Part 1
The Random Universe by Albert-Laszlo Baraboi
When Leonhard Eular set out to solve the amusing Konigsberg bridge problem, he had no idea that he would
inadvertently start a new branch of mathematics know as graph theory. Graph theory is how we think about
networks in the present day. How this came about was that the Konigsberg bridge problem came to be the basic
understanding of a network. The different land masses represented the different parts of a given network
and were connected by bridges that resembled the links within a network. One of the major underlying messages
of Euler's discovery was that graphs or networks have properties, hidden in their construction, that can change
them entirely. This also symbolized the importance of understanding graphs/networks because understanding them
could be the key to understanding the world around us. Even with the smallest change in the layout can open up
new possibilites. How networks are created and link to one another is something that we have all seen or can see
thru the use of social media. For example when you make a Facebook account for the first time. You most likely added
your closest friends that you knew where on the site, from there you could see suggestions to other people you can
add determined by the number of mutual friends you have. Information such as schools, hometown and where you are
currently living will factor into who else can show up in your suggestions.
Six Degrees of Separation by Albert-Laszlo Baraboi
In this excerpt Baraboi provides the background for what is now known as the Six Degrees of Separation. He does this
by discussing Anna Erdos' short story "Chains" which claimed that you could establish a link between you and any other
person using at most five acquaintances, which would later become the Six Degrees of Separation. Rediscovered in the 60's
by Stanley Milgram, a Harvard professor, he set out to find the "distance" between any two people is the United States.
He did this by mailing out letters to residents of two cities asking them to add their name to a roster and then selecting
any names of people that they knew or even somewhat knew on the completed roster. To Milgram's surprise people responded and
quickly gathered a large sample size in order to calculate the median number of persons that people knew was 5.5, which was
close to Erdos' suggestion. The number was then rounded up to 6 as more and more data was collected. What I found to be most
intriguing about all of this was that despite our population's increasing size, it can be easily navigated by following social
links or simply people that you know. With an ever increasing population and the rise of social media, the number linking us to
one another will continue to increase. Our society is a dense web as it is and will only become more dense. So even across all
the different types of social media, the end result is the same, more connections between people you are familiar with but also
more to people that you are not so familiar with.
Part 2
The Art of Cyberspace by Pierre Levy & The Image Object Post-Internet by Artie Vierkent
Both of these articles discuss the changing the many aspects of art creation, reception, transmission and modifications
that has become very wide spread amongst cyberspace. In this post-internet world, original art is loosing its ties to the
artist. Not to be mistaken with legal ownership laws that have been implanted to the internet. Levy elaborates on how many
artists will display their work and then anyone else online can critic or modify a copy of it without any knowledge of what
they are looking at. Even with this going on there are artists that prefer this type of getting their art out there. Some
have even let anyone add to their original work and then assign the purpose of their art after the fact.
The Art of Cyberspace also tackled the issue of how art and the role of the artist has changed but in a different light.
Artie Vierkent proposed a more structured system that it must come up with on their own for artists and their art. It is
apparent that the artists and users who frequently view their work, all would rather govern that space because they see
it as the communal space.