LocalBlox Explores Uncharted Territory… Your Own Backyard!
Ned Ludd and his 1800s band of “luddites” waged war from the fragmenting force of industrialization. Today’s technology haters repeat the familiar refrain. Until recently, their claim had not been without merit. Then along came online community, connecting friends-of-friends, distant relatives and even perfect strangers.So, exactly what is the next big thing? The web’s final frontier just might be your personal back yard. Enter LocalBlox, a burgeoning new site meant to connect you with all the people where you live � those folks you pass each day on your way to the neighborhood park or caf�.LocalBlox is the brainchild of Sabira Arefin, who envisioned a virtual space where neighbors could connect and share specifics of their own, real-world communities. “I thought it could be nice to possess a Facebook for neighbors,” says Arefin, “You can share info on the most up-to-date happenings, or simply ping them and say hello. Who has some time to knock on doors nowadays?”LocalBlox seeks to create a bridge between individuals as well as their communities with listings for events, news feeds, a photograph album offered to all as well as a community wall for informal discussion and recommendations. The Localblox ambassador program invites residents who will be obsessed with their neighborhood being volunteers and guide their neighbors inside their search in order to connect. In the near future, LocalBlox offers to hire neighborhood managers in over 40,000 communities across the United States.Engaging a person’s eye and commitment of both residents and local merchants is really a fundamental part of Arefin’s vision. In an effort to help local businesses and expand this first ever hybrid with the virtual-natural community, LocalBlox offers free advertising to small enterprises for Abcya 400 the short time. “LocalBlox was founded for the premise that physical communities will be the most basic and organic,” says Arefin. “What is really a more natural way to interact than shopping in your own neighborhood? Bringing the focus back to the city will help bolster local economies and renew a sense of belonging.”Oxford Anthropologist Robin Dunbar’s famous study regarding relationships and ideal community size implies that there is really a limit towards the amount of people with whom we could forge a meaningful bond. What has become known as “Dunbar’s number” (roughly 150 personal connections) has been explained by evolutionary psychologists like a product of our long history like a species � some 40 million years � spent wandering the landscape in small, hunter-gatherer tribes. Facebook friends numbering in the 250+ range and 10,000 years of civilization notwithstanding, our biological roots crave real-world intimacy and interconnectedness with those who share our physical space.And why don’t you consider present day luddites � that remaining fraction of an percent with the industrialized world who will not cross the digital divide as being a matter of conscience? Will they ever acknowledge that this technological arc beginning with all the industrial revolution comes full circle, from dehumanizing monster to community builder?Who knows? And who cares! They’ll never see this.