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Derived Regulation

Harnessing tech to address a nation's challenges

by Lim Sheng Ming , Brunei Darussalam

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Eternal Internet

Nov 15, 2009 09:26

Ever thought about how Web pages are linked to each other?

In his book Linked, Albert-Làszlò Barabàsi describes the topology of the Internet as a scale-free network. Webpages are connected to each other via the omnipotent hyperlink. When you build a Web site you get to choose which other sites to link to. And like high school there's a good chance you'll link to the popular ones, Web sites that many others have already linked to: The Googles, the YouTubes and the Facebooks. Barabàsi calls these Web sites hubs, and although few in numbers, are responsible for "connecting" the entire Internet. In fact, the hardware servers upon which the Internet exists is also connected in the form of a scale-free network.

By their very nature, scale-free networks are very robust. In theory, to take down the entire Internet you'd have to coordinate a simultaneous attack on the hubs. But because they are so few in number, randomly targeting the Internet server would likely not yield any results and the Internet would live on.

Do you know what that means? That photo of you dressed as a hooker-faerie is never going away. ;)

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juniper

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juniper says...
Ah, but while that embarassing photo may never go away, search may not ever be able to mine the Net enough to find it in a sea of hubs and data. Luckily for us.

Nov 16, 2009 19:11

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limshengming

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limshengming says...
Yes well that's what Google & gang are trying to do: moving from Search to Find :)

Nov 22, 2009 20:10

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About Lim Sheng Ming

Tired of relatives misspelling his name, Lim Sheng Ming christened himself "LSM". Born in Brunei, he is currently based in intoxicating Japan where he is supposed to be doing research. A published writer, an accomplished Latin dancer, a Tai Chi practitioner and a committed Lifehacker, he still finds time to follow standards-based Web development and promote Internet accessibility. He is also one of the few who have switched from a Mac (but don't judge him for that).