Construction Process: Cable Connections

Faced with the challenge of representing the theory, "Six Degree's of Separation" using crochet we set out to find a suitable material that would meet our functional, aesthetic requirement as well as remain relevant to our central concept.

A trip to Jaycar and I managed to find cable that was malleable enough to mould and ties knots with as well as a range of at least 6 colours.

Cables- were chosen to represented the social networks because they are symbolic of how the internet fuels social networking and allows us to analyse how the various groups of people in our lives link.

tangled web of cables

Wire materials to resonate the concept

Using Regular Chain stitch crochet to create netting

Creating the core

Once the first colour is finished we begin to add the next colour - which would represented one's closest friends and family

the cables begin crenulating but the wire restricts it from warping like the wool does

These 3 tier crochet model represent incomplete networks as they continual grown even after the first person on which it was initiated from passes away or stops meeting new people the individuals in outer circles will continue to meet new people and make new connections and these people we meet new people.

In effect the social network in ongoing and increasing at an exponential rate since the introduction of social networking websites.

Furthermore we are now able to connect and 'log in' on our PDA, phones, iPads and can stay in contact and connected to the rest of the world as long as there's a signal.

Here is the final collections of hyperbolic models including one larger one with 6 different colours to symbolize the "Six Degree's of Separation".

Finally we had to think of an appropriate site for our installation and since its about making connection and extend our social circles we decided that in terms locally Martin Place in the Heart of Sydney's CBD would be an appropriate location as would Central Station and the cross section of George St and Park St near Sydney City's Town Hall.

This crowded city centre is filled with workers and friends meeting new people as well as catching up with old friends.

Here are some pictures of our site.

Martin Place

Martin Place Crowded

Central Station

On a larger scale in Japan the famous crossing in Shibuya (渋谷区) one of Tokyo's 23 city wards would be a great site for our model. Whilst Tokyo is small in size the city is home to 13 million.

Bird's eye view of the Shibuya crossing during off peak hours

Shibuya at Night

If we were to go to America New York City would be a suitable site as the city is home to 19million New Yorkers, day trippers and plenty of tourist.

Downtown N.Y.C

Time Square at Night

During our presentation we will give you a preview of what our "Six Degree's of Separation" Installation would look like in Sydney.

Concept Research: 6 Degree's of Separation

The concept behind our representation of hyperbolic space was inspired by the notion, "Six Degree's of Separation" and how it applies to social networking.

Once we had decided upon the overall concept that would inspire the context for our hyperbolic model we researched various sources to find out more about the theory behind the, "Six Degree's of Separation".

Social Networking

Social Networking: social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities.

Social network services are generally web based and found online these include mediums such as facebook, friendster, Hi5, Twitter, Four Squares, Springform and so forth.

Whilst some of the largest social networks were founded based on the notion of ditigizing real world connections, many networks focus on catergories of similar interests such as books and music to motherhood or sports.

These networks acts as means to both provide services and a virtual community for individual with shared interests and hobbies.

The popular website lastfm.com, provided an web community for music lovers who are able to see who else likes the same bands, songs and who is attending what concert. The website connects with each users music players and "scrobbles" what they are listening to online.

• Social networks are predominantly used as a communication tool between friends, co workers, family and on a smaller scale between students and teachers
• Often users can use these sites to stay in contact with overseas relatives sharing photos and sending messages easily
• Since many students are members of a wide-range of popular social networking sites, teachers have started to adopt the trend and try to use it to their advantage

The notion of “Six Degrees of Separation” can be applied to social networking as recently ---- students preformed an experiment …..

Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six or less steps.

Diagram that shows the “web” that is formed through 6 degrees of separation

visual representation of the "human web"

After WWI Statist theories on optimal design of cities, traffic flows, neighborhoods and demographics were popular

These conjectures were expanded in 1930's by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy, who published a volume of short stories titled "Everything is Different".

In this collection a particular piece titled "Chain-Links"investigated the many issues that would captivate future generations of mathematicians, sociologists, and physicists within the field of network theory

in abstract, conceptual, and fictional terms.

The overall message was that, "Due to technological advances in communications and travel, friendship networks could grow larger and span greater distances".

He particularly believed that, "...the modern world was 'shrinking' due to ever-increasing connectedness of human beings."

He posited that despite great physical distances between the globe's individuals, the growing density of human networks made the actual social distance far smaller.

Social networking medium accelerate the rate at which our various social groups or circles grow and connect.

Given our concept we decided that creating a hyperbolic space model using crochet would be the most suitable method to illustrate the "Six Degree's of Separation" perpetuated by social networking.

It All Started with Hyperbolics..

A group of us are studying Textiles Installation as an elective at university and for our final project we must create a model representing hyperbolic space. Furthermore its context must be derived from a concept of our choice.

What is hyperbolic space?

Hyperbolic space: A space described by hyperbolic rather than cartesian coordinates. (Farlex 2010)

The distinguishing characteristic of hyperbolic space is that as you move further away from a point the space around it expands exponentially. (Taimina 2010)

Another property that differentiate it from a normal plane is that here are infinitely many lines passing throguh a given point parallel to a given line in a hyperbolic plane.

From the brief there are two methods we may use to represent hyperbolic space, these are sewing a series of geometric shapes or using crochet.

Woodcut by M.C Esher

1. Geometric Shapes

Using coloured cardboard and a paper template we explored the possibility of using a combination of triangles and regular heptagons repeatedly to create a hyperbolic model.

Here are some photos of the process..

Cut up cardboard shapes ready to be assembled

assembling

taking shape

final mock up model

2. Crochet

For most of us this was our first time learning how to crochet initially there were some issues but once we mastered the technique it became a simply and repetitive process which is somewhat therapeutic.

Here are some of our first attempts at crochets..

lost a few loops resulted in this..

A added a 2nd stitch a bit late and ended up with a hat shape

Learning from our mistakes our second attempt was much more successful.

first few rows..

you can finally see the wool crenulating

Final practise

After practise we were able to create the desired shapes.