In the physical world, human beings rely on a long-evolved complex sensory system to understand if something is wrong. All of our senses play a role. Signals in the environment trigger behavioral and physiological responses: if we see or smell blood, our heart starts beating faster. If we hear sudden, loud noise, we might get scared and run away even before actually seeing what the source of that noise is. Similarly, if we see people running and screaming, or animals, we might just be compelled to follow. If the lights go out all of a sudden, reactions cover the gamut from uneasiness to plain panic, even when we are safely home. If any number of these happen simultaneously, well we are usually in for a treat. We know that movies, or the radio and books to a certain degree, can trigger these responses. But what about the Web? Are we there already? Will we ever be?

I have an idea this would be a fascinating research journey so I decided to blot down a couple of points before I conceptualize this way too much. A tentative to-do list1 might include:

• a brief venture into bad places in the physical world
• if any, describe archetypes
• does the bad place change its nature through time? If it does, why? If it doesn't, why?
• does this physical framework translates to a partially different environment like the Web?
• what about those input that carry over, such as sights and sounds
• what are the connections with language: if the physical world abounds with sensory input (sounds, smells, sights, tactile impressions, or the lack thereof), can this input be astracted and possibly accessed as metaphors?
• how this is relevant to digital design and information architecture?
• is interaction a necessary part of the puzzle? Can a static site be threatening? Is that the same
• if none of the above actually applies, will it be so ten years from now when the digital natives generation will enter adulthood?

And since the very first question while researching bad places on the Web would be how we identify and define a bad place, a good starting point could be to see how that works elsewhere, either in traditional media, like books and movies, or new interactive media such as videogames. Now that would be fun. Bad places in FPS, of course, but also bad places in Supermario, or Nethack (yep, I was there). What about the traditional fairytale? Plenty of dangerous gingerbread houses there. And movies have possibly perfected the very idea of THE BAD PLACE across different genres: Alien comes to mind, and Psycho, but I have a feeling that interesting insights might come from Disney as well, and cheap soap-operas. Mh. Something here. Have to think about this.

Pictures (BY NC SA)

A dangerous place, Hannes E. (cover photo)
Dangerous playground, Janielle Beh

1. 1. Ha. And I have a badass title for it as well: Bad Places, Good Places: An Analysis of Environmental Signals of Danger and Peril on the Web