Community technology to

support geographically-based

communities

Joe McCarthyPrincipal Instigator

Strands Labs Seattle

Situated

place-

IRL (in real life)

Three themes

• Mobile vs. Situated• Space vs. Place• Online vs. Offline

But first: three plugs …

An example: CoCollage

A system consisting of a large display that shows a collage of photos and quotes

uploaded to a special web site by patrons and staff in a café or other community-oriented place.

Placed Community sessionSession Chair: Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaTime: 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., SaturdayPlace: IST 208

The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces: Internet Use, Social Networks, and the Public RealmKeith N Hampton, Oren Livio, Lauren Sessions University of Pennsylvania

Facilitating Participatory Decision-Making in Local Communities through Map-Based Online DiscussionBo Yu,, Guoray Cai Pennsylvania State University

Supporting Community in Third Places with Situated Social SoftwareJoseph F. McCarthy, Shelly D. Farnham, Yogi Patel, Sameer Ahuja, William R. Hazlewood, Daniel Norman, Josh Lind Strands Labs

SlideShare: YouTube for Powerpoint

http://www.slideshare.net/gumption

We can all “follow” each other!tag: cct2009

Communities, Inc. ?• Centralization, extraction,

exploitation• Disconnection, division,

distance• Individualism vs.

collectivism• Spectators (spectacles) vs.

participants• Top-down vs. bottom-up• Subjects citizens

consumers• Place property

mortgage derivative investments

We have met the corporation, and they is us.

lifeincorporated.net

Mobile vs. Situated

• Mobile Social Software– Maintain existing connections– Ambient intimacy (Leisa Reichert)– Continuous partial friendship (David Weinberger)

• Situated Social Software– Create new connections– Serendipitous encounters– Familiar strangers

“A stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet.”- Will Rogers

Space vs. Place

• Re-place-ing space (Harrison & Dourish, 1996)– Space is the opportunity; place is the understood

reality– We are located in “space”, but we act in “place”– Appropriate behavioral framing

• Location-based services (locative media)– Who / what is nearby? Maybe I’ll go there…

• Place-based services– Who / what is here? Maybe I’ll make contact …

Online vs. Offline

• Effort vs. impact– “We want communication to cost something because

that cost signals that we value the other person, that we value them enough to spare our time and attention.”

– danah boyd, “Valuing efficiencies & unreliability”• Virtual world vs. real world

– Virtual protests vs. WatchJeffersonCounty.org• Taking it to the streets (or the cafés)

– Being present, showing up, being counted … & counting

Community technology to

support geographically-based

communities

Joe McCarthygumption.typepad.com

www.slideshare.net/gumptionwww.twitter.com/gumption

www.flickr.com/photos/gumption

Situated

place-

IRL (in real life)