Monday, February 25, 2008

Six Degrees of Schneier


Given the popularity of 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' for mapping the working relationships of actors & actresses, I propose the identity & security space similarly track our distance from some notable name in the industry.

Now, who shall we pick as our hub? Let's try Bruce Schneier for now and see how it works.

I propose a simple algorithm - a given identity bloggers Schneier Number will be calculated based on the 'link distance' between Bruce's blog and their own. For instance, if there exists a blog posting in which both Bruce and that blogger are linked to, then that blogger would have an SN of '1'. Simple yes?

I wonder what my SN would be? How would I even determine it? Oh wait, coincidentally, an insightful post from Gunnar in which both Bruce and I are linked to.

I guess then by the previously defined (and completely objective) algorithm, my SN is 1. Wow, I really didn't expect to have such a high score. I have to say that I'm impressed with myself.

2 comments:

duck1123 said...

This model doesn't really work because anyone can create a junk post where the spout off a bunch of random text, link to someone, and link to Bruce Schneier. That person instantly has a SN of 1.

A better model is, if Bruce Schneier links to you, you have a SN of 1. Anyone you link to would have a SN of 2, and so on. You wouldn't be able to give someone a SN higher than you yourself have.

Just like in the movie industry, an actor's Bacon Number is 1 + the lowest BN of all the actors of all the movies they have appeared in. (Kevin himself would be 0)

Mike Jones said...

I'm impressed with *myself* because my Madsen number is 1.