Virtual communities are people who constantly interact but have never seen eachother in the physical world. This is a mental state. A level of social interaction built in your mind.

Beyond imaginary friends from childhood, virtual friends and peers are intangible but they do have a physical form and lives like yours, so we can actually get together, develop a sense of community and create human interactions with them, that lead to culture.

With time, interactions become relationships and groups become social systems. The fascinating growth of a human community that has happened since we are on earth.

This time, I have had the opportunity to witness and participate in the consolidation of a virtual community that becomes an alive system working for our digital rights across the world.

From my perspective, this time I have added a layer of vision about culture in human groups that might seem too technical but provides understanding to how we can build and manage cultures in human systems. Mapping, tracing, interconnecting and documenting the ways and styles of interaction has helped us all understand, how to grow and improve the work they do to benefit the values they believe in.

Africa has been the origin of many things for humanity, and for me, it has brought the revelation of the systematic structure of communities and human systems. A way to understand, plan and construct the cultures we want to have, and mostly the types of future we want to build.

Envisioning the future culture of our community, as an ecosystem that grows and evolves with us, makes us more integrated with our context, the other people and the situations around in it, makes us a part of the universe and not the center, leaving behind old paradigms of human supremacy.

The Nairobi sessions for Internews have been revealing in terms of new visions, tools, methods and definitions of culture community and future. A new universe that links culture, systems and community is now open for exploration.