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SocialMapping

The Internet is due to exceed two billion users this year! This digital space is expanding at an exponential rate, while eating into the growth of the total world population and its social space. Left behind is Mother Earth, the exact same size as we've always known it - yet appearing to shrink in comparison!

The social reach from a historical point of view has been changed from the 'village model' of social relationships confined by geographical boundaries, to one with few, if any, restrictions at all. The digital space is becoming increasingly social and facilitate interaction in essentially real time as if in the same place.

Facebook is the largest of all social networks today, with more than 500 million users from all over the world. However, their physical location is irrelevant as they are all entwined by some other logic. This makes Facebook an intriguing platform to search for another way to represent its interactions.

I am therefore making a Facebook application to reflect on this, through the data accessible from a user's account. I've named the project SocialMapping for now, for its connotations to both the village and social graphs. However, I'm receptive to better and more catchy names!

Maybe the social reach may still be described by the 'village model', but creating new 'geographical' landscapes instead of being restricted by them. Thus SocialMapping is literally mapping the social space we inhabit.

Studies, Digital Spaces | 1 comment »