Web 0.0
May 12, 2016 9:25 AM Subscribe
Civitacampomarano is a small village in the province of Campobasso, Italy, with just 400 souls, mainly elderly.
In this village, rich in folk traditions, Internet is a partially unknown world: mobile phones have difficulty working and the data connection is practically nonexistent.
The provocative idea behind this project is to show that these virtual functions, considered by the vast majority of the population as necessary and essential to everyday life, also exist in the country, where the connection is hard to reach: this is a sort of Internet "in real life", able to demonstrate that in traditions and popular culture these instruments, in other ways, have always existed and have allowed people and families to have cultural exchanges, meeting at the bar and living on the town's streets.
"DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. TRY THIS ON THE STREET."
The provocative idea behind this project is to show that these virtual functions, considered by the vast majority of the population as necessary and essential to everyday life, also exist in the country, where the connection is hard to reach: this is a sort of Internet "in real life", able to demonstrate that in traditions and popular culture these instruments, in other ways, have always existed and have allowed people and families to have cultural exchanges, meeting at the bar and living on the town's streets.
"DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. TRY THIS ON THE STREET."
hee hee! I liked this!
first i thought that WhatsApp decided to provide a phone service to this "unwired" town
though seeing those gents enjoying a glass of wine at the bar - that should have been tagged as being MetaFilter!
posted by bitteroldman at 9:55 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
first i thought that WhatsApp decided to provide a phone service to this "unwired" town
though seeing those gents enjoying a glass of wine at the bar - that should have been tagged as being MetaFilter!
posted by bitteroldman at 9:55 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm old enough that I grew up without internet, and I can say based on that experience that while yes, things did work, they worked much more slowly, much less accurately, and much more expensively.
Yes, you can navigate a strange city without Google maps. When my partner and I got married, Google maps wasn't yet invented and GPS navigation was a very expensive oddity. We drove from Amarillo TX to Washington DC, navigated the DC public transit to get where we wanted to go, and so on. It did work.
But it also sucked, and was a lot more stressful and expensive, than it would be today with Google maps.
Yes, in the past you could dig out an encyclopedia at dinner to check whether or not Paraguay or Uruguay had a bigger population (as of 1976 which was the publication date on our encyclopedia set because we couldn't afford to buy a newer one).
But it also sucked, and was sharply limited in terms of what you could look up.
Want info not found in the encyclopedia? Want to know what a particular bug is, or what movies Billy Crystal had appeared in? Well, either go to the bookstore and buy a specific reference volume, or go to the library and look there. Either expensive or time consuming.
So yeah, we survived without the internet. And as an oldster who did survive without the internet let me say good riddance to those awful pre-internet days. They were tolerable only because we didn't know that a better way existed.
posted by sotonohito at 9:58 AM on May 12, 2016 [17 favorites]
Yes, you can navigate a strange city without Google maps. When my partner and I got married, Google maps wasn't yet invented and GPS navigation was a very expensive oddity. We drove from Amarillo TX to Washington DC, navigated the DC public transit to get where we wanted to go, and so on. It did work.
But it also sucked, and was a lot more stressful and expensive, than it would be today with Google maps.
Yes, in the past you could dig out an encyclopedia at dinner to check whether or not Paraguay or Uruguay had a bigger population (as of 1976 which was the publication date on our encyclopedia set because we couldn't afford to buy a newer one).
But it also sucked, and was sharply limited in terms of what you could look up.
Want info not found in the encyclopedia? Want to know what a particular bug is, or what movies Billy Crystal had appeared in? Well, either go to the bookstore and buy a specific reference volume, or go to the library and look there. Either expensive or time consuming.
So yeah, we survived without the internet. And as an oldster who did survive without the internet let me say good riddance to those awful pre-internet days. They were tolerable only because we didn't know that a better way existed.
posted by sotonohito at 9:58 AM on May 12, 2016 [17 favorites]
that town is so sued!
posted by gkr at 10:18 AM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by gkr at 10:18 AM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I mean, don't get me wrong, the pictures are cute and they do a pretty good job of showing how we survived back in the bad old days. Except for the Wikipedia one, that should have been a shot of an actual encyclopedia set or even a library, not a person unless she's clearly marked "Reference Librarian".
But they also leave out the inconvenience, slowness, and general crappiness of the things we used to use. It's a bit like labeling a horse and buggy "Formula 1 Race Car". A bit funny, yes, and technically they do similar things, but one is so much more suited for the stated purpose than the other.
posted by sotonohito at 10:24 AM on May 12, 2016
But they also leave out the inconvenience, slowness, and general crappiness of the things we used to use. It's a bit like labeling a horse and buggy "Formula 1 Race Car". A bit funny, yes, and technically they do similar things, but one is so much more suited for the stated purpose than the other.
posted by sotonohito at 10:24 AM on May 12, 2016
I could live there -- there are a few internet-y things I would miss, but on the whole I think I'd be content.
posted by JanetLand at 10:57 AM on May 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 10:57 AM on May 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
Aww this is cute, thanks for posting! It’s funny, everyone uses whatsapp so much in Italy it makes it even more surreal to think of a place where people would be forced to do without it.
Except for the Wikipedia one, that should have been a shot of an actual encyclopedia set or even a library, not a person unless she's clearly marked "Reference Librarian".
Yeahhh but
1) a remote village with 400 inhabitants probably doesn’t even have a library
2) this was for fun and the wikipedia photo/shot in the video and the look the woman gives you is just perfect, isn’t it?
though seeing those gents enjoying a glass of wine at the bar - that should have been tagged as being MetaFilter!
Nah, worlds apart! In a bigger city maybe...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:59 AM on May 12, 2016
Except for the Wikipedia one, that should have been a shot of an actual encyclopedia set or even a library, not a person unless she's clearly marked "Reference Librarian".
Yeahhh but
1) a remote village with 400 inhabitants probably doesn’t even have a library
2) this was for fun and the wikipedia photo/shot in the video and the look the woman gives you is just perfect, isn’t it?
though seeing those gents enjoying a glass of wine at the bar - that should have been tagged as being MetaFilter!
Nah, worlds apart! In a bigger city maybe...
posted by bitteschoen at 10:59 AM on May 12, 2016
Internet is a partially unknown world: mobile phones have difficulty working and the data connection is practically nonexistent.
Sounds like Vermont.
posted by terrapin at 11:34 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sounds like Vermont.
posted by terrapin at 11:34 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I find the use of the logos disturbing - it shows how we've commodified and monetized all these basic forms of human connection. I don't prefer the analog versions for their own sake, but I deleted the Facebook app from my phone yesterday in a fit of rage because I got a notification pushing me to change my profile picture because "it's been a while since you changed it!" (IT'S BEEN LESS THAN 6 MONTHS!), so what do I know.
posted by sunset in snow country at 12:29 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by sunset in snow country at 12:29 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
sotonohito, I had the same reaction.
As An Old, let me tell you, the pre-internet era was full of loneliness for a lot of people, travel or discovering new places/things/activities was difficult if not impossible, and social networks limited by physical proximity often contained a bunch of terrible people that you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire but they were the only people around so you had to suck up their bullshit or else be friendless. Really, it was not all that.
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:38 PM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
As An Old, let me tell you, the pre-internet era was full of loneliness for a lot of people, travel or discovering new places/things/activities was difficult if not impossible, and social networks limited by physical proximity often contained a bunch of terrible people that you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire but they were the only people around so you had to suck up their bullshit or else be friendless. Really, it was not all that.
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:38 PM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
Shouldn't there be a creepy shack under a bridge with the 4chan logo?
posted by condour75 at 1:23 PM on May 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by condour75 at 1:23 PM on May 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
I am also an analog baby, born in '55. So fully explored and used the analog world while slowly adapting and eventually working in the digital world. Some things are not missed; slow information...but I was lucky to have written and received scented love letters. I think a return for balance to fleshy sensations may be desired by our children...we'll see.
posted by judson at 9:06 AM on May 13, 2016
posted by judson at 9:06 AM on May 13, 2016
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