Six Degrees of Separation

FROM: Steven M. Croteau

What NEED does this meet?
“It’s who you know”

The aim is to associate people who have a “weak” connection with each other through an Internet database. From the article “The Connectors: Meet the Hyper-networked Nodes Who Secretly Run the World.”, by Jeff Howe, Wired Magazine, November 2003:

“In 1974, a Harvard sociologist made a seemingly unremarkable discovery. It is, in fact, ‘who you know’. His study asked several hundred white-collar workers how they'd landed their jobs. More than half credited a "personal connection." Duh. But then it got interesting: The researcher, Mark Granovetter, dug deeper and discovered that four-fifths of these backdoor hires barely knew their benefactors. As it turns out, close friends are great for road trips, intimate dinners, and the occasional interest-free loan, but they suck for job leads and blind dates - they know the same people you do. In other words, it's not so much who you know, but who you vaguely know. Granovetter called the phenomenon "the strength of weak ties." He had discovered the human node.”

What is the APPROACH?
Create local groups by getting three “weak” acquaintances/friends to agree to input limited information about themselves, such as where they live, work, went to school, etc. into and online database. (Close friends, family, co-workers are not recommended. In fact it’s the person who has a diverse background and worldly experience that short-circuits the network.)

Next, have each of them also get three similar people to do the same, etc. etc. Everyone in the database must agree to op-in and input their information and to be part of the retrieval system. All participants can then search the database for relevant information, but you cannot just search for Say,President Bush, and get his e-mail addres.

Once a connection is made the length of the trail to your goal is revealed, but only the e-mail of the person closest to you will be revealed. Each person can only be connected to another point on the network by traveling through the chain of acquaintances that connect them. That way you will only receive e-mails from people within your local group asking you to make the next connection for them and vice-versa.

What are the BENEFITS to people?
”I didn’t know that my old high school buddy’s wife is the head of H. R. at Pepsi, and that’s where I’m applying for a position!”

“Your English professor’s brother is the Dean at Stanford? I’m trying to get my daughter in there!”

“Your brother-in-law works at Euro-Disney? Can he sell me his employees passes?”

What is the COMPETITION?
None that I know of...?

What BUDGET & LOGISTICS are required?
Web server space, database software, SQL code,...?