Mapping the forms of meaning in small worlds

Prox is a stochastic method to map the local and global structures of real-world complex networks, which are called small worlds. Prox transforms a graph into a Markov chain; the states of which are the nodes of the graph in question. Particles wander from one node to another within the graph by following the graph's edges. It is the dynamics of the particles' trajectories that map the structural properties of the graphs that are studied. Concrete examples are presented in a graph of synonyms to illustrate this approach. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.