Geography in the Physnet is very different from geography in the real world. For one, it’s very fluid and changes quite frequently. Anytime a website makes a change, that change can add to or take away from its interior space, which operates differently from its exterior space. Similarly to Dr. Who’s TARDIS, a website’s interior is not bound by its exterior. While one particular website might appear as a dive bar on the exterior, the interior could be as large as an industrial warehouse. This effect also works in reverse; what seems to be a large mansion on the outside could turn out to be as small as a closet on the inside. As for websites that manifest as outdoor areas, the effect still exists on a more surreal scale. When crossing the border from the exterior to the interior, the world around the site may morph to seem closer or further away depending on the size of the interior space.
This relationship between exterior and interior space means that sites can be reshaped and moved without intruding on any of the sites surrounding it. Because of this, the Physnet has a definite sense of structure while still lacking any sense of intrusiveness.
In this segment, we’ll be looking at the geography of various websites, webrings, and web hosting services while also examining their aesthetic appearance.