What is the Network Of Time?

The Network Of Time is an idea proposed on this website: the largest network of people who appear together in photos that currently exist which can be connected through peoples' recurring appearances in different photos.

This website, currently in a beta stage, represents the beginnings of a visualization of the Network. Match any two people on the front page and you will see how they have “met" through a series of (sometimes nonlinear in time) meetings or chance appearances, in the fewest number of photos possible based on our database.

While the idea that all people have no more than six degrees of separation has been widely studied, this website is the first (public) project to visualize the effect exclusively through evidence of actual meetings in physical space and not other documentation of associations.

If you have ever appeared in a photo with anyone who has appeared as an option on the lists on the front page of this site, or with anyone who has appeared in a photo with anyone as an option on these lists, to X degrees – you are on the Network. (You probably still do not appear on the representation shown here, but you can submit photos to join!)

How do you know this is the largest network of people appearing in photos together?

Smaller “networks” of photographs exist where there are photographs of individuals with whom no photo exists of them with someone who can be connected to a larger network.

For example, there is only one known photo of the ragtime guitarist Blind Blake (1896–1934). He is either the only member of his "network of photos that can be matched based on identifiable people shared," or he appears in at least one other photo with at least one other person but these photos/his identification have not come to public awareness. In most cases, it is not possible to definitively say someone living after the advent of photography in the mid-19th century is not part of the Network.

The full Network contains hundreds of thousands of undocumented, private physical and digital photographs and photos of crowds where individuals cannot be identified (even by facial recognition and other identity detection algorithms). This means it could never be made fully accessible to a human user under currently-existing technology. As it exists today, this website is a snapshot of the full Network.

This representation is guaranteed to be a snapshot of the Network that has the most people because it contains hundreds of world leaders and royalty back to the 19th century. This representation includes every world leader as of July 2019 – anyone who has ever taken a photo with anyone to X degrees who appears in a photo with any modern world leader or the member of any existing Royal family is on this Network.

Why create this website?

This website is intended to provoke thought about the close proximity in time and space all humans share, reflect on the omnipresence of photography in contemporary life and preserve connections that can be documented.

New photos and people are added to this website every week, increasing the scope and connections possible within this representation of the Network. This website is a non-commercial, non-profit educational research resource created and maintained by Jesse Ward.

Why the name “Network Of Time”?

The name “Network Of Time” emphasizes how the Network includes billions of people whose lifespans have overlapped over 150+ years.

What criteria exist for a photo existing on this website?

Photos appearing on this website will meet the following criteria at a minimum:

– No images with explicit nudity or violence.
– All subjects must appear in a photo that exists as a single photo that was taken in one moment (no superimpositions). Photos discovered to include superimposed people will be removed from this site if they are detected.
– Subjects must be living (sorry, you cannot get a connection with Lenin or Jeremy Bentham).
– No images that are defamatory, libellous or that would deny someone their right to privacy.

Why isn’t the obvious connection between X and Y in the database/why are you missing Z person?

A connection or person currently missing from the database is either because they have not yet been added to this website by our administrator, or because no photos exist of the person or connection are accessible that can get them on the Network.