Talk about synchronicity, Richard! Worked with some friends in Indonesia on developing, building and testing a prototype eerily similar to this one, back in 2015/16. We did actually build the app, and were similarly waylaid by circumstances (though not as dramatic or painful as yours! and we didn't have anywhere near your experience with IRL communities—at least not yet ;)). Our grassroots-up focus was initially on entrepreneurs and small businesses in the region. At the same time, we also helped to create a parallel cosmo-local economy in our town, as an experiment with digital currencies, which ran modestly (and quite brilliantly) until late 2017. Methinks we were a bit premature, too; the zeitgeist seems to have just about caught up now. 😊
Talk about synchronicity, Richard! Worked with some friends in Indonesia on developing, building and testing a prototype eerily similar to this one, back in 2015/16. We did actually build the app, and were similarly waylaid by circumstances (though not as dramatic or painful as yours! and we didn't have anywhere near your experience with IRL communities—at least not yet ;)). Our grassroots-up focus was initially on entrepreneurs and small businesses in the region. At the same time, we also helped to create a parallel cosmo-local economy in our town, as an experiment with digital currencies, which ran modestly (and quite brilliantly) until late 2017. Methinks we were a bit premature, too; the zeitgeist seems to have just about caught up now. 😊
That's so wonderful to hear. Doing a call in the new year might be great for comparing notes. Happy New Year, 2025!