The goal of Hub2 is to introduce a deliberative process into community meetings that currently does not exist. Who do this by integrating Second Life into the existing community process. We believe that the affordances of the tool and the specifics of the practice we built around it, we are adding the following:

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Categories: placeofmedia · boston · citygovernment · SecondLife · hub2 · gene_koo · civic_engagement · net-locality · mixed_reality · mediated urbanism · cities

It has been some time since I posted to my blog. This is primarily because I found myself quite busy working on my new book, whose title has changed to “Location Matters,” with some snappy subtitle to bring it all home. What follows is a section from chapter two that describes the concept […]

Categories: placeofmedia · citygovernment · civic_engagement · net-locality · mediated urbanism · mobility · cities

I just got back from the O’Reilly Where 2.0 conference in Burlingame, CA this morning. As someone who attends mostly academic conferences, it was both refreshing and disturbing to spend two days with this group. Refreshing because the group was composed mostly of developers, interested in figuring out how to transform the emerging […]

Categories: placeofmedia · net-locality · mediated urbanism · mobility · cities · web 2.0 · geography

Over the last few days, I’ve refined my thoughts on the concept of network locality. Up until this time, I’ve been thinking about how geographical space functions within the connectivity enabled by digital networks. But as I pursued this idea, I began to realize that starting from geography was not the most productive […]

Categories: placeofmedia · net-locality · mediated urbanism · mobility · place · geography

I’ve had this question running through my head for some time now: what’s the connection between mobile computing (i.e. cell phones, PDAs, GPS, etc.) and local computing (neighborhood networking, digital civic forums, etc.)? On first blush, these are entirely separate phenomena. But, the more I consider it, the more I see them as […]

Categories: placeofmedia · citygovernment · city · net-locality · Community_Informatics · mediated urbanism · mobility · cities · place

The key is presented to Mayor Menino

The virtual mayor takes the key to the virtual city
The Hub2 kick-off event was a big success. We had a packed room, both in first and second life, and there was an overall positive reception to the work we are doing. Bill Oates, the Chief Information Officer […]

Categories: placeofmedia · boston · citygovernment · city · hub2 · civic_engagement · net-locality

CCTV is a community media center in Cambridge, MA that is doing some fascinating work in the integration of web media to the mission of community television. My grad student, Colin Rhinesmith, is doing his master’s thesis on this topic and has done some exemplary research thus far on the implications of this integration. […]

Categories: placeofmedia · civic_engagement · net-locality · Community_Informatics · cities

In class last week, we spent about 90 minutes arguing over the merits of community networks. The real question was: why would we want network technologies overlaying physical space? Don’t we have enough “connection?” Shouldn’t urban planners and architects help us figure out ways to “disconnect?” The argument I offered against […]

Categories: placeofmedia · boston · citygovernment · SecondLife · city · hub2 · civic_engagement · net-locality · Community_Informatics

Knowledge Politics just released a pamphlet on the topic of “Localism and the Information Society.” This collection of brief essays is motivated by the desire to see better integration of ICTs into neighborhoods and cities. As stated in the introduction:

“new communication tools actually have the ability to strengthen traditional, local relationships. This premise […]

Categories: placeofmedia · citygovernment · city · civic_engagement · net-locality · Community_Informatics

Myspace and Facebook have gone mobile. And new companies are cropping up each day to get in on the new mobile socializing. An article in the Boston Globe this morning featured two companies seemingly making a dent in this field - Utterz and MocoSpace each offer phone-based services for the never-disconnected set. […]

Categories: placeofmedia · phones · net-locality