May 24, 2009 19 Comments

Thoughts on Nowhere and Nowhen

rplaces vplaces tplaces

The web gave us the perfect “nowhere.” A Star Trek fan in Houlton, Maine can talk with another fan from Reykjavík, Iceland, without thinking a thing about it. We can be anywhere, and if you follow through, anywhen, and thus, we don’t need proximity to build relationships (or customers, or much of anything). The first web, the brochure web, gave way to the second web, the two-way web. What if the third web is about the relationship of things and places between the physical world and the placeless, timeless world? I’m calling this vplaces (more in a bit).

Our web has already shifted. Bridges tell us when they are up and down. Laundry rooms report their status. The web of things now connects the physical world with the web world. Here’s where my thinking started getting into something else.

vplaces, pplaces, and tplaces

The web of nowhere relates to vplaces. You might be thinking Second Life. I’m not. Well, okay. Second Life can be part of it. But the web of nowhere is the web we have today. I can write this blog post anywhere in the world (Seattle, Boston, Fresno). You can read it anywhere (Mumbai, Glasgow, Detroit). It’s the web of “it doesn’t matter where things are.”

The web of nowhere is not necessarily real time, either. Blogs and plenty of websites Thus, the web of nowhen is also the non-realtime. As we’re starting to become more and more interested in realtime, with tools like FriendFeed and other lifestreaming devices and applications, there’s also more and more pull for the time-shifted web, or tplaces.

What do I mean? Phone calls are synchronous. The real-time web is synchronous. Events and real space activities are synchronous. But there’s value in time-displaced events, too. For instance, if I mix a combo of physical world places (pplaces) and timeshifted information (tplaces), I get services like BrightKite, where I can leave notes in the air in a place for someone to come along and find them.

What other combos are there? If you mix vplaces and pplaces, there are many opportunities. Think about all the various Apple iPhone apps that use GPS as one component, like NIN Access. Think about Microsoft Tag. Think about situations where the web doesn’t have to be a static page any more. Think about a web that comes together are things, around objects talking to each other and us, around places that are a mix of physical and otherwise.

What Am I Ranting About?

I admit this doesn’t have immediate and obvious application, and yet it does. To me, it does. I see this as clearly as anything. To me, if you design for the web of today, you’ll get what everyone else has. If you start planning for these new webs, of places, of timeshifting, of mapping the physical into the web and back again, you’ll start to find the new vectors, the new possibilities.

What does this say to you? Anything? Did your eyes light up?

Related posts:

  1. So Many Thoughts
  2. Thoughts for Future PodCamps
  3. Your Thoughts on Productivity and More
  4. Collected Files- Any Thoughts?
  5. The Importance of the Physical World

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  • Laurie

    Hi Chris ~

    When you tweeted you were off to the movies and then tweeted the link to this post, I am certain I was in movie mode…however, what sprang to mind after reading the post was the movie “Lake House”. Now, before you roll your eyes and exhale a “chick-flick” utterance, take a moment to think about it. Communication took place in an analog way in that movie, but through time as well – into the “unknown”.

    Your concept of vplaces slips neatly along side ideas of time travel and thoughts of a parallel universe…in a new-web sort of way. Okay, I'm not talking string theory here, however, the idea that a “new web” could be created, with a purpose of sharing ideas, to be released for discovery by others, fluidly connecting people-places-and-things, and returning better than before… Fascinating!

    Heady stuff for a Sunday afternoon! Hope you enjoy the movie… Terminator, that is. Lake House is SO 2006!

    Thank you for starting the dialog! Warmly, ~Laurie

  • http://www.bundini.com/ Jeff Bundy

    You and the great Wayne Gretzky believe it's best to go to where the puck *will be* — not where it is. I agree. Like Dune's Navigator's who used the spice melange to “fold space” — theirs/yours/ours is a gift to “see” into the future and navigate there safely, ahead of the pack. These mental moments provide so much satisfaction/pleasure. Peace.

    (p.s. Although I'm registered on Disqus, this didn't work for me here. :(

  • http://www.adamremer.com/ Adam Remer

    I agree with Jeff. Be where the wave will be.
    Thanks for the forward thinking Chris. You make me continue to think forward.

  • shannonpaul

    I started thinking about this (or something like this) awhile back when I was working for the Red Wings – At the time I was wishing for a way to specify *how* someone was attending an event. The different options could be in person, television at home, television at a public venue, webcast on NHL Center Ice, on a live chat, etc. The idea being that there's more than one way to attend an event and, beyond being able to identify other fans at the actual venue, fans at home could connect with people at the venue and those viewing at other places could connect as well… you get the idea.

    In a sort of related vein I also think about works in the public domain as a way of connecting the past. Classic films are beginning to enter the public domain — much like so many works of literature, these things will now be free to consume, post, restore and alter. Einstein was one of the first scientists to establish that time wasn't as rigid as everyone previously thought, but was much more malleable, however great artists always knew this. I think of William Faulkner's ability to capture the way people spoke in the south — how they would give directions based on landmarks that no longer exist (i.e. make a left where the old barn used to be…), or Toni Morrison's ability to create a character that was panchronic — one who could transcend space, time and individual experience to speak/feel/taste/touch on behalf of an entire population.

    There are great places that don't exist anymore CBGB comes to mind, or rather, Zoots coffeehouse in Detroit where I saw so many grunge-era bands play while people drank out of brown paper bags in the parlor. What about dead languages? All of these formerly tangible things exist mostly in memory, or in some kind of fragmented remnants of a past. What about Web-based ruins?

    I don't know — I enjoyed the rant, but I'm weird — I like thinking about things like this. :-)

  • http://www.networkedinc.com/ Terry Bean

    I think it's interesting that when we are ready for it, the information appears.

    We now have relevant information coming at us whenever we seek it even from places we aren't looking. Most of us have done a good job of finding and following people who take an interest in others. That interest can be in sharing links, potential wisdom, and time or space (I agree but of those shift as we desire).

    As we continue to find news ways to share our thoughts (many will become more comfortable doing this) we will find more ways to connect with those who are like us.

    Couple connecting like minded folks with the ideas of measuring/displaying ROI from Social/Relationship Capital and you have built a good model for the next Facebook.

    This is really more of a conversation to have over a beer anyway. Thanks for mentioning Detroit. Are you coming back soon?

    Be Connected-

    Terry Bean
    http://www.motorcityconnect.com

  • http://ItStartsWith.Us ItStartsWithUs

    I love thinking about this kind of stuff; thanks for bringing up the topic!

    Ultimately, what I think we're really after is a seamless merging of both the physical and the virtual worlds. In the first iteration of the web we had the physical world, with business as usual, and then we had the “brochure web”, as you called it. The brochure web said, “Look, there are a bunch of things out there in the world. Here's some information on them, and here's what people have to say about them.”

    Right now we're in the second iteration, and I'm not talking about Web 2.0, although sure, that's part of it. What I mean is that we're in the second phase where we're just starting to connect some of the physical to some of the virtual, as evidenced by some of the examples in your post. In this iteration, we have the physical world with little markers on things, and these markers simply serve as links pointing back to the same old brochure web (with a few bells and whistles as a result of Web 2.0 stuff). All it's really doing is making it more specific. The marker says, “Look, there's THIS thing here in the world. I live on it. Let me point you to some very specific information about it, and while you're there, you can see what other people have to say about it.” So then you get pointed to a website that exists to promote the thing, but it's still built and housed on someone's web server somewhere, and it still relies on them and their infrastructure to keep up with it.

    What I think we'd like to reach is the third iteration, where the objects themselves contain their own metadata, and can also link into the data in the virtual world. So instead of a 2D barcode slapped on the object pointing to a site, the object itself can interact with your phone (or whatever tricorder-like omnidevice we use at the time). So now when you see something in the world and you're looking for info, the object says, “Look, I AM this object, and here's what I know about myself (variable or static data, whatever). If you want to know what other people have to say about me, you can find that information here (links to the 3rd web like its predecessors did).”

    For an demo of this, let's use one of the examples from Microsoft Tag. http://www.microsoft.com/tag/content/what/ (click on second pink triangle)

    They show that a potential homebuyer can use the 2D barcode link on the For Sale sign to get to the virtual tour, house data, and whatever else is stored on their website. And that's fine, but here's what I'm thinking would take it one step further. Eventually you could interact with the sign itself to get the raw house data without having to connect to the web, but you can choose to connect to more online info if you want.

    But let's say that you're not specifically looking for a house. You just happen to be driving through a neighborhood that you really like, and you're wondering if there are any houses for sale near you. Instead of trying to go online into virtual space to find a site (more likely multiple sites) to help you find one, you just scan the physical world. You set your GPS-enabled omnidevice to a radius of 0.5 miles from your present location, and set the scan to “Homes for Sale”. Every “For Sale” sign in that radius says “here I am”, and then you can interact with the raw or online data from there, and proceed to the houses that interest you.

    That's just one example – the possibilities are limitless. The point is to start interacting with both physical objects and virtual space to get the most relevant and timely information. To give us the exact thing we need, at the time we need it. That's where I'm excited to see us go.

    Great ideas, Chris. I hope a good discussion builds around them – I'm excited to keep reading!

    Nate

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/gianluigicuccureddu Gianluigi Cuccureddu

    Great contemplation and vision Chris.
    Timedisplaced content, events etc, “eternalization” of it on the Web, create loads of oppertunities, thing is that people don't realize this, good that you concretize it and let people think about it.

    Best regards,
    Gianluigi Cuccureddu

  • http://www.whitneyhoffman.com/ whitney

    I think this is what causes most people's brain to hurt- how do I balance the immediacy of now, with time shifting, with creating an archive? How much of the content that we produce should have some restricted access, like an invite only country-club party, dealing with experiences that come with a certain cache and panache by being there in person- think attending TED in person rather than virtually? How much of it do we open up to others who will still pay to be part of the party, even if it happens remotely? How important is the person to person face time? Why is synchronous still important if everyone can also broadcast and let everybody share virtually in a version of the experience? How do we make the case for synchronous over virtual?
    Part of this also goes back to things you've talked about in the past- how much un-mined data is out there? I know, for example, I got great travel recommendations from twitter, better advice than I got from just reading guide books (even though they were helpful , including historical information, etc.). Yet some of the best experiences for me were the person to person tours we got- where someone was showing me their favorite stuff and talking about it in a way only locals can do- the little stories that bring a place alive and make it more than just “blah blah Independence Hall, blah blah Liberty Bell” etc. (to pick on Philly for a moment).
    What I am finding is the face to face experience adds value I would never otherwise get, but to stay connected, asynchronously information allows the ambient attention stuff- the background, side knowledge that lets us get to really know people more in depth, works pretty well virtually.

    What do you think?

  • http://thelostjacket.com Stuartfoster

    I think it comes down to this: Providing effective access/communication for everyone everywhere=Win.

  • http://detroit.fwix.com Jamie Favreau

    I think FWIX is wanting to do this by connecting their bloggers. They have an iphone app which is supposed to let you know where the hot spots are in the city. They also have a community which you can comment on and they have other things which are trying to move the old style of communication to the forefront.

    I also think Shannon had some great ideas as far as the fan experience and if you could connect everyone through a shared community which you can be talking anywhere this would be a great thing.

    Are we ready for this? I am not sure but it is definitely something to consider.

  • http://www.fuzemeeting.com/ Patrick Moran

    Hey Chris! Timely post for me. We've been obsessing about this problem here at my new office as well (Fuze Meeting – pardon the plug) — we're building all sorts of “hooks” from the asynchronous social software world into our real-time service — and it has created a lot of discussion about whether or not people want to bridge the chasm between the two “web worlds”. We happen believe there are countless opportunities to turn async interactions into adhoc, unstructured real-time events where info is shared and you just “move on”… From a sfotware perspective, we're obsessing about removing the friction between these interactions. From a behavioral perspective, we'll see where the user decides to change modes and jump into real-time interaction. You'll see a lot more from us on this topic… but I was psyched to see you thinking about this stuff too.

    @patrickmoran

  • http://www.socialmedianz.wordpress.com/ Siobhan bulfin

    I had to read this three times (because I'm not technically fluent or particularly web-savvy!), but it struck a chord on the first read, made sense on the second and inspired me on the third. I like and applaud you for constantly trying to identify and promote 'opportunities' to very smart technically agile people out there who often are blinded by 'what is now' instead of 'what could be'.
    Thanks Chris

  • http://www.marketingactionclub.com/ Tobin Truog

    Chris,

    And other commentors,

    Great discussion.

    This really hits me today, this week, as I have been thinking about this but it hadn't gotten to a point where I could put it in words.

    The way I was thinking about it was in relation to a small organization that wants to be on the web. Today they say, “i need a website” in the same way they said, “I need a brochure” just a few years ago.

    So, how do I tell people that they really don't need a website?

    What they need takes a lot more planning and commitment of their own time and effort.

    To me, this relates to your post in that if a person or an organization or a company wants to be more digital in their marketing / interaction / connection…then they have to become more digital. You can't just throw some digital in the back of the pickup.

    For many of these folks, there is a Physical Place given…their store, their church.

    But, no one is asking themselves, “why do my customers have to be physically here”

    And it is hard to understand that they have to live more Virtual Places in order to attract more people to their doors.

    Boy…this is right in line with what I have been thinking.

    Made my eyes light up.

  • http://www.geocities.com/j_nickence/index.html Joey1058

    Fact: the WWW is a glut of info. What is happening today is creating tools that focus on useable info contained in that glut. Mashups simply repurpose info. Kind of like shifting a pile of clothes from one corner to another corner. They're still a pile. We need a washing machine to tackle the clothes. Just like we need a set of tools to tackle the info glut. The major players have already developed those tools. But for some reason, they keep trying to tweak them. It's like a couple of sibilings. One has the toy, and won't share it with the other. I say just release what you have, and let thecommunityy ask for the best features!

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  • http://www.cimasoft.com Rick

    Chris,

    This is very De Vinci! Allow your thoughts and design to include known technology and what is not yet known. We have all completed “Masterpiece” solutions that we are proud of, only to wake up the next day and realize it is slowly drifting into obscurity. Staying on the leading edge of technology is more and more challenging each year. What used to be forward thinking is quickly becoming a requirement in delivering a successful solution that can be used for a reasonable amount of time. It also has to continually evolve. We can’t be concerned about trying something that might not be in the end product. Instead we have to continually try ideas, allowing the most fit to survive.

    I have always directed my development company by the business process improvement (The architectural design to optimize the light in each room), the technology is used to build the solution (the cement and beams that carry the load). Technology is now all around us, in everything we do. The challenge is not to use technology, but how to use technology.

    High regards,
    Rick

  • http://www.cimasoft.com Rick

    Chris,

    This is very De Vinci! Allow your thoughts and design to include known technology and what is not yet known. We have all completed “Masterpiece” solutions that we are proud of, only to wake up the next day and realize it is slowly drifting into obscurity. Staying on the leading edge of technology is more and more challenging each year. What used to be forward thinking is quickly becoming a requirement in delivering a successful solution that can be used for a reasonable amount of time. It also has to continually evolve. We can’t be concerned about trying something that might not be in the end product. Instead we have to continually try ideas, allowing the most fit to survive.

    I have always directed my development company by the business process improvement (The architectural design to optimize the light in each room), the technology is used to build the solution (the cement and beams that carry the load). Technology is now all around us, in everything we do. The challenge is not to use technology, but how to use technology.

    High regards,
    Rick