After finding inspiration in the insightful fiction from Bruce Sterling about our hyperlocal future I wrote in hyperlocal culture:
The mechanisms that will enable society to hyperlocalize, therefore allowing to grow stronger as a unique entity are still to be developed, but if the future is anything like his imagination suggests, we are going to be fine…
That kind of optimism was only hopeful, but coming across outside.in has the power of dismissing any questions about what shape the “mechanisms” that I was referring to will have. By discovering all the conversations taking place in the blogosphere and aggregating them by neighborhood they are in fact allowing the citizens from each locality to discover the personality of the place where they live. Granted, these conversations may only be focused on certain topics right now, but I have no doubt that as the platform matures and people learn to use it, the spectrum and influence of tools like this one will be very important.
If only as an early attempt to figure out which neighborhoods will develop a better-than-average awareness of their hyperlocal potential, here is outside.in top 10 bloggiest neighborhoods in the United States:
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York
Shaw, Washington, [...]
