I Made a Graph of Wikipedia... This Is What I Found

Summary

This video explores a visual representation of Wikipedia, highlighting its 6.3 million articles and the complex network of links between them. It categorizes these articles into 44 communities, revealing interesting patterns in topics like politics, music, and cinema. Key findings include the most linked article being the United States, the average path length between articles being 4.8 clicks, and the existence of orphaned and dead-end articles. A standout feature is the 'Fanta cake' article, a unique example of a disguised dead-end orphan, illustrating Wikipedia's dynamic and evolving nature as an information resource.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Each circle in the graph represents one of the 6.3 million English Wikipedia articles, with links showing the relationships between them.
• 🔍 The graph highlights 44 distinct communities, grouping articles that are more tightly linked, such as politics, music, and sports.
• 📈 The size of each node indicates its popularity, with the article for the United States having the most incoming links.
• 📊 The graph reveals a surprising number of orphan articles (about 5%) that have no links from other articles.
• 🚫 Dead-end articles are rarer, with only about 6,000 having no outgoing links, making navigation impossible from those pages.
• 🔗 Most articles can be interconnected within six clicks, supporting the idea of 'Six Degrees of Separation.'
• 📉 The average path length between two random articles is approximately 4.8, with 8% of pairs being unreachable.
• 🛣️ The longest path found between two articles was 166 links long, demonstrating the potential complexity of connections.
• 💡 The video introduces the concept of disguised dead-end orphans, where articles link back to themselves, complicating the network.
• ✨ Wikipedia is described as an ever-evolving network of information, highlighting the collaborative nature of its content creation.

Q & A

What does the graph in the video represent?

The graph visually represents the connections between the 6.3 million English Wikipedia articles, illustrating how they are linked through nearly 200 million connections.

How are the different colors in the graph determined?

The colors represent different communities of articles that are more tightly linked to each other than to articles in other communities, with 44 distinct communities identified.

What is the significance of the size of each circle in the graph?

The size of each circle, or node, is proportional to the number of incoming links to its corresponding article, indicating its prominence in the Wikipedia network.

Can you provide examples of the communities identified in the graph?

Examples include Community 3, which focuses on politics and law, Community 5 for music, and Community 10 for video games, showcasing popular cultural interests.

What are orphaned and dead-end articles on Wikipedia?

Orphaned articles are those with no incoming links from other articles, while dead-end articles have no links leading to any other articles. Both types limit connectivity within the Wikipedia graph.

What is the average path length between Wikipedia articles?

The average path length between two Wikipedia articles is approximately 4.8 links, indicating how interconnected the articles are.

What is the 'Six Degrees of Separation' concept in relation to Wikipedia?

The concept suggests that most Wikipedia articles can be reached from one another in six or fewer clicks, reflecting the network's overall connectivity.

What was the longest path identified between two articles?

The longest path found was 166 links long, connecting the article for athletics in the 1953 Arab games to a list of Highways numbered 999.

What is unique about the article 'Fanta cake'?

The article 'Fanta cake' is a disguised dead-end orphan, as it only links to another article that redirects back to itself, initially having no other links.

How does the graph reflect societal interests through article communities?

The graph's communities show how articles are grouped based on shared topics, revealing patterns of cultural interest, such as the separation of Western cinema from Indian and Korean cinema.