Scott, thinking out loud

As our devices become more convergent and software developers gain a more profound understanding of how to design for these devices, so it becomes easier and easier to publish your life online.

An example: Saw these bikes in Newcastle, snapped them on my iPhone, then uploaded the photo to Posterous via email, which then autoposted it to my Facebook profile and my Wordpress blog.

Amazing really. Expect more of this sort of convergence of smart hard- and software and the growth of ever-more ambient computing.

The bikes I snapped:

Communities of interest form around all sorts of subject matter, but one thing that is for sure, barriers to entry into a community are one reason why communities falter.

If you are in the business of trying to foster a sense of community around what you do, then you would do well to make sure that you keep the barriers to entry of that community as low as possible, relative to your audience's technological, cultural, educational, and linguistic needs.

The temptation is to start by thinking of what your community will look or sound like once it is in full flight. The communities we are already a part of tend to be our frame of reference for what communities should be like, but I think it's wrong to approach community from a predefined mindset.