Name: The Web as a city
Uploaded: 2008-10-08T01:00:00Z
Duration: 16 min 17 s
Description: Outside.in's Steven Johnson says the Web is like a city: built by many people, completely controlled by no one, intricately interconnected and yet functioning as many independent parts. While disaster strikes in one place, elsewhere, life goes on.

Steven Johnson: The Web as a city

The Web as a city

Outside.in's Steven Johnson says the Web is like a city: built by many people, completely controlled by no one, intricately interconnected and yet functioning as many independent parts. While disaster strikes in one place, elsewhere, life goes on.

Urban life and the internet both flourish through countless small contributions, rather than central control. After 9/11, New York’s streets filled with neighbors, restaurants reopened, and daily life pulsed just blocks from devastation, illustrating a city's resilience. The web is evolving in similar ways, shifting from isolated webpages to dynamic, interconnected systems shaped by many voices. Like neighborhoods, online communities gain strength when everyone shapes and adapts the environment together.