Electronic Cafes and Cyber-Culture

The comforts of personalized electronic space are not limited to an individual's home page. The concept of a community hangout on the Net is about as old as the network itself. After all, we are talking about a multiuser environment. Long-time users of the Internet have grown accustomed to and, in fact, have shaped the network so that it is almost impossible to spend all of ones time in isolation. Even the most hermitted lurker still must be aware of the ever present world of exuberant interacting personalities. It's difficult not to find a personal touch within a program or a site. Just as the salon and cafe have been institutions in the art world for the past century and well beyond, the Internet has always had SIGs, news groups, IRC, multiuser games, and so on.

ECHO uses the imagery or analogy of electronic salons where artists gather in virtual space to interact and converse. The WELL (well.sf.ca.us), which is the direct electronic offspring of The Whole Earth Catalogue, structured itself as a series of moderated communities. Delphi (delphi.com), the first major commercial provider to offer full Internet access, has had a variety of popular SIGs and a sizable collection of smaller SIGs individually configured by users. Arts Wire on tmn.com has structured itself as a series of conferences for its community of artist users. Borrowing from a host of concepts that have always existed, they have formalized the manner in which users can communicate with each other. A user may initiate a conference with one or several other users. The conference may be formatted as private or public. The larger commercial providers, CompuServe, AOL, Prodigy, and Genie, have had a host of community forum areas both large and specific in scope. The wonderful collection of local Freenets has always had its community centers and town halls. Mail listservers have provided still another venue for exchanging ideas and contacts.

A cafe is usually an environment where the subject matter is open. The draw is that a group of creative personalities are in one place at one time, and their interactions will generate at least an entertaining evening. Talk sessions and Internet Relay Chat have allowed a deeper enhancement of the slightly more static Usenet and other interest areas. However, the concept of interacting online has been expanded with facilities such as NetJam where musicians create combos and play through MIDI-interface across the Net. The OTIS project has allowed artists to interact by manipulating each other's work. These sites allow performers and audiences to share the archived works and to be immediate participants. They are comparable to open microphone night at a local performance space. A number of ECHO derived systems exist where energetic gatherings of artists, musicians, and cultural buffs meet and chat online on a regular basis. There are real-world events springing from network meetings. My local access group, Panix.com, has picnics, outings to movies, and occasional parties. Commercial enterprises such as pubs, Laundromats, and cafes are placing terminals on their premises. It would not surprise me one bit to see in the near future an Internet version of the diner table jukebox.