Exploring distances with IONTW∗

This module has two parts. The first part is purely conceptual and invites readers to critically evaluate popular claims based on Stanley Milgram’s famous experiment that gave birth to the phrases “small-world property” and “six degrees of separation.” In the second part we use IONTW to explore distances between nodes in several types of networks. We also explore various possible formal definitions of the small-world property and propose one that is suitable for classes of disconnected networks. The parts are somewhat independent of each other, but we recommend that the reader work through both parts in the order given here. The exercises within each part should definitely not be attempted out of sequence.