Digizen Background

A "digizen" is a portmanteau of "digital" and "citizen," referring to individuals who actively engage in the digital realm and share their knowledge within their local communities. They do so in an informed, responsible, and ethical manner. Digizens are typically well-versed in technology, internet culture, and digital communication. They contribute to both online and IRL (in real life) communities, advocate for digital literacy, and foster positive behaviors in both virtual and real-world environments.

With that in mind, this Weekly Newsletter will highlight both the local happenings of interest to the Digizens of Central PA (aka Digizenburg), along with digital and technology topics that are trending in the Digizensphere.

Digizenburg Local Bits

Welcome to the 4th Place

We've all heard of the First Place (home), Second Place (work), and Third Place (where we socialize). But over the past decade, these boundaries have started to blur. Working from home has merged our First and Second Places, while coworking spaces like WeWork and local coffee shops have combined our Second and Third Places.

The Third Place has always been a hub for exchanging ideas and knowledge. However, COVID-19 disrupted these traditional spaces, pushing many of us to turn to digital or virtual spaces for socializing. Just before the pandemic in 2019, Arnault Morrison introduced the concept of a Fourth Place, where all three places intersect. In the knowledge economy, or Digital Era, these places increasingly overlap, creating a Fourth Place. Here, the lines between social and private dynamics, work and leisure, networking and social interactions, and collaboration and competition blur, making it the ideal space for the knowledge economy.

While most of us don't live in large cities with enough people to create a physical Fourth Place, many of my LinkedIn connections work from home, at least part of the time. This shift has led to a loss of natural socialization that typically happens at work. It made me wonder: How are you blending your First, Second, and Third Places to create your own Fourth Place.

Here is a link to the origin of the Fourth Place idea - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3056754

Central PA Coworking Locations

• Carlisle - Perch CoWork

• York - York Hive

• Harrisburg - Pursuit Coworking

• Lancaster - PubWork

Central PA Comingling Places

• Camp Hill - Cornerstone Coffeehouse

• Mechanicsburg - Juice & Java

• Mechanicsburg - Denim Coffee

• Carlisle - Denim Coffee

• Carlisle - The Cracked Pot

• Lancaster - Square One Coffee

Buzz in the Digizensphere

Technology Highlights

DOGE Website Security Issues - No matter your political preferences, rolling out a government website needs to have better security practices than we saw with the initial DOGE Website rollout. This is a lesson Digizens need to communicate to the rest of society. Security of the digital world is as important as security of your “In Real Life” world.

Intel to be Split Up? - Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are separately exploring deals to take over parts of Intel

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday - While a new iPhone SE is the odds-on favorite for Wednesday's announcement, there are a few other products we're expecting to see launch in the relatively near future, so we'll have to hang tight to see just how Apple plans to roll them out.

Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books - Starting on February 26th, 2025, Amazon is removing a feature from its website allowing you to download purchased books to a computer and then copy them manually to a Kindle over USB.

Social Media Highlights

Digizenburg Events

Here are some of the Central PA events happening over the next 2 weeks: