#localweb.is

So long tumblr, and thanks for all the posts.

AMA for places

Every since /history split off from /about, the heavy posters have been looking for a way to keep the quality high without putting people off.  The decided to create /ask.history and direct users in /history to put all their questions there.

How did they go about creating a new slash for the global community of history seekers to use?  It’s a two step process.  First, come to a consensus on a name and a way that the new slash will be used.  Second, type the name into a browser.  Localweb.is/history was born.

If you are reading interesting posts a /history and want to go deeper, just put your question into /ask.history and the knowledgeable folks around you who are maintaining /history will enlighten you.

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Travel back in time, no Delorian needed

The slash /about started as an experiment to provide info about certain locations.  Many people wanted to use it for mostly historical facts, but soon those folks were overwhelmed with the creativity and uses for /about, so the historians broke off and started their own /history.

Many historical landmarks have some sort of plaque that has been there for decades.  Thanks to /history, there also have additional historical info and even photos which you can access just being standing near the landmark and checking localweb.is/history.

The main participates of “slash history” are quicker to moderate out wasteful posts and encourage other users to ask their questions on /ask.history instead.  Now most landmarks have a digital placeholder on the local web that is filled with historical photos, facts, and stories.

This isn’t limited to popular landmarks either.  Placing a weather resistant sign or plaque on land mark is expensive.  Posting on /history is free and quick.  So many places that don’t make it into the textbooks have posts in /history.  Bridges, farm houses, grave yards, are some places that now have more context, if you have your phone and an internet connection.

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And about page, for where you are standing

People are accustomed to clicking that ‘about’ link to find out more about a website or an organization.  But what if you could do that out in the real world.

/about or “slash about” is a convention that local web users have created and adhere to.  If you are in an interesting place and you know something about it, just post that info to localweb.is/about.

The Childs Restaurant is an interesting part of Coney Islands history, but it doesn’t have a website.  But it does have several posts on /about both from knowledgeable experts and also interested passersby.  How to read about the Childs Restaurant on /about?  The first thing you need to do is go there.  Most people filter /about with a 300 feet radius so you have to be pretty close to see what people have posted.

“slash about” isn’t always perfect.  It’s like a decentralized location based wikipedia where anyone can contribute so as you would expect, you get all sorts of info from all sorts of people.  But at the very least, it provides an interesting narrative to the world around you.

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Beards of a feather...

So it’s the end of “Movember” and what do you have to show for yourself?  Chances are it could be a rocking beard and mustache.  Well it’s time to show that off and show some solidarity for your whiskered kin.

Just post your beard pic to localweb.is/beard-selfie and lavish in the man-on-man attention you have been missing.

Growing a beard for the long haul, also know as the “yeard” is hard work.  You have to face the sometimes daily score of your spouse, co-workers, or mother-in-law.  It’s a journey and it helps to share that journey with others in the area who are going through the same personal and physical growth.  While posting to other social networks may lead to abusive beard-shaming, the local web, or at least /beard-selfie is a close knit community of like-bearded souls to share your progress with.

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AA on your phone

Alcoholics Anonymous has helped millions of people recover from addition since 1935.  Coming together and sharing your story with others can have power effect.  Unfortunately there is no AA app to do that.  There is AA apps that go over the 12 steps and provide other teachings and encouragement, but the social part is still left to the in-person meetings.  This works for some, but not for others, especially when you can’t wait for the next meeting.

Thats why AA participants have taken to the local web and created their own online meeting space at localweb.is/aa.  When you share there or even just read others stories, it’s from people around you, within a few miles.  You might see them at the next meeting, but for now, they are on your phone.

The local web uses contextual identities, which means you can have a different identity for each “slash”.  This is important in a scenario like AA when you want to remain anonymous but still have the opportunity to build relationships.  In /aa you can be John Doe, and in the school /pta slash, you can be your real name, and never the two shall mix.

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Weekly chats about your gardens

There is a great community going on at /gardening.  Just people posting about their plants but these people all happen to share the same soil and weather.  Thats the core of the local web.  Bringing people together over the things we already share.

But each Thursday night around 8pm the folks at /gardening get together at localweb.is/rt/garden.chat to talk about their greens in Real Time.  That’s what the RT stands for and when its used in a URL is changes the dynamics a bit.  All conversations are flat instead of threaded and they don’t trigger notifications.  They also only last for 30 minutes.  It basically turns the standard posting structure into a chat room.

These folks also belong to a local gardening group on Meetup.com but sometimes they just want something lightweight to interact with, instead of planning and organizing an in-person get-together.

The /rt/ and the local web let them do just that.

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They are out there, and closer than you think.

Most major urban cities will have some sort of meetup or group of women developers.  In tech centers, like San Francisco or New York, you even have your choice of female coding groups.  

But for the rest of the country, females who share your passion for coding can be much harder to find.  They are out there of course.  If there is 100 developers in your town, then 5 to 22 of them are going to be female.  So how do they fine each other?

By using the local web and a “slash” such as localweb.is/women.who.code women can find and connect to other female coders where ever you happen to be.  In populated cities where such groups already exist on meetup.com and independently, /women.who.code often serves as a more informal place to express your gripes or opinions as the local web doesn’t require your real-name identity.

Statistically, you are more alike to the people around you than you might think.  However finding them has always been a challenge.  The local web makes this much easier.

We are building the local web and sharing a new way to use it each day

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