Bird Networks - Initial Inquiry

December 23rd, 2005

My parents are avid birders. I mean that in the most passionate of ways in which you can classify the word. In light of the recent avian flu scares and speculation, I’ve been imploring my father in his expert knowledge of the subject.

This flu scare has me wondering, what kind of network patterns are found in relation to different species of migratory bird patterns which cross over each other. For example, if the avian flu spreads to a certain type of swallow, which migrates over an existing group of robins that are in their own unique route, will the flu be more easily transferred between them? Additionally, if it was necessary for a bird-based solution to be sought out to cure this epidemic, could it be accomplished by finding the most socially intersecting bird species and give them the appropriate drugs or catalysts?

Many of these questions lead me to the overall questions that network theory hopes to explore. Concepts revolving around intersecting boundaries and relationships between small groups and large populations.

To further explore these concepts, I am curious in sculpting content from the large database of bird data in the cornell system, to visualize some of these concepts in more detail.

These concepts root themselves in ideas surrounding my thesis. What if scattered rulesets have some sort of connection with each other? If these different concepts were able to model characteristics in one dimensional algorithmic instrument or artifact, perhaps the aggregate of many of these in relation to each other would render unique and intriquing outcome. This is yet another vein in this area of interest I plan on exploring further.

Entry Filed under: Concepts and Thoughts, Thesis