1. Usenet World Jakob Metzler

2. Motivation “People confuse neighborhood with community” (Barry Wellman: The Network Community) Maybe we can make community and neighborhood “equal” again Apply this idea to Usenet newsgroups

3. Usenet World Graphical map (2D/3D) of Usenet communities Not based on location, but interest 8 continents: comps, news, sci, humanities, rec, soc, talk, misc Each continent has a number of countries based on the hierarchy, eg. Continent rec: –rec.animals, rec.antiques, rec.art

4. Usenet World Continue with hierarchy: –Continent -> country -> city -> neighborhood Use “Sim City” engine to display neighborhood. Each main thread is a building –Subject displayed on top of map Size matters – number of responses determines size of building

5. Content Signals Autonomous agents can parse threads for content display different graphics next to buildings according to content characteristics: –Flaming –Inappropriate language (?) –User’s interest keywords –Etc.

6. Example

8. Flaming Signal

9. Some Considerations Search functions extended to point to areas in the world map that match keywords Houses deteriorate when thread is inactive, and eventually disappear => Dynamic landscape

10. Advantages Can browse newsgroups much more intuitively (“walk around neighborhood”) People have motivation to continue the discussion –“who builds the highest building?” => Increases social exchange People are more likely participate in neighbor’s discussion