The Challenge

The theory
Some time ago, Edgar and I were engaged in a conversation about the theory, "Six Degrees of Separation."
Six degrees of separation is the concept that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on earth. We were quite fascinated by this idea and we decided to challenge both, the theory and each other.

The game
To make the challenge interesting, we thought up a game where we each try to reach a person, living in a major city of a particular country. We agreed that the country had to be at least 2,500 kilometers away from where either of us live and where neither family nor friends of us reside or have resided in the past. It also had to be a country that neither of us had ever visited before. Interestingly enough, we had quite a hard time finding a country that wouldn't be to easy to reach, but in the end we agreed on Ethiopia with its second largest city, Dire Dawa.

Our goal was born, getting in touch with someone from Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, within six steps. Both of us will try to contact a person from Dire Dawa, using as few steps as possible, with some limitations and restrictions we've put in place to keep it interesting and to level the playing field.

The Rules

The rules of this challenge are as followes:

1. All communication goes by original post/mail (snail) only. We're not allowed to e-mail or to use the computer/Internet in any other way but to receive mail from our new contacts (steps). We're not allowed to send out e-mails or other correspondence, using the computer, ourselves.

2. We use our standard letter (composed by Edgar) to contact new "steps" (persons). We're allowed to make only minor adjustments in the standard letter.

3. We're not allowed to skip a "step" and go on to the next one. We have to contact every "step" (person) ourselves before moving on.

4. Every contact has to be "fully connected" to the one before that. With "fully connected" we mean that they must have met each other in real life at least once.

5. Each contact supplies each of us a maximum of five (5) potential "steps" (a person who can bring us closer to our goal).

6. The starting date is set on : October 11th, 2008
This game will finish on : October 10, 2009
If neither Edgar nor Peer have reached their goal, the one who got closest will win the game.

Standard letter

Dear ___________,

You're receiving this message for a very special reason; we (Edgar Kuijer and Peer Meerding) have taken on the challenge to meet and learn about people who have been chosen from a random city and country, through email and/or regular (snail) mail.

Why?
The reason is simple. We wanted a challenge, using an original idea, in the form of a game that will last one year and will bring us in contact with people all over the world. There's no other reason. It's not about money or improving ourselves in some way by coming into contact with others. The only thing that's asked of you is to to give the name and address of one other person. That information will only be used to continue the game.

The goal.
The first of us to receive an email of the name of a person from Dire Dawa, a large city located in Ethiopia, wins the game. We chose Dire Dawa, Ethiopia because it's a place where neither of us knew anyone. If we don't get the name of a person from Dire Dawa, then the person who gets a mail from the closest city will win.

The rules.
The name of the person from Dire Dawa cannot be obtained through either the Internet or telephone book;
Each of us may send five letters, which gives us five chances to meet our goal of coming into contact with someone from Dire Dawa;
The game lasts for a maximum of one year;
Only the first person to receive this letter can be written through email, the rest must be received through regular post (snail mail); and
The person who receives a letter may write back with the name and address of a person they know through email, if they choose to.

We understand that you probably don't know anyone from Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, but you might know someone who has a lot of contacts in Africa. There's also the chance that you might know someone who could further help us, or someone who lives in that region, it's about getting us closer to our goal of coming into contact with someone from Dire Dawa. Please take the time to get back to us in some way, otherwise we'll only have five dead ends!

It's important that the person with whom you bring us in contact can read and write English, Spanish, French, German, Italian or Dutch.

References.
Because this letter comes from a strangers, we will use your name in the letter that we send to others with whom we come in contact, so that they know that we have no bad intentions.

What you can do for us!
Send us the name and address of a maximum of 5 persons who most likely would be able to help us through either snail mail or email, but preferably email because it's faster. That's all you need to do, but be sure to send us the information of someone who is most likely to be able to help us, someone who knows a lot of people that might be closest to Dire Dawa and who has knows lots of other people!

More information can be found on the internet at the following adres:
http://sixdegreesexperiment.blogspot.com/

Many thanks to you and greetings from the Netherlands,

Six degrees actualy Three degrees?

Six Degrees of Separation Is Now Three
by Don Reisinger on September 3, 2008

Is it time to revise the old saw that everyone in the world is connected by just six degrees of separation? A study from French mobile carrier O2 has found that strangers are more connected to each other than they ever have been.

According to the study, the average person is now connected by just three degrees within a shared “interest” or social group instead of six. In fact, it found that people are usually a part of three main networks: family, friendship, and work.

O2 asked adults across three different age groups — 18-25, 35-45, 55+ — to make contact with random strangers from areas all across the globe using only personal connections. By linking their shared interests, the participants were able to connect to that person in three person-to-person links.

Stanley Milgram originally coined the term “six degrees of separation” in 1967 to show that everyone in the modern world was capable of connecting to another by linking people and interests. But in today’s world of social networking, links between strangers are closer than in Milgram’s day.

According to Jeff Rodrigues, a social networking specialist that carried out the study, 97 percent of the participants said they felt more connected to people today than they ever have in the past and for older respondents, email and mobile phones were the key factors in reducing the degrees of separation. But for those in the younger generation, Facebook was the main factor. Text messaging was also mentioned as an important component in reducing degrees of separation.
“What the study has brought to light is that the way we now interact means it’s never been easier to make connections and build networks of contacts,” Rodrigues said in an interview.

It should be noted that the research is not the epitome of a real scientific study—O2 paid for it, after all. And anyone who has a LinkedIn account knows that it is still easy to find plenty of people who are more than three degrees away from you. But the study does underscore something we all know:more so than ever before, everyone is connected (even if it is only tangentially).

Maybe it is time to revisit Milgram’s study in a more robust way. It could help silence the critics who believe Facebook and the rest are nothing more than places for kids to waste their time. Let’s face it – how often will you find one service or industry that can totally transform the way people are connected?