Upcoming events:

• Friday May 22 (open): IS Connection Call
• Sunday May 24: Community Call 22.7
• Saturday May 30 (open): Being With It All @Relational Dojo (2 of 5)
• Sunday June 21: Quarterly Convening of the IS Web

The previous newsletter was How to do good and last Sunday's Community Call was "Seeing through your eyes".

The IS Web App went live with real data today, and we'll be onboarding beta testers starting tomorrow!

<<< An aside about this timeline: After 500 (okay 497 at this moment) commits in 47 days, the coding effectiveness of 2026 AI has definitely been validated. It's been a 10x (at least) power multiplier, and we're not even cutting edge in our AI usage! This is not "vibe-coding", it is professional-grade AI-assisted engineering matching the quality of top-tier human software developers (I know because I was one). The profession really has been revolutionized within the last 7 months. >>>

The AIs can be forgiven for not knowing, and you might not know yourself, that the name is a bit pun-ny: It's not "the web app of Intentional Society", rather it's "the app of the IS Web." In other words, we're not talking about the WWW — we're talking about our relational Web of trust and coordination. Yes this code can be called a "web app" (the double-meaning) but the web and the app are not the same thing! The app exists to serve the web, and make the web visible, and it is the web that gives the app any meaning.

Our Web is a network of people in relationship, with each other and (in a very vague sense currently) with the whole. I'm using the "network vs community" distinction to point out a few differences:

• A network is larger, a community is smaller
• A network has weaker ties, a community has stronger ties
• One can be in several networks easily, but probably only feels at-home in 1-2 communities

In this sense the IS "ecosystem" already has multiple "communities" associated with it, and the "network" has existed for years without being seen even by most of those in it. (Similar to the Liminal Web before the Liminal Web had a name...)

Our Web App, then, becomes a reification of the Web of humans. It is not the moon; it is but a finger pointing to the moon.! But it can be more than a finger: it can function as a mirror, an amplifier, a vehicle, a trust membrane.

The first thing we know to do (beyond mundane logistical things like managing program signups and data sharing) with a Web is to play with how we see and connect with one another. Thus those are the first features we've built in the App: profiles and maps. The networking (though that's now a dirty word) of a network (and social network is a dirty word too) happens in the connecting of the connections. I'm so excited for the many amazing folks already in (knowingly or not) this network to discover more of amazingness around them.

App or no, viva la Web!

Cheers,
James