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Small-net

Introduction

There are many terms, and definitions on the Wikipedia. But there are no definition for Small-net. This is my attempt to write it, and start point of discussion how to describe it.

My point of view

We are using the [Internet], network of network. One of the most popular part of it is [World Wide Web], which is estimated that only 10% of content is visible in search engines as [Surface web]. The rest is called [Deep web] and is hidden inside [Web apps] or behind paywall. There is also a part called [Dark web], which is accessible only from the [Darknet] side.

But there are also other parts of the [Internet]. There are protocols like [Gopher], [Gemini] or [Finger], which are giving access to Gophersphere or Geminispace. Gophersphere and Geminispace are collections of documents, like [World Wide Web]. Part of them is also accessible only from [Darknet] side, but most of them can be reached from the [Internet] by proper client software.

The main difference between [World Wide Web] and the Gophersphere and Geminispace is the content structure of each. If they would be put on the complexity axis, starting from the most complex on the left side and ending to the less complex on the right side, [World Wide Web] would be the first, [Finger] would be the last, and the [Gopher] and [Gemini] would be in the end part of it.

This axis could be called a road direction to Small-net (aka. smolnet). The network of minimalistic sites (for example Gopherholes or Gemini capsules) with main aim to inform people. Small-net is also a kind of life philosophy, which gather people escaping from [World Wide Web] overabundance of information and incentives.

The Small-net diagram

                                          [Small-net]                             
  -------------------------X---------------------------------------X------------------X------>   
 complex                                                                                 simple              
                                                                                               
 +----------------------------------------[Internet]------------------------------------------+
 |                                                                                            |
 | +----------------[World-Wide-Web]-----------------+ +-[Gopher]-+ +-[Gemini]-+ +-[Finger]-+ |
 | |                                                 | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | +---------------[Surface-web]-----------------+ | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | |                                             | | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | |                    10%                      | | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | |                                             | | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | +---------------------------------------------+ | |          | |          | |          | |
 | |                                                 | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | +----------------[Deep-web]-------------------+ | |          | |          | |          | |
 | | |                                     *******[Darknet]*******| |          | |          | |
 | | |                    90%       *******........| | |..........*******      | |          | |
 | | |                          ****...............| | |..........| |....****  | |          | |
 | | | +----[Web-apps]----+   **....+--[Dark-web]----+-------------+----+....**| |          | |
 | | | |                  |   *.....|                |             |    |.....*| |          | |
 | | | |                  |   **....+----------------+-------------+----+....**| |          | |
 | | | |                  |     ****...............| | |..........| |....****  | |          | |
 | | | +------------------+         *******........| | |..........*******      | |          | |
 | | |                                     ***********************| |          | |          | |
 | | +---------------------------------------------+ | |          | |          | |          | |
 | |                                                 | |          | |          | |          | |
 | +-------------------------------------------------+ +----------+ +----------+ +----------+ |
 +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Small-net is finite!

One of the key aspect of the Small-net is a resource limitation. It could be real limitation, or only limitation agreed by users. One of the good example of this is quote from [Official Circumlunar Space FAQ] which explain servers user base limitation, what isn't a result of hardware limitation only.

Q10. Will there be a limit to how many colonies are created?
The current plan is to limit the total number of sundogs to around
150 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number), which probably
means three or four colonies in total, depending on how many users
individual admins decide to accept. Certainly no more than five.

[Internet]

[World Wide Web]

[Surface web]

[Deep web]

[Darknet]

[Dark web]

[Gopher]

[Gemini]

[Web app]

[Official Circumlunar Space FAQ]

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@ Sat 03 Jul 2021 10:16:30 PM CEST V1.0

@ Sun 04 Jul 2021 10:48:04 AM CEST V1.1

tags: #smallnet, #map