Photo and text | Xingchen 2024.5.27
The 2nd issue of "Web3 in My Eyes" visits the Digital Nomad Commune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTO2nlASZ_8
Last Friday, I drove from Hangzhou to Anji, a two-hour journey, to visit two friends who had already checked into the DN Yucun Digital Nomad Commune .
One is my consulting client Sake, whom I met offline for the first time. The other is a good friend in the industry, Sanzhi, whom I went to visit specially.
I asked Qingjiu to contact my friend Ayin, who is the operator of DN Yu Village Digital Nomad Commune, so that we could chat, learn about DN Yu Village, talk about our respective ideas, and make friends.
Sake: Independent Designer
Three: Pond's Head of APAC & LXDAO Core Builder
Ayin: DNCN core operations
We talked for nearly 2 hours. I used Feishu to convert the recording into text, and then used ChatGPT to organize it with one click.
the following:
Driven by the global trend of digitalization and remote work, the group of digital nomads has gradually emerged. The DN Digital Nomad Base in Yu Village provides an ideal habitat for this emerging group.
1) Background and cooperation model
The establishment of the DN Yucun Digital Nomad Base is the result of cooperation between the government and a third-party service provider . As a service project procured by the government , the creation process of the Digital Nomad Base is divided into two major expenses: consulting fees and operating fees . Consulting fees are mainly used for preliminary research and strategy formulation to help the government decide whether to promote the project. Operating fees cover the actual implementation and operation of the project.
2) Project Origin and Transformation
The site of the base was originally a resort that had been idle for many years. It was once an idle bubble asset and the villa area had been uninhabited for a long time. Driven by the government's global investment partner program, it was renovated.
Young people prefer urban life, and no matter how beautiful the rural areas are, they are mostly treated as tourist attractions.
Therefore, how to attract people to live here for a long time becomes the key.
Since June 2023, the DN Digital Nomad Base has been in operation and has received more than 500 homeless people in the past year.
The base has 51 rooms and can accommodate up to 140 people. It is now basically full, with an average resident population of around 100 people.
3) The gap between rural and urban areas
The sustainable operation of the base is inseparable from the development of the Internet and e-commerce, which have greatly narrowed the material and information gap between urban and rural areas .
However, infrastructure required for large population gatherings, such as medical care and education, remains a shortcoming in rural areas.
However, with the convenience of transportation and the rise of telemedicine and distance education , these problems are gradually being solved.
4) Ecosystem of Digital Nomad Base
The advantage of DN Yucun Digital Nomad Base lies in its scale and sustainability .
As an ecosystem, it achieves self-circulation, self-expansion and self-development through spatial and cultural operations of a certain scale.
The goal of the base is to activate the entire community from 0 to 1, form an inherent public order and good customs, attract and retain residents, and achieve sustainable operation.
5) Double benefits for the government and companies
From the government's perspective, the base not only revitalized idle assets , but also attracted talents , creating an innovation model and political achievement .
In addition, this project is not aimed at profit as its main purpose , but rather as an investment in rural infrastructure and talent introduction .
For the operating company, accommodation costs are low, with a multi-person room costing only 400 yuan a month in rent. Each resident is not a real consumer , but rather maintains the daily operations of the base through government payments.
Although the overall investment is difficult to recover through commercial returns, its positioning as non-commercial infrastructure makes this project of great significance in terms of social and economic benefits.
6) The future of digital nomad bases
The core concept of DN Digital Nomad Base lies in large-scale scale and ecological operation.
Its counterintuitive characteristics are that it prefers small to large scale and prefers close to far geographical location. The base is located far away from the city, which reduces various temptations of the city, allowing residents to focus more on community life and work, forming a strong cohesion.
Silver:
“The core difference between it and others is that its scale and size are different. The second is that its nature is different, that is, it is not a purely commercial thing.
It is somewhat counterintuitive in that it has two characteristics. One is that it is afraid of being small but not big. It is afraid of being small in scale. If it is small, its scale will not be formed, it cannot become an ecosystem, it cannot be established, and it will not have a voice to spread out, nor will it have an influence.
The second is that we are afraid of being close rather than far. If it is close to the city, we will have concerns and will not want to do it. We want to be far away from the city, the farther the better.
We want to find a place with Jiligala and play by ourselves. The farther away the better.
Nomads are on the move. It costs money to get to a place, but it also costs money to leave a place. If your company is in a city, there are so many temptations. You spend half of the day playing outside. People will not have strong relationships with each other, and there will be no dialogue or communication. In other words, their cohesion and stickiness will be very weak, and you need to use other measures to influence them. At this time, you will be very tired.
7) Reconstruction of social relations
Modern industrialization and urbanization have made people's social relations unfamiliar and atomized.
DN Digital Nomad Base rebuilds these relationships through community living, providing residents with a sense of belonging, participation, and accomplishment.
The community is not only a place to live, but also a platform for rebuilding social relations, making up for the lack of psychological support and social interaction.
Silver:
“Industrialization and urbanization have made people’s relationships unfamiliar, changing the original clan and family structure into an atomized social structure.
People's sense of belonging, participation and accomplishment are becoming increasingly weak.
People exist as social tools, not as individuals. At this time, people actually lack social interaction.
People are like isolated islands in the city, with few neighborly relationships. Such communities far away from the city have become an intermediate carrier.
For example, when you enter a community, people will listen to you, you will rebuild social relationships and be seen, or you will see other possibilities in life. This in itself is a buffer for your confused, huge, and uncertain future. It is a new social demand. "
8) Open source spirit and community operation
The operating philosophy of DN Digital Nomad Base is in line with the spirit of open source.
The community emphasizes openness, inclusiveness and decentralization . After launch, the operations team will gradually downplay its role and allow the community to manage and develop itself.
This model is similar to the open source culture of Web 3.0, emphasizing individual autonomy and the self-organizing ability of the community.
Silver:
“As it moves forward, it actually has a common gene in it, which is open source.
There is also something called open source spirit in Web 3. Returning ownership to the individual is a kind of open source spirit, so it must have the shadow of open source.
Now Web 3 is all about community. Every project and every application has a community, which is derived from the open source culture.
Our physical community also has this background, so you will see that it is more open, more inclusive, and more decentralized in this environment.
You see, when we want to go to the center, it is reflected in the fact that we do not hold any activities. You do not have such a center, and this center will withdraw later. There is no organizer. The main body has been slowly diluting itself from the beginning of operation and slowly withdrawing itself. "
Final Thoughts
I used to have a very narrow view that digital nomads are a group of people who work in Web3/blockchain/digital assets . In fact, there are many independent developers and designers among digital nomads, including architects, UX designers, financial consultants, foreign trade business and other industries.
I have also felt constrained by the restrictions of the industry, which blinded me and prevented me from seeing hidden opportunities . Under the premise of understanding the basic rules, I should follow the existing direction and reach a mutual demand. Under this premise, I should push forward what I want to do.
I used to think that the so-called open source spirit and decentralization only exist in the so-called blockchain . In fact, as long as you open your eyes and discover, they are quietly happening in many places.
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