Apr 7

Written by: Myra Norton
4/7/2010 9:39 PM

There are a lot of ways to go about this journey of finding T-Bone, but I’d like to start by providing a bit of a framework in terms of thinking about a concept that is wrought with terms like “Influencers”, “Opinion Leaders”, “Networks”, “Social Networks”, and a host of others that seem to mean something different every day.  So, let’s start with the idea of “networks” – specifically, a network of people.  Take a look at this fun little website put together by a group of folks at University of Virginia:  http://oracleofbacon.org/ .  You can input the name of any actor and this application will show you the individual’s “Bacon number”, which is basically the number of “links” between the actor whose name you enter and Kevin Bacon.  Aside from being a great game at a party (and now you know why I don’t get invited to a lot of parties), this little application demonstrates two interesting points about networks.  Think about the following two questions:

1.       What do the “links” between people mean in this context?

2.       Why Kevin Bacon?  What is it about Kevin Bacon that allows him to have such “connectivity” with other actors?

Think about these questions, and I’ll be back tomorrow to give you my answers.

Tags: