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Ed,

It is likely that some of her strong ties have a more diverse network
than others [some have more bridging ties/span structural holes than
others]. Look for those on the edge of the friendship cluster as
opposed to those in dead center -- those on the edge have connections
to both the cluster and to elsewhere.  I would start there and then
search for weak ties based on place or WWW attributes.

Valdis


On Sep 20, 2005, at 3:12 PM, Edward Vielmetti wrote:

> I'm looking for some useful principles and theory
> here, and any references anyone happens to
> have that would be good.
>
> There's a schoolteacher from New Orleans who
> has relocated to Ann Arbor who I met for coffee
> today.  She'd like to get reunited with her students
> and fellow teachers, who have scattered to the four
> winds.  At the moment she knows where about 40
> folks are out of a school of 1400.
>
> In the small world of Ann Arbor, Mark Newman
> happened to stop by as we were having this
> conversation, and he suggested that an approach
> focusing on the "strength of weak ties" would be
> the best way to approach this - if you work narrowly
> on connecting back up with all your close friends,
> you'll miss most people, because they won't have
> the diversity of contacts you'll need.

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