Week 5 Blog

What I found interesting about the Barabasi article was the whole idea of connectedness. The article talks about how there are connectors and hubs that provide the links for computers, just like people can in society. In the article the example of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon was given to show how people are interconnected and how some people are more connected than others and some are hubs that allow us to be connected. The same is true for the internet as there are some hubs that provide the links for various different sites and organizations. The fact that we are so connected makes the World Wide Web, which is so large and expansive seem small because there are ways to get to most things in a few short clicks making something that is far away and distant seem so close. The way in which the internet is linked is much the same in which society works because as people we liked to be connected and our levels of connectedness are what can help us in life and what some people use to distinguish themselves from others.

When I read the article and it talked about how people were connected I thought about how I feel I am so connected. I have lived in Seattle my whole life and grew up in one house, in the same neighborhood. In my life I have attended three schools, my grade school, high school and now the University of Washington. The fact that I have lived in the same area my whole life has made me very connected to the area. With the same group of people going to my grade school and then high school it was fairly easy to stay connected. It seems as if I am so connected to this area that I cannot go somewhere without out seeing someone I know from my neighborhood, any of my schools, or someone that knows my family. It doesn’t matter where I am going I am bound to run into someone I know. I could go down to the University Village and I would see someone I know. I could go out to the bars and I would see someone I know. This whole level of connectedness, which at times can seem inescapable, is actually fairly reassuring. It is nice to know that I am always going to know people wherever I go. It is also nice to know that whatever I may need I have some sort of a connection to someone in the area that can help. If I were to need a lawyer, I know a bunch of those. If I needed a dentist or a doctor, there are several. This is also very reassuring because I know that if I know someone who needs something and they are not from the area then I can help them out because of the connections that I have established with numerous people in this area over the years. The most relevant example that I can think of to represent this is when my sister was attending the University of Washington and a friend of hers, who was from California, needed a dentist and so my sister called up our family friend who is a dentist and got her friend an appointment. In society this level of connectedness is very important and influential. Much is the same for the internet because it takes a large and daunting “presence” and makes it smaller and much more manageable.