Digital Community– Or A Network of Networks
I’m fascinated with the idea of the blur between our information feed and our day-to-day touchpoints. If you’re reading this, you’re connected to the feed. You might even be a little obsessed with checking in with various online communities, at least when you compare yourself to your face-to-face friends and relations. But how can it all interact? One thing brewing out there is the push for free or near-free wifi all over the place. Another is WiMax, which is broadcast-range wireless connectivity. There’s the push for 100 dollar laptops by Nicolas Negroponte, and the push for 100 dollar computers in India by Om Malik. There are pushes for ubiquitous computing, where our “identity” slides off our mobile handset and onto our desktop easily, without any heavy lifting (think Crackberry or Palm). There’s just this weird thing converging.
I browsed through a bunch of websites that are trying to help in this regard in my soon-to-be-defunct design/use/tech blog, but I still haven’t really hit that *pow* that I’m thinking about. And maybe I’m not going to. Maybe it’s just something to keep noodling about.
But listen: are you using the web’s tools in ways that look like you’re building little threads of digital connectivity? Still too complex.
How do YOU use the web to blend a feed of what interests you and the world around you locally?
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