Those words have become a family code for the way my virtual community has infiltrated our real world. My seven-year-old daughter knows that her father congregates with a family of invisible friends who seem to gather in his computer. Sometimes he talks to them, even if nobody else can see them. And she knows that these invisible friends sometimes show up in the flesh, materializing from the next block or the other side of the planet.
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier
Howard Rheingold tours the 'virtual community' of online networking.Howard Rheingold has been called the First Citizen of the Internet. In this book he tou
The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier
Howard Rheingold tours the "virtual community" of onlin…
Erlend Sogge Heggen (@erlend.sh)
1. solitude: single-player game loop 2. bottomlessness: infinite scroll 3. speed: instant delivery/gratification 4. teasing: generally satisfactory, never perfect; “maybe the next one is exactly what I want” ↘️ quoting NPR (@npr.org): Taken together, these four features can create a trancelike state that can keep us stuck on social media apps or video games for hours. Children are particularly vulnerable. n.pr/4mH6i6s
Meta’s ‘Digital Companions’ Will Talk Sex With Users—Even Children
Chatbots on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are empowered to engage in ‘romantic role-play’ that can turn explicit. Some people inside the company are concerned.
Growing up in the online world: a national consultation
We are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.
Thoughts on Cyberpositionality: The Construction of Digital Communities in Digital Spaces, Damien Patrick Williams
I found Rebecca Monteleone, Martin Perez Comisso, and Elma Hajric’s “Cyberpositionality: Sociotechnical Location in the Digital Age” (2024) to be an extremely timely and important article which can…
A Liability Framework for AI Companions
<p><span>Every day tens of millions of people engage in online conversations. These virtual interactions range from casual chats about daily life to deeply pers
Ambient Co-presence
Creating a subtle, peripheral, and synchronous sense of shared space and context on the web
Data privacy concerns in AI companion apps - Surfshark
As AI grows, digital companions help with loneliness but raise questions about user data privacy. Many seek virtual relationships, but it's important to remember they are business-driven, not personal bonds.
The inequities of our remote gathering tools
As we’ve been transitioning our in-person communities to virtual ones, our modes of interaction are now firmly established in tiny…
Neighborhood Steward Fellowship | New_ Public
An eight-week program bringing together leaders of local-oriented online spaces to experiment with fun new practices and ideas
W Social: a Broken Ghost Town?
W Social has been experiencing major technical problems for over a week: it is effectively a ghost town, filled with thousands of new accounts that cannot use the platform.
On-Together: Virtual Co-Working
Virtual co-working with friends or strangers all over the world! Digital pals hang out at the bottom of the screen while you work, study, and get stuff done. Includes productivity tools, hangout spots, breaktime games, and more!
When the Internet Was a Place - Front Porch Republic
Not too long ago, the internet was a place you visited. The family desktop sat in its designated closet or back office. In schools, there were rooms filled with computers blinking in tandem, waiting for your class to arrive and hop online. You had to purposefully arrive at the internet, and when done, you left […]
Presented our work on how friendship muda lets the expression of hierarchy in cooperation for elementary school children on the lighting talks at #ic2s2 #ic2s22026 @ic2s2.bsky.social today!
