Discovering Are.na: The Nu-Wave Archival Platform Projecting Itself into the Future

Imagine this: You’re in a very clean, well-lit library. The endless expanses of bookshelves operate on electronic wheels, and depending on what you enter into the library computer’s search bar, the shelves automatically rearrange themselves. You see a book that interests you, and when you go to grab it, you realize that what the bookshelves contain aren’t necessarily books, but news articles, image files, insightful quotes, and thought-provoking ideas in the most general sense. When you latch onto one of these ideas, you notice a thread of string attached to it, weaving itself through a seemingly random selection of other conceptual items and, to your surprise, creating a strangely cohesive web; an entity of things that simply make sense together, even though you would never have thought of connecting them yourself. If you can envision that, at least partially, you can begin to understand the online platform Are.na.

As it proclaims on its ‘about’ page, Are.na is a “visual organization tool designed to help you think and create.” The online platform operates by allowing its users to easily build their own archives with the inclusion of links and files of any kind; yet the reach of Are.na is neverending, letting users connect ideas with one another—publicly or privately—with zero likes, advertisements or recommendations to cram your feed. Its desired end goal is merely for the people who interact with it to build new forms of knowledge, without the inclusion of distractions or an incentive of capital gain. Are.na is set apart from other online platforms because it does not operate on algorithms, which might be effective in selling you the kind of jacket you like, but also blocks the development of free and critical thinking, sends people down rabbit holes, and stokes the flame of various ridiculous ideologies.

Our online lives take place primarily within a cyberverse whose foundation is built upon dulling and shortening our attention spans, rearranging our beliefs and values, and harvesting a plethora of our personal information to sell ads and, ultimately, profit off of us. This is why Are.na is important: By creating an online community where interactions rely on members of the platform as opposed to the platform itself, Are.na is gradually normalizing shared knowledge and lifelong learning within the digital world. Registered users get 500 ‘blocks,’ meaning that they can connect 500 individual pieces of content to their channels,’ or streams of thought; Premium users, on the other hand, get unlimited blocks, for the extremely reasonable price of 5$ per month.

Oh, and one other thing: Because Are.na’s guidelines are so loosely defined, users have the freedom to interact with it however they please. With each new day, members of Are.na’s digital community are discovering fun and innovative ways of using the platform. I didn’t know where to begin when going about using Are.na initially, and devoted my first channel to images that made me feel something—Half of these images I found within the depths of the website, and the other half I uploaded myself. Now a few months into familiarizing myself with Are.na, I have an eclectic variety of channels, including a portfolio-like channel containing links to all my professional writing publications, a channel I have devoted to fangirling over science fiction, and another where I have linked multiple articles detailing media pieces that explore racism, class divide, and government corruption.

If there is a single setback with Are.na, it is the inexorable fact that it exists as a relatively new platform whose essence relies on its members interacting with one another to build innovative and alternative ways of thinking. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” The internet, in its entirety, already reads like a dystopian future novel. If we don’t want our online lives to be dominated by targeted ads and meaningless content, I suggest that we all download Are.na to engage in thought-provoking discussions and create lifelong connections today!

A big thank you to Willem Deisinger, who contributed greatly to the guidance and creation of this article.

Image Sources:

https://www.are.na/willem-deisinger/a-search-of-authenticity

https://www.are.na/willem-deisinger/pre-authoritarian-internet

Resources:

https://www.are.na/cory-arcangel/things-i-learned-in-art-school

https://www.are.na/brion-nuda-rosch/make-working-work

https://www.are.na/paul-soulellis/syllabi-1471896481

https://www.are.na/cortney-cassidy/diy-mfa

https://www.are.na/shobun-baile/artist-residencies

Thematic Channels:

https://www.are.na/blaise-turnbull/space-tilting