11
Apr
2009
Won’t you be?
You may have encountered the story of Jon Engal, a freelance designer trying to make an honest living who was ripped off by a powerful corporation and then ruthlessly attacked legally. Oh wait, you also heard that might not be true?
This isn’t about the dispute, however. What I want to talk about is the fact that within a few hours, there were hundreds of people tweeting about it and dozens of blog posts, and then there was $1800 in a legal defense fund for Jon. Not only that, but certain highly-followed Twitterers have raised thousands in short order for charities just by tweeting about it.
Meanwhile, I recently found out that my next door neighbors, prior to their sudden disappearance, had been living in their house without any electricity or running water for two months. I had no idea anything unusual was going on. Huh. Who knew?
So, which is the real community? The people we live next door to, or the people we follow, friend, blog about, IM, etc? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like there is a shift happening. Granted, we all still know people locally. I helped my other neighbor shovel his walk last winter. I go to work and I have friends I see whenever possible. But I spend a lot of time interacting with people I’ve never met, or people I know but I see more online than IRL, as they say these days.
I heard a story on NPR about the effects of the folding of newspapers. Apparently, with fewer reporters, more stories are being shared (sold to) multiple papers. I’m not sure how many papers will survive, or in what form, but I believe that more coverage of news and events will be through bloggers and other online transmission.
Via cyberspace we can talk about whatever with someone from Jakarta, Austalia, Iceland… or next door. So how will the exponentially increasing virtual connectedness affect communities — where we spend our time, what we talk about with whom, where we expend our resources?
I’d love to hear what you think, wherever you are. Because if you’re reading this, you’re my neighbor.
Being across the country from may people that I love and miss – and now having such a split life that wherever I live that will be the case in the future – I really appreciate the connectiveness that these online communities can provide. When I get back together with people, I often have “kept up” with them through little statuses and comments and back and forth conversations. While I think nothing should ever completely replace face-to-face, I love the opportunity to retain some level of closeness that all of these sites and technology provide!
Hey Mike! Awesome blog–just found it;-)
I have to say that I agree with Jase–being away almost all of the time, blogging, facebook, twitter, and texting gives me some sort of connection to home. Honestly, I prefer these to a phone call most of the time, anyway, which would be my only other realistic option…
Hey, thanks Jason & Jessica. I’m entirely grateful for all of the benefits that internet connectivity brings. I just wonder about whether there is or will be a corresponding change in local connectedness. I wonder if there will be less put into local communities as a result of resources and time being expended remotely. Or maybe there will be more put into communities as a result of remote activity.
I’m also reminded of Kitty Genovese’s murder in NYC, when there were dozens of people watching, but nobody did anything. Could there be a bystander effect in the massiveness of the online community? I don’t know, but I’m curious.
excellant writing, you deserve a free iPad: http://bit.ly/freeipad6
Hi! I’ve been reading your site for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up the fantastic work!