Complex Networks and Innovation

1. Critically assess, compare and contrast the random Poisson network model and the “scale-free” network model proposed by Barabási and Albert. With the aid of examples, discuss whether and the degree to which these models offer an accurate representation of real-world networks. Or 2. The experiment that Stanley Milgram conducted in the 1960s provided empirical evidence in favour of what is now referred to as the “small-world effect”, namely the fact that the average geodesic distance is small even for very large networks. Critically discuss Milgram’s experiment, and assess the extent to which the “small-world effect” can be found in the random Poisson network, in the Barabási-Albert “scale-free” network, and in the WattsStrogatz “small-world” network.