May 28, 2008
6 Degrees of Wikipedia
A researcher at Trinity College Dublin has software that lets users map the links between Wikipedia pages. His Web site is called “Six Degrees of Wikipedia,” modeled after the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” Instead of the degrees being measured by presence in the same film, degrees are determined by articles that link to each other.
For example, how many clicks through Wikipedia does it take to get from “Gatorade” to “Genghis Khan”? Three: Start at “Gatorade,” then click to “Connecticut,” then “June 1,” then “Genghis Khan.”
Stephen Dolan, the researcher who created the software, has also used the code to determine which Wikipedia article is the “center” of Wikipedia—that is, which article is the hub that most other articles must go through in the “Six Degrees” game. Not including the articles that are just lists (e.g., years), the article closest to the center is “United Kingdom,” at an average of 3.67 clicks to any other article. “Billie Jean King” and “United States” follow, with an average of 3.68 clicks and 3.69 clicks, respectively.
More detailed information can be found on Mr. Dolan’s Web site.—Catherine Rampell
Posted on Wednesday May 28, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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A researcher? I’m honoured :P At the moment, I’m just a lowly student.
— Stephen Dolan May 28, 08:01 PM #
No, no, Stephen: “researcher” is not a job title; it’s an honorific recognizing of interesting and productive thought. It’s what we want students to be.
— Tom Farrell May 29, 07:41 AM #
Fun project…though I was secretly hoping the center of the Wikipedia universe was the sifaka lemur. :(
— Ike McCaslin May 29, 09:30 AM #
Bill Jean King?
— Will Gamble May 29, 10:24 AM #
Yes (thank you Mr. Gamble) please … Billie Jean King?
— BertW May 29, 10:35 AM #
You mean the center of wikipedia isn’t the Illuminati?
— George Guba May 29, 12:02 PM #
I remember a similar game using Google. My friends called it “Google-whack.”
— Cynthia May 29, 11:08 PM #
:o I invented this as a game! Where you pick two random subjects and the first to click from one to the other on Wiki wins… You ruined everything you Stephen Dolan
— Angry Guy Jun 6, 08:29 AM #
Sorry, I believe nothing found in Wikipedia. “Wiki” is run by fascist moderators and is a joke!
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
— JT Savage Jun 6, 08:30 AM #
Nice job. If I knew this would have been popular and gotten so much press I would’ve released my version I wrote in 2006. I called mine the WikiWhacker (after GoogleWhacking).
— Chris Simpson Jun 6, 08:40 AM #
“United Kingdom” is at the center? The empire lives!
— love those brits Jun 6, 08:41 AM #
Oh dear, Scientology is just two clicks away from world domination!!!!
— Dutch pride Jun 6, 08:57 AM #
Shouldn’t Stephen Colbert be the centre of Wikipedia?
— Craig Ritchie Jun 6, 09:22 AM #
Great job Stephen. I am curious to see the results if the dates were excluded from the links though. In my opinion it is not as interesting to see two articles are related by a date.
— Salih Ergüt Jun 6, 09:56 AM #
Unless it’s the same EXACT date…
— JJ Walker Jun 6, 10:11 AM #
This isn’t a new concept. The study of the 6 degrees of wikipedia has been done plenty of times in the past. Sorry Stephen, you are not a revolutionary thinker as these men may lead you to think you to are.
— Rich Jun 6, 10:54 AM #
Actually, “Google Whacking” is to be the first (or the only) result of a Google search with two words (or less; that wasn’t your name). Slightly different from Google bombing.
— B Jun 6, 12:34 PM #
Is this board filled with Stephen’s friends, or are you people really such killjoy misanthropes? Agree about the dates though.
— Tom Jun 8, 09:56 PM #