“The Flocking Party” also faced the problem of reaching an audience who would be receptive to this new media monster. As I constructed the piece, I slowly decided that the best place to distribute it was online. This affected the sort of file sizes that I could use. It also forced me to rearrange the overall architecture of the Flash files several times. I wanted to make it as accessible as possible, and I wasn't sure who might be engaged by the structure of the story.

The Internet provides a useful kind of external nervous system for connecting humans at a global scale. Global community forums are emerging. This is not to say that local communities should be ignored (as if the tragedy of the commons wasn't bad enough (Hardin)). Perhaps this is optimistic, but I believe that our taste for the local commons could be rejuvenated by our participation in the global commons of the Internet (Lessig 49). But online, the habits of help and participation have their limits and constrictions. Behind a glowing screen we cannot lend a hand, paint a living room, enjoy homemade punch, carry groceries, dig a ditch, or smell the trees (not yet anyway). Getting out from behind the glow becomes very important for creatures that evolved under much different environmental and social conditions.