Messenger proves six degrees of separation
August 05, 2008 09:41am
A SOCIAL graph derived from billions of instant messages validates folklore that there are about six degrees of separation between any two strangers on the planet.
A research team at US software giant Microsoft studied 30 billion instant messages sent by 240 million people in June of 2006 and determined that, on average, any two could be linked in 6.6 steps.
"We've been able to put our finger on the social pulse of human connectivity - on a planetary scale - and we've confirmed that it's indeed a small world.'' Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz said.
"Over the next few decades, new kinds of computing applications, from smart networks to automated translation systems, will help make the world even smaller, with closer social connections and deeper understanding among people.''
A SOCIAL graph derived from billions of instant messages validates folklore that there are about six degrees of separation between any two strangers on the planet.
A research team at US software giant Microsoft studied 30 billion instant messages sent by 240 million people in June of 2006 and determined that, on average, any two could be linked in 6.6 steps.
"We've been able to put our finger on the social pulse of human connectivity - on a planetary scale - and we've confirmed that it's indeed a small world.'' Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz said.
"Over the next few decades, new kinds of computing applications, from smart networks to automated translation systems, will help make the world even smaller, with closer social connections and deeper understanding among people.''
Mr Horvitz and colleague Jure Leskovec estimated that the Microsoft Messenger chats they studied amount to half of the instant messages sent worldwide in June two years ago.
The researchers stressed that they were not privy to the contents of messages and that information indicating people's identities was removed.
"Messenger data gives us a unique opportunity to study distances in the social network,'' the researchers wrote in a paper detailing their work.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time a planetary-scale social network has been available to validate the well-known '6 degrees of separation' finding.''
The "6 degrees of separation'' premise stems from an oft-cited 1969 study by Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers.
Mr Milgram and Mr Travers asked nearly 300 people in the US state of Nebraska to send a letter to someone in Boston through acquaintances.
People were considered one degree apart from a friend, two degrees away from a friend's friend and so on.
While most of the letters didn't make it to the designated recipient, those that did arrived with an average of 6.2 degrees of separation from senders.
The results were not considered scientifically reliable, but inspired a play, a film, a game, and a charitable sixdegrees.org website launched by actor Kevin Bacon in 2007.
"We used a population sample that is more than two million times larger than the group studied earlier and confirmed the classic finding,'' Mr Horvitz and Mr Leskovec concluded.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24130825-5014108,00.html
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Gaolled Pigeon!
Drug-smuggling pigeon thrown behind bars
August 22, 2008 03:18am
BOSNIAN police have impounded a pigeon after discovering prisoners used it to smuggle drugs into one of the country's highest security jails, an official said today.
"The guards suspected the animal might be involved in drug smuggling once they noticed four prisoners visibly intoxicated shortly after the pigeon landed on a prison window," Zenica prison official Josip Pojavnik said.
All four inmates had tested positive for heroin, said Mr Pojavnik, adding disciplinary proceedings had been launched against the inmates.
The drugs had probably been stuffed into tiny bags attached to the legs of the carrier pigeon, which one of the prisoners had previously been allowed to keep as a pet in his cell, he said.
"We suspect that the pigeon carried the drugs from Tuzla," a town around 70km north-east of Zenica in central Bosnia, he said.
The pigeon had been taken into custody by police, who have launched an investigation aimed at identifying those who had loaded it up with the drugs.
"We do not know what to do with the pigeon, but for the time being it will remain behind bars," Mr Pojavnik said.
The incident had prompted the prison administration to consider closing down a prisoner pigeon-breeding project established in a ward of the jail as part of a rehabilitation program.
Mr Pojavnik insisted those birds had not been involved in the incident.
A similar case of carrier pigeons being used by prisoners was reportedly uncovered earlier this year at a jail in Brazil, where the birds were being used to deliver drugs and even mobile telephones.
Cartwheels Banned!
Outrage as school bans cartwheels
By Kathleen Skene
August 26, 2008 09:45am
FORGET smoking or bullying - at a Townsville primary school, doing a cartwheel in the playground can get you suspended.
Belgian Gardens State School has banned all forms of gymnastics during breaks, including handstands and somersaults. Even the humble forward roll has been given the flick, the Townsville Bulletin reports.
Mum Kylie Buschgens was dumbfounded when her daughter Cali, 10, was told she could no longer do cartwheels, even on the grass.
Her friend was busted and punished by the cartwheel cops this week.
"We had to practise for a play and she did one on the grass," Cali said. "Two teachers took her upstairs and she had to sit down for the rest of the day and not do anything."
Ms Buschgens met with school principal Glenn Dickson and was told gymnastics activities were a "medium risk level 2" that posed a danger to children.
After making her own inquiries, Ms Buschgens found gymnastics was indeed listed as a level 2 risk – when performed in class – along with cricket, soccer, tennis, netball, touch football and other sports. Those sports have not been banned at lunchtime."
I said (to the principal), 'What if she keeps doing a handstand?' and he said she'd get into trouble," Ms Buschgens said.
"I asked what would happen if she was a repeat handstand offender and he said that would be defiance and it could lead to her being suspended."
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