Connecting relatives in virtual worlds: The kinship networks

Abstract

The effect of the Internet on everyday life is huge, especially for what concerns the number and quality of our social relationships, including friendships and kinship. Fortunately, the complex network theory recently made it feasible to analyze real and large social networks, making it possible to understand their behavior and dynamics, including why and how social connections are established and what actually imply in the real world, the attitudes toward collaboration, and many other issues. In this article, a proposal for building and enhancing personal kinship networks is presented; this Kinship Search System allows each user to craft his or her genealogical tree by exploring and searching existing acquaintances and friendship relations that connect relatives among themselves and with other people.