For the past two weeks, the Network(ed) Rhetorics class has been reading and discussing Duncan Watt’s Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. I’m poking along behind everyone else since I’m still not up to speed with my reading. The title refers, of course, to Milgram’s well-worn theory that we are all six degrees separated from each other (and Kevin Bacon).

I’ve been meandering along with this, thinking about how life on the Network has affected my own networks. When I started in this discipline, I only knew the people in my former department. I became very good friends (and fell in love with) one of them. He introduced me to blogging, and I started out by poaching reads off his blogroll. This situated me in the old U Blog community, as seen on one of AKMA’s ancient sidebars. This group was interdiscplinary and largely postacademic. Since I was a new blogger who possessed precious little social capital, I knew more of them than knew me. Now, two years later, I still read and/or talk with perhaps eight members of that community: AKMA, Mister Boyfriend, Dorothea, Tom, Steve, Joe, The Happy Tutor, and Mark Woods. I feel fiercely loyal to those eight. And eight people translates to a huge number within Watts’ network theory.

From that original network, I eventually followed links to a few Rhet/Comp bloggers. One of them was Clancy, who, if memory serves, I found through either AKMA or Michelle, who I know IRL. This was a good amount of time before I even considered applying to UMN. She linked me back. Then, quite by coincidence, Mister Boyfriend and I applied here. Because of the fact that we all read each other, it was fairly natural for Clancy and I to meet when I came up here to visit twice last year. And she introduced me to other departmental bloggers (Amy, Laurie, and Cristina) who all blogrolled me as a colleague before I ever formally showed up on their doorstep. It allowed me a friendship with Cristina, who moved to Philadelphia right when I moved here. In pre-blog days, I would have entirely missed her. Reading each other provided an impetus for Laurie and I to finally insist on having lunch together. And, particularly because of Clancy’s early efforts, I never had to feel like I didn’t know anyone here.

My growing connection to (and fondness for) the Syracuse Rhetoric folks is equally serendipitous. Through the Blog SIG Listserv launch, I met Derek, who was shopping for PhD programs at the same time I was. I’m not sure if I found Collin through him or Clancy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was either of them. Becky found me through Collin, and vice versa, and she and I have cheered each other on through our recent accidents. And my blog-connection with Collin allowed me access to the Network(ed) Rhetorics course, which gave me to opportunity to meet Madeline, Mike, Tyra, Dianna, Chris, Jen, Ty, Elisa, and Henry, plus Marcia at Mizzou.

Somewhere in there, I went to C’s and met a bunch of other bloggers in my discipline, including Scott-In-The-Flesh, who I’d talked to forever. (Because of Scott, I know Shelley.) And way back in the day, the Happy Tutor led me to Mike.

So. Started out knowing and reading one person. Ended up knowing all these people, which is just the people I remember how I found*. Also ended up with a 200-link blogroll consisting of people I know well and people I don’t know at all. Most of the Rhet/Comp people also know each other, since we are our very own small-world phenonmenon. It’s been an interesting exercise to puzzle all this out, remembering who came from where. Watts suggests that networks are small worlds, clustered together and interlinked within and without. This geneology seems to support that.

More on Watts later, probably.

*And I love all of you who I don’t remember how I found. Tell me how I found you!