CITIZENS’
NETWORKS
· Stop Thief Sleuths solve
crimes on-line
Organized by British Telecom (BT), Stop Thief is an on-line detective game which was first run in the K during summer 1998. Teams of school children and parents used the web site and the Internet in the race to solve a burglary which took place in the late 19th century at Charlecote Manor in Warwickshire, UK. On-line clues included detailed mps and original police statements.
· Starbright World reaches
hospitals across the USA
Starbright World is a virtual reality playspace on a high-speed network that links seriously ill children from their hospital beds across the USA. An 18-month trial linking seven hospitals showed that a virtual playground helps children feel less isolated in hospital conditions. Yung patients can go on-line micronations are promising new virtual territories by setting up model states.
· The Well, America’s anarchic
on-line experiment
Whether in the form of discussion newsgroups, MUDs (Multi –user dungeons), or mailing lists, the Internet brought into existence a colorful range of on-line communities, where people sharing the same interests are communicating. So, if you cannot find anybody in town who shares your hobby, you will almost certainly find somebody on the Net.
· Echo NYC. New York’s
historical on-line chat site
Echo was established in 1990, which makes it a relatively old virtual community in net terms. Based in New York City it is comparable only to The Well on the West Coast of the USA. Over 60 conferences can be attended through on-line chatting based on pre World Wide Web bulletin board systems technology. Besides New York centered topics such as the city’s history, a range of broader subjects are discussed, from popular culture to lifestyles.
· Blackvoices offers community
services and culture
Blackvoices provides a community via chat worlds and e-mail discussions focusing on black culture. It also offers news, jobs and a members photo gallery. Anybody can launch a debate about anything in the Black Wall chat groups.
· Amsterdam based DDS
is a vibrant on-line city
The Amsterdam freenet DDS is a grassroots and non-governmental organization. It was the first to apply the city metaphor to an on-line community structure. DDS provides easy access to information about government, social organizations and citizens groups and encourages netizens (Citizens of the Net) to become not only info consumers but also contributors by adding their own web pages. Communities on the DDS, which counted over 60,000 citizens in 1998, centre around forums such as chess cafes, art, cinema and metro users.
· Politicians battle it out on
Minnesota e-Democracy
Minnesota e- Democracy was the world’s first election oriented web site to host on-line debates by election candidates. By introducing a public forum on political processes, this non partisan, citizen based democracy by taking advantage of information, mailing list and direct e-mailing to candidates.
