Six degrees of separation: An interactive teaching activity for social networks
References
- Adamic, L., & Adar, E. (2005). How to search a social network. Social Networks, 27(3), 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2005.01.007
- Backstrom, L., Boldi, P., Rosa, M., Ugander, J., & Vigna, S. (2012). Four degrees of separation. WebSci, 12, 33–42.
- Dodds, P. S., Muhamad, R., & Watts, D. J. (2003). An experimental study of search in global social networks. Science, 301(5634), 827–829. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1081058
- Goel, S., Muhamad, R., & Watts, D. (2009). Social search in “small-world” experiments. WWW, 09, 701–710.
- Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall.
- Krackhardt, D. (1987). Cognitive social structures. Social Networks, 9(2), 109–134.
- Marineau, J. E., Labianca, G. J., Brass, D. J., Borgatti, S. P., & Vecchi, P. (2018). Individuals’ power and their social network accuracy: A situated cognition perspective. Social Networks, 54, 145–161.
- Mehra, A., Borgatti, S. P., Soltis, S., Floyd, T., Halgin, D. S., Ofem, B., & Lopez-Kidwell, V. (2014). Imaginary worlds: Using visual network scales to capture perceptions of social networks. In D. J. Brass et al. (Eds), Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Networks (Vol. 40, pp. 315–336).
- Milgram, S. (1967). The small world problem. Psychology Today, 1(1), 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/e400002009-005
- Monge, P. & Contractor, N. S. (2003). Theories of Communication Networks. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Tanaka, K. (2021). The origins of cognitive and action errors in communication networks (Ph.D. thesis). Northwestern University.
- Tanaka, K., DeChurch, L. A., & Contractor, N. S. (2020). The impact of network acuity on information sharing under communication delays in space multiteam systems. International Astronautical Congress, 2020.
- Travers, J., & Milgram, S. (1969). An experimental study of the small world problem. Sociometry, 32(4), 425–443.
- Watts, D. J. (2004). Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998). Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks. Nature, 393(6684), 440–442.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/connections-2026-0010 | Journal eISSN: 2816-4245 (formerly 0226-1766) | Journal ISSN: 0226-1766
Language: English
Page range: 47 - 52
Submitted on: Feb 18, 2026
Accepted on: Jul 20, 2026
Published on: Sep 9, 2026
Published by: International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year
Keywords:
Related subjects:
© 2026 Kyosuke Tanaka, Neelam Modi Jain, Harshad Gado, Noshir S. Contractor, published by International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.