FAQ
- What is a random walk?
- What is special about the walks on this site?
- Why do I have to register in order to place a point?
- Why can't I make another step in the current walk?
- Can I see the partially-completed current walk?
- What happens when a walk is completed?
- Why does each walk have 5000 points?
- Why are you making 1000 walks?
- Why should I participate in 1000 Random Walks?
A random walk begins with a starting point, and wanders in various directions based on a repeated series of simple random decisions. Each walk is unique. There is a more detailed answer to this question, with drawings, here.
The random walks on this site are generated by people. Most random walks are computer-generated, which means the computer makes all of the random decisions, and then puts together an image. Here, people make all of the random decisions, and the computer simply puts the points together to create the image. The walks on this site are computer-processed, but they are generated by the participants themselves.
An essential feature of a random walk is that each decision is made without any knowledge of the previous steps that have been taken. Registration ensures that each person can take only one step in each walk. You can also choose to be notified when walks are completed, and when special projects are announced. Registration is completely free, and requires only a valid email address.
A unique walk is created when each step is made randomly. Allowing every participant only one step in each walk helps to ensure that randomness. People have interesting, often inaccurate ideas about randomness. For example, people might make sure all the steps they contribute are different. However, random sequences can have repetition: you can flip a coin ten times, and get heads or tails several times in a row.
I have considered letting people make three steps or five steps in each walk, or letting people make another step after 100 or 1000 steps by other people. For now though, to ensure the walks are random and unique, each participant gets only one step in each walk. That's still 1000 steps per person in the whole project. If you are eager to make another step, please consider telling someone new about 1000 Random Walks!
Only completed walks are posted, because every move must be made without anyone knowing anything about the previous moves. The first walk may take a while to be completed, because 5000 people must participate to finish it. After that, however, walks may be completed much more quickly because most of those people will be ready to participate in subsequent walks.
First of all, the next walk begins automatically, so people can always continue to place points. After a walk is completed, an image is generated from the steps that were taken. A coloring scheme is chosen which brings out the most interesting features of the walk, and which makes the walk visually appealing (see more about visual design here). Then the image is posted here.
For each walk, a single print is also prepared. These prints will be made available as each walk is completed.
There needs to be a balance between using enough points to make an interesting design, and completing each walk in a reasonable amount of time. Five thousand points turns out to be a nice balance between these needs. Each walk is actually 5000 steps, not 5000 points. Some points are visited multiple times in the wandering.
Again, it is a question of balance. The joy of this project is seeing the variety of designs that come out of it. You do not see the variety with just one, or five, or ten walks. One thousand walks is a large enough number to ensure a meaningful variety of walks, but a small enough number to complete, and bring the project to a close.
It is fun! You get to see a visual representation of a collaboration between yourself and 5000 other people. Everyone's small contribution works together to create one cohesive image, and then goes beyond that to create a complete set of cohesive images. This is a project that no one person could do alone; we all have the opportunity to participate in something bigger than ourselves. There is always something different to look for when you come back.
What's next?See the gallery of sample walks, or the explanation of how a random walk is generated. Better yet, place the next point in the current walk!