Folks from CommonCraft did it again. This time, they aim at explaining social networking to peeps in plain English:
The main focus of the video is the exploration of the core idea in network theory: "your weak links are your strong connection." The video suggests that social networks make these weak relationship apparent. Unless these applications allow an easier way to explore your friends' friends, I don't think that it is that apparent.
It does point out an important feature that most social network lacks: a way to explore your 2nd degree of separation, and perhaps your third. LinkedIn tries to do that by allowing users to only see profiles from people within your cluster. Most people don't realize that: of the 375 connections I have had on LinkedIn, that has only happened to me once, which felt really awkward to me at first, but after a while it was apparent what they were trying to do. Still a bit awkward.
SML Thank You I would like to thank Olivia Lin, a video extraordinaire that I've only met on Facebook for sending me this wonderful video. When I finally meet Olivia in person, she would become a few handful of people who belong in my Life 2.0 circles--something which I have been drafting in my mind but never got my acts together to write about!
[AIDS] must have followed the route already spotted in the spread of innovation and computer viruses: Hubs are among the first infected thanks to their numerous sexual contacts.
...The scale-free topology at AIDS’s disposal allowed the virus to spread and persist.
...Whereas the early spread of AIDS was attributed primarily to homosexual sex, today heterosexual sex is the leading means of transmission. As we’ve established, hubs play a key role in these processes. Their unique role suggests a bold but cruel solution: As long as resources are finite we should treat only the hubs. That is, when a treatment exists but there is not enough money to offer it to everybody who needs it, we should primarily gives it to the hubs.
...The problem is that we do not know for sure who the hubs are.
SML Reference: Barabasi. Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science and everyday life. pp 138-139 (Google Books)
Analyzing the sex web is a huge undertaking.
Whereas most will be happy to disclose their personal or professional relationships using sites like Facebook, Friendster or LinkedIn, few would be readily compelled to disclose personal information about their sex life.
Finding out the topology of sex is important in the ever-changing web of human existence, however. So it is not at all surprising that a scientific research tool called Sexual Relationship Database was created.
According to the Website, the World Health Optimization Management created the project “in an effort to better understand society’s interconnected nature.” For this project, a sexual partner is defined “as a human with whom a person has had oral, anal or vaginal sexual contact.”
Like the Wikipedia, anyone may edit the sexual histories. To ensure accuracy of the study, the organization requires that users log in with a valid email address. They also reserve the right to ban users who knowingly provide false information.
Here is a map of the sex web of a few celebrities to get you started:
Like many people, I love the Simpsons. Seriously. I have seasons 2 - 11 on VHS tape because my mother said when I was in 7th grade, “You should tape the episodes if you like the show because its going to be canceled any day now.” That statement was made in the year 1990. In case you don’t have a calendar, 17 years have passed.
When I was 7, I wanted to play computer games. My mom said, “Well, if you want to play computer games, you should go write my own.” So I did.
What I learned from these game writing is that I have no interest in those games—but the process of trying to solve the problems encountered during programming was great fun.
SML + DOS
When I was 10, I wanted to play with the 286 my dad bought. My mom said, “If you want to use the computer, you need to read all the manuals before you touch the computer.”
Well, the manuals that shipped with the computer happened to be the MS-DOS user guide and MS-DOS reference. I read both manuals cover to cover and til this day I still know the DOS prompts by heart.
SML + Word Processor
After I got my hands onto the PC, my dad bought Wordstar and I wanted to play with it. My mom said, “Well, you don’t need Wordstar, what do you need it for?” I don’t even know what kind of features it had and I said, I guess, just word-processing. My mom said, well, you can write that, right? So 5,000 lines of BASIC code later, I had my own word-processor. Ugh.
SML + Research + Design Production
When I was 14, I wanted to play Monopoly (Wikipedia: Monopoly), but my mom thinks that it’s not an ‘educational’ board game and refuse to buy it for me. She said, “If you want to play Monopoly, you should make it yourself.”
My mom took me to the library and I found a reference for Monopoly, which details every game piece and cards which come with the game. It also provided extended rules and tips on game play.
I read that cover to cover and studied all the rules. Before embarking on my Monopoly factory production, I made sure my sister would at least play that set with me for ten times. I spent the next two weeks using color pencils and created the board, all the cards. My sister only played that with me once. :(
SML + Model Boats
When I was I don’t recall what age, I wanted to get one of those wooden model boats I saw at the hisory museums. My mom told me to build one from wood myself because they didn’t get it from the store either. I never crafted my model boat out of wood. And as I learned from architecture classes in college, it’s not all that easy.
I still haven’t crafted any model boats, but I am seriously thinking about it.
SML + Creativity
I hated my mom back then, but I love my mom now because she has put me in the seat of creation every time there’s a problem. I also learned that it is the process—not the end results—that matter most. The power of this philosophy has made me who I am today.
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