Cyberspace Theory
Apr. 2nd, 2026 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithTHE HYPER-LOCAL GEO-INTERNET
I've had this idea in my head for years and I was really excited when I realized this was probably a good place to share it. It certainly has ties togenderjumper's Undernet post which I've been thinking about. That and the topic of leaving the internet or just wanting to get away from the Al slop and mindless scrolling keeps coming up in conversation with different people in my life.
>> What if we had internet hubs tied to physical locations, landmarks, community spots? What if those internet hubs hosted message boards that could only be accessed if you were physically nearby? It's a lot more like accessing intranets in that regard. <<
It sounds like Pokemon Go and other geographic games, which are pretty popular.
Advantages: People could interact online with others who frequent the same places, without the intrusive ID demands of sites like NextDoor. It wouldn't be limited to residents but could include visitors.
Disadvantages: Most would be out of reach from people who can't travel easily -- the disabled, the poor, the carless, the elderly, people with lots of kids. And those are the most vulnerable to isolation in the first place.
So I would say, use service footprints of different sizes. The small ones, like for a coffeehouse, might only cover a block or so. A town site should cover its municipal boundaries, or perhaps, its postal address footprint. A count seat site should cover its county.
This ties into an idea I've had for capitalizing on local resources. Each town should have a current website listing its attractions, organizations like churches or charities, clubs, rentable facilities such as dance floors or multipurpose halls, upcoming events, etc. A few towns around here have really good resources for finding their facilities and activities, but not everyone does. It should be very easy to answer questions like "I'm lonely, where can I find some people?" or "I'm bored, what is there to do?"
>> But how would this change our relationship to digital spaces if they were grounded in our physical spaces? If we could connect based on proximity and not only based on common interests. <<
What you need is actually a combination of the two. Common interests wtih someone clear across the globe don't allow you to meet up easily. But local people without common interests are just random strangers and not terrific friend candidates. Plus the combination naturally suggests events. Local gardeners can do a seed/plant swap. Local parents of small children can team up for outings to area attractions like a county park. And so on.
>>But I do think a lot about the way we view "community" as based on common interests and identity instead of based on proximity. I think about how we don't have the networks built in our own neighborhoods, we don't even know our neighbors in many cases. <<
Bear in mind that one big reason for this is that people move around much more than they used to. Humans don't do detachment well. After one or a few rounds of losing most or all their friends, it gets harder to connect with new ones, and if the shuffle continues, many people find it impossible. The impact affects even people who do not move, if those around them do. That's hard to fix, because even if you teach the mostly-lost skills of reaching out to new neighbors, that doesn't change the psychological realities.
>> I think this approach to the internet could help us be more grounded, more aware about what's going on around us, more connected to whoever is nearby. Internet not as escapism but connection. <<
It's worth a try. It has the advantage of being fairly easy to set up and test. Anyone with authority over a location could try it out.
I've had this idea in my head for years and I was really excited when I realized this was probably a good place to share it. It certainly has ties to
genderjumper's Undernet post which I've been thinking about. That and the topic of leaving the internet or just wanting to get away from the Al slop and mindless scrolling keeps coming up in conversation with different people in my life. >> What if we had internet hubs tied to physical locations, landmarks, community spots? What if those internet hubs hosted message boards that could only be accessed if you were physically nearby? It's a lot more like accessing intranets in that regard. <<
It sounds like Pokemon Go and other geographic games, which are pretty popular.
Advantages: People could interact online with others who frequent the same places, without the intrusive ID demands of sites like NextDoor. It wouldn't be limited to residents but could include visitors.
Disadvantages: Most would be out of reach from people who can't travel easily -- the disabled, the poor, the carless, the elderly, people with lots of kids. And those are the most vulnerable to isolation in the first place.
So I would say, use service footprints of different sizes. The small ones, like for a coffeehouse, might only cover a block or so. A town site should cover its municipal boundaries, or perhaps, its postal address footprint. A count seat site should cover its county.
This ties into an idea I've had for capitalizing on local resources. Each town should have a current website listing its attractions, organizations like churches or charities, clubs, rentable facilities such as dance floors or multipurpose halls, upcoming events, etc. A few towns around here have really good resources for finding their facilities and activities, but not everyone does. It should be very easy to answer questions like "I'm lonely, where can I find some people?" or "I'm bored, what is there to do?"
>> But how would this change our relationship to digital spaces if they were grounded in our physical spaces? If we could connect based on proximity and not only based on common interests. <<
What you need is actually a combination of the two. Common interests wtih someone clear across the globe don't allow you to meet up easily. But local people without common interests are just random strangers and not terrific friend candidates. Plus the combination naturally suggests events. Local gardeners can do a seed/plant swap. Local parents of small children can team up for outings to area attractions like a county park. And so on.
>>But I do think a lot about the way we view "community" as based on common interests and identity instead of based on proximity. I think about how we don't have the networks built in our own neighborhoods, we don't even know our neighbors in many cases. <<
Bear in mind that one big reason for this is that people move around much more than they used to. Humans don't do detachment well. After one or a few rounds of losing most or all their friends, it gets harder to connect with new ones, and if the shuffle continues, many people find it impossible. The impact affects even people who do not move, if those around them do. That's hard to fix, because even if you teach the mostly-lost skills of reaching out to new neighbors, that doesn't change the psychological realities.
>> I think this approach to the internet could help us be more grounded, more aware about what's going on around us, more connected to whoever is nearby. Internet not as escapism but connection. <<
It's worth a try. It has the advantage of being fairly easy to set up and test. Anyone with authority over a location could try it out.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-04-02 08:52 pm (UTC)Although, the liability issues would give lawyers fits.