Permanence in Private Spaces

by Jacky

Permance means that the environment reflects that people have been there. A shared garden to tend to, a bookshelf to work through, a guestbook of all the people who have dropped in and out.

So many of our mediums have now tended towards real time in an effort to replicate the fleeting nature of face-to-face conversation; vanishing messages, video chats, and audio rooms. Yet, rarely do any of these platforms leave any indication whether a conversation ever happened between two people.

Is there any way we can create shared artifacts that are permanent and can be grown over time? A digital indication that a space is lived in and occupied?

As of now, most platforms keep a primative chat log or history but thats it. What if there was a way to create digital gardens to foster and maintain existing relationships? A commonspace you could both take care of, share, and contribute to. Completely private common spaces often allow users to put whatever and allow people can construct their own digital nooks and cozy spaces.

Maybe this involves having a shared calendar, todo list, books. Or even just a space to co-live and co-exist virtually. Most online RPG games (think Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Stardew valley) give the option for users to have a shared space to exist and build together (and where both people don’t necessarily both need to be present for the space to function). Why doesn’t this exist outside of the gaming sphere?

Can we create permanence of artifacts without sacrificing ephemerality in medium? What tools can we use to enable different mediums for communication and co-existence?