christakis on TED.com

Manuel Lima: The Power of Networks. Mapping an increasingly complex world | TED

The Power of Networks — Animated by RSA

And moreeee:

☞ Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics, TED video, June 2010
☞ Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas
☞ The ‘rich club’ that rules your brain
☞ Eshel Ben-Jacob, Learning from Bacteria about Social Networks, Google Tech Talk, Sept 30, 2011 Video
☞ Genes and social networks: new research links genes to friendship networks
☞ Manuel Castells, Network Theories of Power – video lecture, USCAnnenberg
☞ Networks tag on Lapidarium

by zoewinther -

Chains

We were arguing energetically about whether the world is actually
evolving, headed in a particular direction, or whether the entire
universe is just a returning rhythm’s game, a renewal of eternity.
“There has to be something of crucial importance,” I said in the
middle of debate. “I just don’t quite know how to express it in a
new way; I hate repeating myself.”

The concept of Six Degrees of Separation was made famous by Stanley Milgram’s Small World experiments in the 1960s, and has been popularised by the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

However, the idea of a Small World appeared much earlier, in 1929, in a curious short story called Lancszemek (Chains) by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy. Click here to download a PDF of the English translation.

by zoewinther -

Kevin Bacon has a Bacon number of 0

I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation. Between us and everybody else on this planet. The president of the United States. A gondolier in Venice. fill in the names. I find that A) tremendously comforting that we’re so close and B) like Chinese water torture that we’re so close. Because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. It’s not just big names. It’s anyone. A native in a rain forest. A Tierra del Fuegan. An Eskimo. I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. It’s a profound thought. How Paul found us. How to find the man whose son he pretends to be. Or perhaps is his son, although I doubt it. How every person is a new door, opening up into other worlds. Six degrees of separation between me and everyone else on this planet. But to find the right six people.

– Six Degrees of Separation

The small-world experiment comprised several experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram and other researchers examining the average path length for social networks of people in the United States. The research was groundbreaking in that it suggested that human society is a small-world-type network characterized by short path-lengths. The experiments are often associated with the phrase “six degrees of separation“, although Milgram did not use this term himself.

– Small-world Experiment

 

by zoewinther -

Horizontal spaces

…one of the issues I have with those sites [YouTube, Vimeo] is that they’re still stuck in this broadcast-mode type of mentality where you post something and it’s there, and any sort of interactivity takes place in the form of a list.

Obviously, there’s so much you can do with that, and you can expand it in so many ways. I feel like the iPad is going to help people start to see movies as datasets, instead of linear pieces that you look at from beginning to end, so people start navigating these spaces more horizontally.

— Ryan Trecartin on interactivity and non-linear video online
by zoewinther -

Books belong to their readers

Chantelle‘s entry this week about books that change each time you read them excites me almost as much as I think they excite her, and it reminded me of something I read once that asked a question along the lines of: what if when we read we are reading what we want to read, or in a sense what our imagination makes up as we go along, ie that we write what we are reading as we read it.

I also think this is the cutest thing I have ever read:

With the aid of technology, we can create millions or trillions or billions (not sure which is bigger) of stories.

While I think the idea of an ever-changing and never-ending book is amazing – I mean we have all mourned that heartbreak of when a really good book ends, right? – I can’t help but think it already exists.

It’s funny, but it seems each time I read James Joyce’s “Ulysses”, it’s a different book, begging the question: Has the book changed… or have I?

It’s one of Ted Mosby’s quintessential quotes, and it gives a nice insight into this idea. My life has literally been changed by certain books: they have this power of changing the way you think and subsequently how you go about your life. And I like to believe I grow as a person and a creative as I open my mind up to new ideas. As our experiences grow, our perspectives change, our prejudices are disrupted… these factors all influence who we are, and often re-reading a favourite book after a few years can feel like reading an entirely different book all together. Has the book changed, or have I? I know that I’ve changed, but I don’t see why these concepts are mutually exclusive. Books belong to their readers; we impart our own meaning; we construct our own knowledge from the information presented to us.

 

by zoewinther -

The question isn’t to be or not to be

The question is HOW to be.

I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake this week with my readings and lecture posts, but they are coming I swear! This subject has caused me to stew endlessly about topics I didn’t realise I was interested in but then ultimately just re-post interesting things I find online as my thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations. (Ie, I spend too much time on Tumblr.)

I’ve been looking back over the first couple of weeks of this course, and I’m struck at how simple but profound it is to make the content relevant. In one of my typical mid-semester uni meltdowns about the future and whyyyyy is life so hard, I was brought some kind of solace in Adrian’s words from week three (possibly not verbatim, please forgive my note-taking skills): We are invited to dance. We don’t know how the dance goes; we don’t even know the first steps. But this is not a reason not to dance.

So with these words and a constructivist perspective in mind, really all that is left to do, is do. We learn by doing, we learn by making. In making we show our thinking, and fwock all I do is think/overthink. The only way to learn to ride a bike is by riding a bike. <Insert more cliches that are actually insightful and helping me with my life here>

How am I supposed to know what I want to do or at least in what direction I want to take my life and career without experimenting and trying out different things? We considered in the first week why we are at university, and I think that might be a big factor: the opportunities for experimenting and playing with different fields are almost endless. RMIT definitely know what they are doing in that regard.

The last few weeks have also seen me ask myself ‘What if’ more times than I care to admit, and outside of a design framework this question is easily applied to life. What if I joined this club, or wrote this article, or posted this clip I’ve been sitting on for months, too embarrassed about what might come of it. Embarrassment is overrated. There’s no time like now to be brave, and what is the worst that could happen? Yes, publishing online is permanent and media professionals success and failure is largely based on reputation, but who is going to fault someone for trying something new, taking a risk. There’s nobody I admire more than those willing to put themselves out there, take the fall, laugh at themselves when it all goes wrong.

I’ve had a few projects on the back-burner for a while and I’ve been inspired to bring them out. I hope you don’t judge me too harshly. What if we all just took the leap? Why shouldn’t we just do it?

Life is a mess. But I don’t think that’s necessarily, or even at all, a negative thing.

Here is a thing I did – from my current scrapbook/ideas/notebook: my original ‘blog’