It only took ten days to move into my new hyperlocal digs, but alas, it’s done. For nearly two weeks, I lived on pizza and cheese sandwiches, burst digital bubbles on my signal-less cell phone, and wrestled an aerial antenna for a better reception of “Jerry Springer.”
For hard-core techies, that scene signals the end of civilization. But my temporary disconnect from online reality gave me a greater appreciation for real reality, the one that exists (and it does) beyond the internet.
It also allowed me to consider how hyperlocalists can better serve the underserved — and by underserved, I’m not just talking about plugged-in communities without a local newspaper or news website. I’m talking about communities that don’t even appear on the grid: lower-income neighborhoods without broadband, communities in which English is not the primary language, even sparsely populated rural communities.
The net might not penetrate those areas, but hyperlocalists can still serve them using different, even “primitive” technologies. Expect the next few blog posts to look into this idea.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Spikenzie.