In certain respects, social structures resemble the structures people use to communicate. If the idea is to foster a networked participatory democracy, then our ways of speaking to each other and to the world will have to be patterned the same way. What the Inside Might be Like. It should not be a grotesque and incomprehensible departure from the outside world. The romantic image of the Berlin squat will not do in a small Indiana town.
Squats are essentially products of economically dead regions.
This is why they are found in large cities. Probably what would go over best is something like an old general store, which apart from being a place of business was a center for the community in its own right. Woodburning stove, a few rocking chairs, game of checkers left unfinished on an overturned barrel, people spending all day sitting around jawing about politics and whatnot. Southern Indiana is much more likely to believe this is for real. Tempting though it may be, I would advise against having a computer at first.