One measure of who we are is the people we relate to.

It is hard to count or draw our social networks.

New software has been designed to help us create our social self-portraits

The process of creating your social self-portrait will show who has helped make you who you are.

We’ve come a long way from the 17th century, when you had to be Rembrandt to own a self-portrait. Now we have a lot of ways of representing who we are: selfies, CV’s, social media sites, family trees, and memoirs. Some people write their own obituaries. But we’re still missing a way of capturing the thing that most distinguishes each of us: our social networks. One measure of who we are is the people we relate to.

My recent 75th birthday got me wondering: If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to raise a 75-year-old? A city, maybe—at least a much larger number of people along the way, people who shape our lives. Though it’s more precious to me than my money or my possessions, both of which are relatively easy to count and value, my social network........

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