The Third Space of the Internet

The term third space was coined by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the 1989 book The Great Good Place to differentiate between Home (the first place) and Work (the second).

The third space consisted of a communal space in which people would gather without the expectations of the other two. These included coffee shops, libraries, parks and community centres; places to just exist/share ideas/meet new people, building community in a different way to work or home.

However, as places became more privatised and monetised, third spaces began to phase out.

In the digital realm, this was also the case. Once seen as a way to be anonymous and to play without pressure to monetize, such as online forums and creative webspaces, the internet began to bleed into home and work spaces until they became an extension of our physical selves. Because of the Ludopticon and capitalistic pressures, as well as the emergence of surveillance capitalism, online spaces keep us in many loops; the infinite scroll, the digital casino of content.

Maybe there is a need to create a new third space -- but this time, of the internet itself?

What would this look like?

Amidst all of this noise (the reason why third places once flourished in the physical world) we need to reclaim spaces just for us, that we can customise to our liking and to simply be.

In the Ludopticon, our play is surveilled (by ourselves and others), ensuring that we keep creating an endless feedback loop of creation, reaction and remixing.

However, I believe that there is a space outside of this--a third space of a third space.