Marin’s smallest art gallery is not hard to miss, as long as you know where to look. In the rows of houses on Baiyang Street in Tangu, the colorful structure that invites people to "accept the art and leave the art" has become a block statement in the past year or so.

Inspired by the small free library he encountered during his travels, the small free art gallery is the brainchild of Tan Gu artist Howard Rheingold. He hand-painted and built this building by hand near his home, using his past few years. Carpentry skills developed in the middle of the year. Over the past few years.

When the retired writer and university professor was not working in his studio or his Patreon (patreon.com/howardrheingold), he hosted the weekly gathering of the Surrealist Studio, an art group, surrealist Encounter with maker culture.

During his career, the 73-year-old Rheingold explored the social impact of modern technology and reflected on the Internet, mobile phones and virtual communities. He coined the term in his book "Virtual Community", which he wrote One of the few books. He also exhibited his work at the Institute of the Future in Palo Alto and became the first researcher of the institute in 2008.

Q What inspired you to try woodworking?

AI has been drawing since I was a kid. I have been a writer for four years, which means I am alone with my computer in my room. Then I taught college students about social media for 10 years, so I was immersed in the virtual world for a long time, making abstract things such as books and virtual communities. I want to do something with my hands. I am always interested in learning to do new things.

Ask me about the works in your gallery.

A Most of them belong to people I don’t know. From time to time, I put in some of my artistic postcards or make a little gasp. I go out in the morning and sometimes I have surprises. Sometimes I find things that obviously come from children, which I think is very important. My mother is an art teacher and her philosophy is that all people need and have fun from expressing our creativity. But many times, when we were very young, someone would dissuade us, so I think it is very important to encourage people to express themselves creatively. My mother taught the performance license before teaching the technique.

Q What is your reaction to this?

A If I take a walk home and see someone in the gallery, I will talk to them. People like this idea. Art is not only used by elites or museum visitors, but this is what it encourages.

Question: You were very interested in research awareness at the beginning. How did you get into your career path?

A As an introvert, it took me some effort to enter Xerox PARC, and this is the beginning of all this. Every Friday morning, I would call the public affairs officer and say: "Do you have anything to write?" One Friday, she did it. This reminds me of Douglas Engelbart, who invented the mouse. In the early 1980s, everything was related to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but no one else had heard of it. This prompted me to start writing about what these emerging technologies might mean to society.

Q What is your interest in this?

Artificial intelligence is usually about 10 years ahead of schedule. My 1993 book "Virtual Communities" is about what we now call social media. In 2002, "Smart Mobs" talked about what will happen when the so-called smart phones become popular now. I am not very interested in the specific details of this industry and technology, but what it has done to humans and society.

Question: You have seen how technology and society have changed over the years. Do you feel optimistic?

A For people who may not have considered themselves creative before, the Internet has become an incredible creative channel. I see it as the overall renaissance of online creativity. Trying to judge whether the online world is good or bad is useless, because like humans, it has both.

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