[NetCult] Strength of Weak Ties
From Mark Granovetter’s compelling &somewhat zany sociometric article “The Strength of Weak Ties” published in 1973 by The American Journal of Sociology. [Download article PDF]
Granovetter proposes a network theory for linking micro and macro levels of sociological theory through an analysis of various types of ‘weak ties’ bridging groups otherwise bound by ‘strong ties.’ While the programmatic, psuedo-scientific tone of the essay kept me laughing, I think there’s a really compelling prophetic overlap with contemporary works of data visualization queued up to online social networks, which can process the kinds of relationship structures Granovetter proposes with a few clicks. It’s almost as though Zukerberg is playing Granovetter—there couldn’t be a better vehicle for this kind of ‘research’ than facebook itself.
Anyhow, I’m mostly interested in the article with regards to how it might be applied to literary studies, particularly the literary networks represented in magazines. Some similar visualizations (&ultimately calculations) could prove helpful in unraveling some of the ties between writers, tropes, &themes in objects like the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine (pictured below using VUE). 
Throughout this network culture program, I’ll be particularly interested in how the tools &tactics of network theories can be activated to translate these kinds of historical literary / artistic (publishing) networks.
