The World Wide Web is one such network technology. It is often promoted as a way for people in different parts of the world to connect with each other--to create communities independent of geography. According to Sawad Brooks, DissemiNET attempts to provide a means to "record the presence and/or absence of those who in some way played or touched" others. Or as his collaborator, Beth Stryker, put it in an interview:
In creating DissemiNET, one of our concerns was how to articulate what is missing. While there has been a lot of talk about online "communities," surfing the Web has often been a very solitary experience. This piece . . . evolves through the participation of viewers so that users are not just passing along set routes.
One way that the artists try to create a work about forming a community across a digital space that connects people who live in all parts of the world is through participation. DissemiNET doesn't just present others' stories; when it is installed in a gallery, it is also a kind of "furNETure" that allows people to input and tell their own stories
.