Weblog (3): The Small World Theory on the Online Landscape

The Small World Theory on the Online Landscape

Studies have found that a network of interrelated web pages complies to some extent with small world theory. Krapivsky, et al (2000) and Barabasi & Albert (1999) argue that this type of network is a scale-free network rather than a network that complies to the small world theory. More on this topic can be found on Kooren’s blog [scale-free networks].
Instead of referring to nodes as individuals, and links as various social interactions, for this type of network nodes are referred to as documents, and links as URLs (Bianconi & Barabasi, 2001). In this context, two documents or sites on the internet are separated by only a small number of mouse clicks (Johnson, 2000). A network of interrelated web pages possesses a high degree of order, Barabasi and Albert (1999) observed. Universally centralised around hubs, they represent the limited number of nodes that may be linked to other organized networks (Barabasi, 1999). As a result, while the network of the internet is quite stable as a whole, the individual connections between nodes are themselves susceptible to crashes. This is because centralised hubs are connected to these nodes, and when a few nodes are removed, the system can potentially fall apart (Johnson, 2000).
Scientists such as Watts (Socialontology, 2008) have applied the discoveries made about the network of the internet to the structures of social networks. They observed similarities between the interconnectedness made possible by the web in comparison with that of physical human relations (Barabasi, 1999, Newman, Barabasi & Watts, 2006, Watts, 2004). Watts further (Socialontology, 2008, 2008) stated that this could contribute to a breakthrough in how scientists might synthesise new information about the internet with the medical field. This could potentially provide scientists with a better understanding of how disease spreads through a human population.


References:

Barabasi, A. L., Albert, R. 1999. Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science, 286, 509-12.

Bianconi, G., Barabasi, A.L. 2001. Competition and multiscaling in evolving networks. EDP Sciences, 54, 436-442.

Johnson, G. (2000). First Cells, Then Species, Now the Web. The New York Times Company. New York: New York viewed from www.nytimes.com

Krapivsky, P. L., Redner, S. & Leyvraz, F. 2000. Connectivity of growing random networks. Phys. Rev. Lett, 85, 4629-32.

Newman, M., Barabasi, A.L & Watts, D.J. 2006. The Structure and Dynamics of Networks, Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Socialontology. 2008. A documentary on networks, social and otherwise_Part 2 [Online]. Socialontology. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-nfySqf9M [Accessed 10 August 2010].

Socialontology. 2008. A documentary on networks, social and otherwise_Part 1 [Online]. Socialontology. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcCpEf6_Ofg [Accessed 10 August 2010].

Watts, D. J. 2004. The “New” Science of Networks. Annual Review Sociology, 30, 243-270.