Strange Maps

May 25, 2007

118 - Online Communities Map (Not For Navigation)

Filed under: 21st Century Map, Cultural Fault Lines, Non-Fictional, Parody — strangemaps @

online_communities1.png

Somewhat in the style of a treasure map, this ‘Map of Online Communities’ shows MySpace, Wikipedia, SecondLife and other user-generated phenomena now populating the internet.

The geography is not as random as one could assume at first glance. Area and position are significant. Thus, each community’s geographic area represents its estimated size, and the ‘compass-shaped island’ gives clues as to what each quarter signifies:

  • North are more ‘practical’ communities,
  • South is for the ‘intellectuals’.
  • West lie the communities with a ‘real life’ connection,
  • East those with a focus on the web itself.

This irresistible map has been floating around the web for a couple of weeks, but I’ve held off posting it until now.

Why?

I’m a map nerd, dammit, not a computer geek! Of course, I know of MySpace and am not surprised to see it occupy such a large and central part of the map. And sure, Wikipedia is on the intellectual extreme of the North-South axe. I can see why reunion dot com and classmates dot com would be far northwest (being practical for tracking down real life people).

But what is SourceForge, and in which way is it ‘intellectual’ and ‘web-solipsistic’ since it is situated on the other, southeastern extreme of the map? Why is there a Bay of Angst right next to Xanga? And what is Xanga? Is Sulawesi a reference to the “IRL” island in the Indonesian archipelago (it has the right shape – sort of), or am I missing some nerdy in-joke here? Why are there anthropomorphic dragons near the Ocean of Subculture?

Very frustratingly, almost nothing on this map makes sense to me! Oh, the horror!

The original location of this map is at xkcd, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Overwhelmed (and overjoyed, I suspect) by the success of their map, they’re now selling it as a poster.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

58 Comments »

  1. 1: SourceForge is a place for people to publish their open-source software. If that’s not intellectual and web-solipsistic, what is?

    2: Xanga was MySpace and FaceBook before the latter two were even a random neuron firing. Being heavily invested in social networking, angst is just part of the game.

    3: The dragons are infesting the archipelago of World of Warcraft, RuneScape, Ultima Online, EverQuest, and other D&D-themed MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

    4: You’re on your own with Sulawesi, although IRL means In Real Life.

    Comment by captainned — May 25, 2007 @

  2. There are some things I don’t get either (Sulawesi for one), but there are some funny bits too. My faves? The teeny tiny peninsula extending towards the southeast from MySpace labeled Attractive MySpace Pages (I think it may be a bit too big) and Qwghlm in the northeast - a nod to Neal Stephenson.

    Comment by dr.hypercube — May 25, 2007 @

  3. Anthropomorphic dragons could also be a reference to Trogdor the Burninator from Homestar Runner

    Comment by Tim Uruski — May 25, 2007 @

  4. And where are the evil Superpowers? eg Microsoft and Google

    Comment by lordhutton — May 25, 2007 @

  5. @lordhutton:
    You didn’t see google’s volcano fortress? Just a litle bit IRL of sourceforge :)

    And microsoft barely has a presence on the interesting-web, but the do hold dominion over the icy north.

    Comment by Brandon — May 25, 2007 @

  6. oh and @strangemaps:
    did you see xkcd’s (one guy, by the way) previous map of the internet? ( http://www.xkcd.com/c195.html )

    It’s, um, geekier.

    Comment by Brandon — May 25, 2007 @

  7. [...] Online Communities Map (Not For Navigation) - strange maps Clever. You’ll find me mostly floating The Wet Sea with occasional forays across The Blogipelago toward Flickrtopia. (tags: maps communities socialnetwork ) var addthis_pub = ‘carrick’; [...]

    Pingback by mundell.org – My del.icio.us bookmarks for May 25th — May 26, 2007 @

  8. “The Series of Tubes” is a joke on Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who referred to the Internet as “a series of tubes” in the midst of an incoherent rant opposing network neutrality.

    Comment by Matt McIrvin — May 26, 2007 @

  9. An insightful map: I especially like Usenet depicted as a sunken Atlantis and Digg being situated by the “Sea of Trolls

    Comment by phil — May 26, 2007 @

  10. Where is wordpress.com?

    I’ve only made it onto 3 of those, and none I really use!

    Comment by Coops — May 26, 2007 @

  11. What do islands vs mainland mean? And do the waters change n-s or e-w?

    Of course what I really want to know is how similar are the contours to Greece?

    Comment by jd2718 — May 26, 2007 @

  12. I saw this map before on 4chan - anonymous posted this there because 4chan gets a small island on the map. Nice site if you are into anime stuff, just prepare to abandon your sanity first.

    Comment by Great Anonymous — May 26, 2007 @

  13. A zoomable version of the IPv4 map is available here. It is based on XXCDs first map.

    Comment by Brett Dunbar — May 26, 2007 @

  14. [...] ich hier gefunden, wo es überhaupt immer interessante Karten gibt. (Als Frau eines Karten-Fans habe ich Sinn [...]

    Pingback by Netzkarte « Letters from Rungholt — May 26, 2007 @

  15. @Coops: somewhere in the blogipelago.

    @jd2718: i guess continents are dot.com and islands web2.0; what do you mean by changing waters?

    I think Sulawesi is just there for the South Sea Spice Trade pirate mystique, as in, “aye, beyond the Nutmeg Islands east of Sulawesee, there be Much Bartering in Fine Filmes & Alterrnative Musick, leeward of the P2p Shoals…”

    Comment by french swede the rootless vegetable — May 26, 2007 @

  16. I think Sulawesi is there because they didn’t want to put on the nearby Indonesian island of JAVA. SulawesiScript just doesn’t evoke the same fear/terror/horror does it? :P

    Comment by Laurel Papworth — May 26, 2007 @

  17. [...] 118 - Online Communities Map (Not For Navigation) [image] Somewhat in the style of a treasure map, this ‘Map of Online Communities’ shows MySpace, Wikipedia, […] [...]

    Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — May 27, 2007 @

  18. Heh, I saw this map weeks ago but I just now noticed “Cory Doctorow’s Balloon” floating over the Blogiplelago. (Doctorow runs Boingboing.net.)

    Comment by rek — May 27, 2007 @

  19. Usenet, now sunk like Atlantis. So true!

    Doug M.

    Comment by Doug M. — May 28, 2007 @

  20. No metafilter?

    Comment by CLANVIDHORSE — May 28, 2007 @

  21. I’m surprised (a little) that no one’s hit this yet - the anthropomorphic dragons are Furries, a subculture that identifies (and in some cases personifies) with anthropomorphic animals. You can’t go far on the internet without seeing furries being made the butt of someone’s joke. I’m surprised to see them so far from deviant art, i guess, but there’s your answer.

    Comment by Chris — May 29, 2007 @

  22. Where’s Keenspace Comicgenesis?

    Comment by Anton Sherwood — May 29, 2007 @

  23. (”Keenspace” was meant to be struck out, having been renamed, but evidently <s> is not among the allowed tags.)

    Comment by Anton Sherwood — May 29, 2007 @

  24. Being a GIS guy and a computer geek…I *swear* I did not print out that map and hang it on the cube wall.

    Comment by Matt M. — May 29, 2007 @

  25. [...] Online Communities Map (Strange Maps) [...]

    Pingback by Josh Tinley.com — June 1, 2007 @

  26. They say that the new super computer knows everything. A skeptical man came and asked the computer, “Where is my father?”

    The computer bleeped for a short while, and then came back with “Your father is fishing in Michigan.”

    The skeptical man said triumphantly, “You see? I knew this was nonsense. My father has been dead for twenty years.”

    “No”, replied the super computer immediately. “Your mother’s husband has been dead for twenty years. Your father just landed a three pound trout.”
    —--——–
    How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

    None. “We’ll document it in the manual.”
    None. It’s a hardware problem.
    1.000000001.
    Two. One always leaves in the middle of the project.
    Four. One to design the change, one to implement it, one to document it, and one to maintain it afterwards.
    Four, plus one senior analyst to manage the project, one technical writer to correct the spelling and grammar of the one who documented it, one light bulb librarian, a sales-force of at least five to drum up enough users who want to turn the light on, 274 users to burn out the new bulb, at which point we go to tender for another light bulb change,…
    Five. Two to write the specification program, one to screw it in, and two to explain why the project was late.
    Only one, but she’s not available till the year 2000.
    “The change is 90% complete.”
    “It’s hard to say. Each time we separate the bulb into its modules to do unit testing, it stops working.”
    Of course, as everyone knows, just five years ago all it took was a bunch of kids in a garage in Palo Alto to change a light bulb.

    How many maintenance programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
    None. They try to fix the old one.
    “We looked at the light fixture and decided there’s no point trying to maintain it. We’re going to rewrite it from scratch. Could you wait two months?”

    How many software testers does it take to change a light bulb?
    None. “We just recognized darkness, fixing it is someone else’s problem.”

    How many C++ programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
    “You’re still thinking procedurally! A properly designed light bulb object would inherit a change method from a generic light bulb class!”

    How many Java programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
    One, to generate a “ChangeLightBulb” event to the socket.

    How many Windows programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
    Seventy two. One to write WinGetLightBulbHandle, one to write WinQueryStatusLightBulb, one to write WinGetLightSwitchHandle …

    How many data base people does it take to change a light bulb?
    Three: One to write the light bulb removal program, one to write the light bulb insertion program, and one to act as a light bulb administrator to make sure nobody else tries to change the light bulb at the same time.

    How many IBM employees does it take to change a light bulb?
    Fifteen. Five to do it, and ten to write document number GC7500439-001, Multitasking Incadescent Source System Facility, of which 10% of the pages state only “This page intentionally left blank”.

    How many technical writers does it take to change a light bulb?
    Just one, provided there’s a programmer around to explain how to do it.

    Comment by Santinasi — June 6, 2007 @

  27. ….Where’s Ebay? okay, so their online community is small but it is there.

    Anyone else remember Prodigy way back in the day? That was before AOL (yes, there was something before AOL and I remember it…and I’m under 30 too!) I want to say it was popular around the same time as usenet …also known as the early 90’s.

    Comment by Isabella — June 6, 2007 @

  28. [...] by Mark on 08 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Web 2.0 If i had any talent, I’d hope to do something like this. the more you look at it, the more brilliant it [...]

    Pingback by seachangestrategies.com » map of the web 2.0 universe — amazing — June 8, 2007 @

  29. I reckon the cartographer is a fan of such people as Tom Holt, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, since these authors in particular seem to favour the word anthropomorphic more than most.

    Comment by skellious — June 9, 2007 @

  30. How can you possibly have omitted Goatse, tubgirl, Meatspin, Lemonparty and Hai2u from this map?

    They are prominent components of the internets.

    Comment by Zlodo — June 12, 2007 @

  31. [...] Check out the bizarre, delightful World Map of Online Communities: [...]

    Pingback by TIA Telecommunities » A (Weird) New World? — June 12, 2007 @

  32. Xanga is a lot like Livejournal (LJ)… they both tend to be full of EMO teens… hence the Sea of Angst… (to be expected i suppose that online diary networks would be Emo)

    Comment by JC — June 13, 2007 @

  33. I suspect Sulawesi might be an in-joke about caffeine, since it’s a major exporter of very good, very strong coffee. It used to be called Celebes, and it’s a wonderful shape.

    Comment by Snufkin — June 13, 2007 @

  34. [...] have a moment–there are some very interesting maps there. One of my recent favourites is the Online Communities Map. 5:20 pm - posted by sarah. Categories: Economics , Internet , Cool  Bookmark or share [...]

    Pingback by LawFont.com » Matching US states to other countries' GDPs — June 13, 2007 @

  35. I was hoping someone would comment on - or even better, explain - the weird cartography around Wikipedia (on the bottom edge of the map). What’s going on with the weird network surrounding the Wikipedia Island? Bridges? Why here? Why no where else?

    Further - they look oddly familiar to me. I have the sneaky feeling I’ve seen them in some other fantasy map. Could they be a nod in some direction; a visual quote or parapharse, so to speak? Or am I just imagining things?

    Comment by Ron Obvious — June 13, 2007 @

  36. [...] also saw this fun little link the other day and I thought I’d share. I’m surprised though at the lack of pr0n [...]

    Pingback by A Chronicle Of Fables » A Map of Teh Intarwebz0r — June 13, 2007 @

  37. [...] Webnotes on the 17th of june 2007 Sunday June 17th 2007, 7:09 pm Filed under: Webnotes This map of online communites is really very fun to study. (Got it by [...]

    Pingback by Patrick Damsted — June 17, 2007 @

  38. [...] 118 - Online Communities Map Not For Navigation « strange maps [...]

    Pingback by My laptop brings all the boys to the yard. — June 18, 2007 @

  39. I think the Wiki-bridges are because Wiki tries to connect _everything_? Wikiquotes, wiktionary, wikimedia, wikinews, and such. =)

    Wonderful map, and awesome blog too.
    -Raeliyah

    Comment by Raeliyah — June 18, 2007 @

  40. Where’s Craigslist?

    Comment by erocking — June 20, 2007 @

  41. Cory Doctorow’s balloon

    Not only is Doctorow one member of the Boing Boing team, XKCD also ran a semi-famous comic about how be blogs from a balloon, wearing a red cape and goggles.

    Doctorow, being a good sport, made a public appearance in the red cape and goggles soon afterward.

    Richard Stallman (RMS), ranking Doctorow, rates an airship instead of just a balloon.

    And Qwghlm is a fictional island from Neal Stephenson’s novels - not really web-specific at all.

    Comment by Kevin — June 23, 2007 @

  42. Also: before the Doctorow comic, XKCD did an RMS comic, which also led to the actual person re-enacting the comic.

    Here’s the link to Doctorow in costume.

    Comment by Kevin — June 23, 2007 @

  43. This is map looks like Britainia from Ultima, I think

    Comment by canon515 — June 26, 2007 @

  44. Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean.

    This is great stuff, love xkcd.

    Comment by Quincy — June 27, 2007 @

  45. and here is a map of online communities in poland ;)

    http://kaznowski.blox.pl/2007/06/Terra-Blogerra-czyli-mapa-polskich-spolecznosci.html

    Comment by domino00 — June 27, 2007 @

  46. Ron Ob.: what looks oddly familiar? The shorelines in general?

    Comment by Anton Sherwood — July 1, 2007 @

  47. Anton asked “Ron Ob.: what looks oddly familiar? The shorelines in general?”

    No. Well, now that you mention it, I guess there is a certain sense of déjà vu about the general coast lines, but that wasn’t what I meant. Kinda looks like the Aegan Sea, but only a little…

    No, I meant the straight line connections between the Wikipedia islands (along the bottom of the map) - which could represent bridges, but (depending on the scale you image) would seem improbably long for bridges?

    It seems to me that I’ve seen a map of some fantasy world or another with a similar spider’s web. It’s not Earthsea or any fantasy novel (or trilogy or whatever) which I own, so it’s either something I looked at in a friend’s bookshelves, or in a bookstore, or it’s just a trick my memory is playing on me!

    I’m leaning toward that last explanation meanwhile… :-(

    Comment by Ron Obvious — July 2, 2007 @

  48. [...] que como su nombre bien dice, recoge mapas curiosos y extraños entre los que podréis encontrar el mapa de las redes sociales, dibujos de animales en el mapa del metro de Londres o descubrir las antipodas de cualquier lugar. [...]

    Pingback by Mi otro blog… » Blog Archive » El blog de los mapas extraños — July 6, 2007 @

  49. wher is google it should be huge in the middel. and new grounds should be a tiny island somewher

    Comment by malli — July 7, 2007 @

  50. What about a homeland for the people of the prosecuted, but evenly dispersed throughout the map, ethnicity of Pronos?

    Comment by Dram_man — July 9, 2007 @

  51. [...] Map of the Internet — Check the Compass, in Particular, for Conceptual Navigation Posted in interweb by himay RSS 2.0 [...]

    Pingback by Cooperative Blog » Blog Archive » Mapping OurSpace — July 12, 2007 @

  52. [...]  1. StrangMaps is a blog of maps you’ll never find in your geography textbooks. Peruse these titles, if you please: a map of Stephen King’s Maine, a Tourist map of Gotham, Where on Earth Was Middle Earth?. Those are some of the more literary ones but people should check other maps of interest. I’m particularly tickled by this Map of Online Communities. [...]

    Pingback by Read Or Die Weblog » Blog Archive » Websites for the Bored — July 13, 2007 @

  53. Ahaha it looks like this map inspired someone to effectively make the real version, pretty neat: social network usage by country. I sure can confirm that in Canada, Facebook reigns supreme.

    Link via wikinomics: http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2007/06/29/the-world-of-social-networks/

    Comment by Jeff — July 14, 2007 @

  54. Amanda

    Great site! i\’m looking forward to reading more.

    Trackback by Amanda — July 25, 2007 @

  55. Heres another you community that can go on the map.

    Comment by Joe Saw — July 27, 2007 @

  56. [...] o este otro más de “nuestros tiempos” Online Communities Map (Not For Navigation), para esos adictos del Web 2.0 y bla, bla, [...]

    Pingback by Mapa del mundo invertido « el50 — July 30, 2007 @

  57. [...] Strange Maps has great stuff, most of which I’ve seen before. The classic Newyorkistan, pretty The Colourful Side of the Moon, The Blonde Map of Europe for those gentlemen who allege a preference, the disturbing Europe, If the Nazis Had Won, Chris Yates’ A Diagram of the Eisenhower Interstate System, C. Etzel Pearcy’s The Thirty-eight States of America, and XKCD’s Online Communities Map. [...]

    Pingback by glyphobet • глыфобет • γλιφοβετ » Blog Archive » Maps & tubes, tunnels & movies — December 6, 2007 @

  58. [...] The internet in map form. [...]

    Pingback by You Are Here. Friday Night Is There. | Popehat — February 8, 2008 @

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