I just got an e-mail from my friend Julie asking me to take part in the Small World Experiment. Some researchers at Columbia University are basically testing the whole “six degrees of separation” theory. They designate a target person somewhere on the globe and then observe how many e-mails it takes to reach them. Julie’s target (and now mine) is a potter in New Zealand. She cleverly reckoned that – being in the same hemisphere – I might move the chain closer. Now I’m obsessed with picking the right person. I know a couple Kiwis but I don’t think I have e-mail addresses anymore. (Any of you Netdeciders in contact with Ash Dando?) I could take the easy route and just send it to the Snook, since he knows way more folks than me. But I want the chain to be as short as possible!
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Hey there — not really in contact with Ash, but have his last e-mail, from the “X-ND files” site…[didn’t know the etiquette of pasting e-mail addresses in a post, but thought perhaps it wouldn’t be the best thing to do…] also know some other London-based kiwis who cuold be interested —
Thanks! I managed to get Dando from somebody else, but e-mail me any other Kiwis you think might be up for it. They have to be ones that I’d know though and that would know me. (It’s one of the requirements of the experiment).
hmm… just personally met a kiwi who says she knows a potter back home… is it too many steps if you know me & I know her?
Ooh, cool! I’m e-mailing to you now…
Or I would, except this stupid mega power outage means I can’t reach the website…