Okinawa

Tiny Groups. Huge Possibilities
Okinawa is a conceptual, experimental social network in which users are arranged randomly into groups of seven.
By taking such an usual approach to social networking, eliminating choice with regards to "friends" for example, Okinawa removes itself from the predictability of Internet use and creates new interactions. These new interactions will hopefully, in turn, create the opportunity for real relationships to develop as anonymity and weak connections are replaced with familiarity and sharing.

Being challenged to create a new online community, the group began by asking "why" a new network should be created, not "what" it will do. Taking this critical approach, we were able to identify opportunities for social networking to take on more "human-scale" elements of communication. The concept was inspired by the idiosyncratic cultural practices on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where inhabitants have formed small social cooperatives called "moais" for generations.

As word of the Okinawa project spreads we envisage further extensions of the brand. Okinawa7, for example, would be a service for large companies and organisations allowing them to create their own closed Okinawa networks. By doing this a company might hope to promote cross-pollenation between departments or offices as well as keeping an eye out for "weak-signals" of issues or opportunities that employees can bring to light easily and in the privacy of their own Okinawa group.

okinawa with oki sam dunne thedunnething

Oki, another extension of Okinawa, would be a services targeted at large universities seeking to incubate cross-disciplinary collaboration and discussion whilst providing students with an alternative way to network.