The first project that we will be undertaking is an experiment. Since it is the case that experimentation comes after the hypothesis, here is ours: humans may use technology to create social spaces – and in these spaces, we witness the phenomena known as community. Quite a claim, which we will explore in more detail as we go forward. But for now, let us lay out a plan for this experiment.
Let me start by saying that this project will take the form of a novel digital community. I’ve been planning this site for over a year and truly want to see it come to fruition. It will be built using node.js, possibly with express, backbone and socket.io. It will be usable on mobile and available on github. The core idea is to limit each tribe geographically and via ‘civic’ mechanics.
Careful considerations must be given to the timeline of this project, seeing as mapping interactions over time tends to reveal useful trends. Data gathering will be as intensive as possible – frequent backups, graph and sql analysis. All alongside qualitative observations. The desired and predicted outcome is that the particular concoction of novel technologies will foster the space needed for communities to grow. Furthermore, the hope is that these communities are healthy and self-aware.
Perhaps next post I will upload some of the sketches I have and will provide a link to the skeleton app on github.
Let me know if you have any suggestions for further data that will be useful for the analysis!
Third Places 