Scene

A scene is a social-cultural formation around some shared interest/practice/aesthetic.

Characteristics of a "scene":

1. Critical mass but not dominance - More than a few people, less than mainstream. "There's a real scene for X" means it's active and vibrant, not that everyone's doing it.
2. Recognizability - People in the scene recognize each other. You can tell who's "in" the scene. Not formalized membership, but you know it when you see it.
3. Shared values/aesthetics - Not just doing the same thing, but having similar sensibilities about HOW and WHY to do it.
4. Informal networks - Not an organization, no official membership. People know people, information flows, things get shared.
5. Cultural artifacts - The scene produces things: music, zines, code, writing, events. The artifacts carry the scene's DNA.
6. Generativity - A good scene generates new work, new people, new variations. It's alive, not static.

Examples:

• Punk rock scene (70s-80s): shared venues, DIY ethic, recognizable aesthetic
• Early web scene (90s): personal sites, webrings, shared ethos about open web
• Indie game dev scene (now): itch.io, GDC, shared values about creative independence
• Local-first scene (now): Ink & Switch, CRDTs, Obsidian, file-over-app, sovereignty values

Note: "Scene" was also a specific music subculture in the mid-2000s (MySpace era, post-hardcore aesthetic). The term came from general music slang ("being on the scene") but became the proper name for that specific group. I'm using scene in the general sense.

2025-11-07

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