The Emu Web Grid Project

The EMU WEB GRID is currently online at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image:

http://www.acmi.net.au/EMU

With the emergence of the world wide web in 1994 and onwards, it became clear that the logical setting for the EMU project was the web itself. A design idea was suggested by the project's Supervisor David Atkinson at RMIT's Centre for Animation and Interactive Multimedia suggested that the world wide web would offer a suitable platform for the delivery of a multi-user online 'city'. David suggested a grid format for the city, which like a map would enable people to choose a point on an array, and claim that point as a home.

Cinemedia web master Mr Harry Sokol programmed the Emu Web Grid Project in 1995 using java scripting. The site went online at Cinemedia in Melbourne in 1995.The rationale behind choosing the web as a 'platform' for the EMU project stemmed from its rapidly growing popularity at that time. Few had foreseen the extremely rapid uptake of the world wide web by the general public, and the fact that a growing global 'user base' was present provided the grounds for shifting the idea of the electronic city from a broadcast domain (interactive TV) to an online one.

Following its release, it became apparent that the site was gaining popularity from a wide range of people, and the idea of a personalisable online city, though not without precedents, was keenly embraced by early 'settlers'. See "Frozen Moment" section to see the contributions of people who have moved to the EMU WEB GRID city.

Notes from my diary about the role and function of EMU WEB GRID (1997)

EMU's Dots are a uniform red, until someone arrives to join, whereupon filling out an online form (by selecting 'join' from the onscreen menu) they choose a co-ordinate then a colour of their own. This coloured, now 'inhabited' dot then, once clicked on,leads to that person's web site, shown full screen, where personal text and uploaded files can 'reside' and in doing so represent that person's 'home' on the grid.

I am interested in whether people in fact will 'migrate' from one co-ordinate or not. Will people who notice there is a group of say Japanese "Manga" (comic book) enthusiasts in one rough area of the grid, move their dot to that region in the hope that browsers checking out the "Manga" 'urb' also drop in on their site? Will gay people seek to occupy a region on the grid and stake that area out? Will a celebrity attract her fans? Her colleagues? Will the arrival of a dot representing the interests of of a political group repel the dots held by people of opposite political view?

What role does adjacency play in the formation of online communities where physical presence is absent, but something just as human - the formation of communities - is actively, organically in the process of constantly becoming?

What will the grid look like as it grows (if it grows)? Will it resemble the appearance of Conway's model - 'the game of life'? I rather imagine so. At any rate, the circumstances are in place such that if the world wants to make a community which has some aspects of urban space about it to do so.

Many web 'cities' exist - such as geocities, and digital cities Amsterdam, but few have as a central motif this notion of 'migration'. The ability to shift within the grid space at any time and as many times as is desired it is hoped will reveal something of the importance of visual adjacency to the importance of people to their EMU neighbors. Free play and spirited organic mutability define the openly globalist utopian aspirations of EMU WEB GRID. Adjacency, that property of a real bricks and mortar city which defines a person or community's physical proximity to others is scarce. Real city dwellers in an unjust and unequal real estate market driven economy are forced to vie with each other for access to desirable areas. The cycle of gentrification of formerly low rent regions forces people forever outward, prices are pushed up and often as is the case in San Francisco, prices are held artificially high by means of rendering inhabitable spaces deliberately vacant. Cities once characterised by pluralist liberal tolerance have introduced active gating and severely policed boundaries, where the poor and homeless are increasingly contained within wastelands and ghettos of crime and misery.

Healthy and vibrant communities are characterised by diversity, energy, activity, and a sense of shared urban purpose. The most rewarding city experiences empower people to take an active role in the creation of their shared surrounding space. EMU enables people to migrate to anywhere on its grid at any time (where a vacant dot is available). Unlike in a physical city, where land prices define economic subdivision, on the web no such scarcity (real or economically fabricated) need exist. On the web e-space itself is essentially 'free'.

Although it is possible to consider a model of EMUWEBGRID in which users can see all people from a distance, the notion of adjacency refers mainly to the relative position of those who together form a clustered, grouped sub-community within the broader grid. Most of the time users could not see more than ten dots above, below and to the left and right sides of their own dot, and this limited view imposed its own sense of adjacency.

Other online web 'cities'

Digital Cities Amsterdam or DDS

Digital Cities Amsterdam (AKA DDS) has been in operation officially since January 15 1994. though preparations started in August 1993. The site has long since ceased to be a ‘city’ of any kind. It is today an internet service provider.

The main characteristic of DDS was its reference to an actual city, Amsterdam. The intention of those who set it up to have it remain firmly rooted in the concerns of Amsterdam, according to facilitator Geert Lovink. This is a key difference from "Geocities" for example, for the latter site is in no way deliberately set up as an adjunct to an existing real-world urban context. DDS became very successful, and although beginning with a libertarian non-commercial agenda, later became a commercial site.

DDS utilised a grid system for organising people's web sites, and enables visitors to view sites in terms of clustered themes - for example health issues, entertainment, employment, housing and so on. There was a very specific design aesthetic behind DDS, as the appearance of such sites went a long way to ensuring ease of use, and the cultivation of a kind of 'civic look'. Matters of appearance and design play an important role in web sites whose aim is to bring people together in such a ways as to make them feel part of a community.

Observing the DDS site in say 1995, one got the impression that it was city which was growing, and could expand according to the aims and objectives of those who live there. The fact that it is to some extent anchored in Amsterdam contributes to the site's claim to being a digital 'city', catering to the interests and needs and desires of inhabitants of a real place. The social thus extended both ways, into the virtual environment and the physical world.

By re-invoking desirability of position/scarcity I was conscious of the fact that I might have been risking the emergence of ghettoisation and power-play issues within EMUWEBGRID . The online city was designed to be (potentially at least) an infinitely expandable world and required goodwill of the players in the pursuit of global commons. In the end, the grid space on offer was never populated to the extent that such issues arose. Clustering of dots along lines of memorable numbers and near the centre of the grid (the default starting point for anyone arriving) did occur, and I was partly interested in whatever issues might arise if power plays over territory came up, but none ever did.

Geocities

Geocities is a 'free' web environment - one of the first sites to offer free web sites to internet users, in exchange for advertising material to be placed on the those web sites given away. It is possible to view the 'city' as a collection of points on a grid