The Ecology of Social Technology
What made early social networks feel so different from today?
A conversational workshop on the archaeology of the social internet hosted by Dan Schmidt, a Thomas J. Watson Fellow spending a year exploring The Ecology of Social Technology: how platform design and timing shape the way we relate to ourselves, one another, and the natural world.
What we’ll do:
Brief framing on “digital rhythms” as lenses for reading platforms.
Group discussion: stories from early platforms and what design choices enabled them?
Small breakout “archaeology” maps: the affordances we’d bring forward (and what we’d leave behind) in a future social technologies.
Who it’s for?
Designers, researchers, builders, community organizers, artists—anyone curious about how social technologies shape culture and connection.
Why come?
To honor what was, learn from it, and brainstorm ideas for what could be next.