Keyword: Accidental Infrastructure

An IRL example of accidental infrastructure: at the height of the COVID pandemic, parking spaces on city streets were converted into outdoor restaurant seating. Image via Wikimedia Commons user Eden, Janine and Jim.

This is an entry in our Keyword series, where we try to define the terms you’ll often hear when people talk about building a better Internet and put those keywords in their current context. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, people and organizations needed a new virtual space to host all kinds of… Continue reading Keyword: Accidental Infrastructure

Welcome to Smalltown, a Civic Space Online

Amherst Town Meeting, held April 5, 1997. Image courtesy of Amherst Community Television, via CC BY-ND 4.0 license.

At iDPI we’re agitating for a smaller future of the Internet. To illustrate this, it’s helpful to think about rooms. Offline, there are all sorts of rooms that we gather in: there are churches, bars, gyms—what we do in each of those is pretty different. Facebook is like a big conference center, with high ceilings,… Continue reading Welcome to Smalltown, a Civic Space Online