Network Reading

Duncan Watts "Six Degrees of Interconnection" (2003)

This article is explaining the different definitions of "space". The space that he is discussing is meant by sociologists and the social space that people possess. He said that social distance takes into account many kinds of non-physical separation, such as differences in wealth, education, nationality, religion or profession, which often turn out to be more relevant to social interaction than mere physical proximity. On the other hand, the author basically states that everyone in the world is connected by six degrees of relationships. For example, a personal friend would be someone who is one degree and a friend's friend would be a second degree and so on.

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi "The random universe"(2002)

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi "The random universe" has a simple aim which is to get us to think about networks. The author said that the networks are present everywhere, and we just need an eye for them . He tells us way too much minutiae about Leonhard Euler, who in 1736 introduced the idea of graphs and unintentionally created a branch of mathematics known as graph theory, which today is the basis for our thinking about networks. Random network theory says that nodes in a network connect to each other randomly

compared

The two readings, Pierre Levy's "The Art of Cyberspace" and Joseph Beuys' Nicolas Bourriaud "Relational Aesthetics", were has similar and different part. They both included themes of networking and interconnectivity. Levy thinks that cyberspace revolves around a messages, a blurred relationship between author and reader, and how cyberspace changed its perception and experience. Bourriaud’s main focus is on the relationship between the artwork and the cultural space in which it was created.