For our Methodology Module, I did my project on networking. A network is a system of elements or entities that are connected by explicit relations. They are defined by specific relations among elements in the system (Drucker). An example of a network is a wifi router because all of your devices are connected to one router. Another example is a food web, in which everything goes back down to the primary producer of the grass/plants.
When Harry Met Sally Cast’s Bacon Number
To demonstrate networking, I found the Bacon numbers of the cast of my favorite movie, “When Harry Met Sally.” This is just simply the amount of celebrities away from the actor, Kevin Bacon. To calculate this, you use https://oracleofbacon.org/ to find out their number. For example, the lead, Billy Crystal’s Bacon Number is 2 because he was in America’s Sweethearts with Julia Roberts, who was in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon.
Importance of This
This is important because it shows that people can have a wide variety of networks in their lives. When it comes to the Bacon Numbers, each actor that I found that was not directly connected to Kevin Bacon had at least ten other networks based on who was in certain programs with him, showing that celebrities have strong interrelations with one another. Additionally, it shows that these networks, as technology advances, will need to be able to withstand stronger connections to make sure all your devices can access one another. One current example of these networks improving is Apple Products. Here, you can connect your iPhone to your MacBook, your iPad, and your Apple Watch, which relates back to the Internet of Things.
Citations
Drucker, Johanna, et al. “Introduction to Digital Humanities – Networks.” UCLA College Humanities, UCLA Humanities, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20200312112805/http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=64.
The Oracle of Bacon, Patrick Reynolds, 2022, https://oracleofbacon.org/.
