Asturi.as, the new digital community aiming to connect Asturians wherever they are

Finding another Asturian who lives in the same city as you, asking where to buy products from Asturias hundreds of miles from home, seeking advice before returning to the Principality, or sharing a route, photograph or recommendation. With this idea, Asturi.as was created: a new digital community seeking to connect people who feel that Asturias is part of their lives, regardless of where they are.

The platform is aimed both at those currently living in Asturias and at the thousands of Asturians who have built their lives outside the Principality. It is also open to people who, despite not having been born there, maintain a family, personal or emotional connection with Asturias.

Its approach differs from that of a traditional portal: Asturi.as does not aim to decide what the community talks about, but to provide the space and tools for users themselves to generate the conversations.

A map to discover how far Asturias reaches

One of Asturi.as’s central features is its community map, designed to make the presence of Asturians inside and outside the Principality visible.

Users who wish to do so can voluntarily indicate the city or area where they live and discover other people from the community who are nearby.

The map can therefore show an Asturias that extends far beyond its geographical boundaries. From Oviedo, Gijón or Avilés to Madrid, London, Brussels, Buenos Aires, New York or any other city where someone maintains their connection with the Principality.

The benefits may be particularly clear for those moving to a new city. Moving away and discovering that other Asturians are nearby can make it easier to resolve practical questions, share recommendations, organise a meeting or simply find someone who shares the same place of origin.

It also works the other way round: for people who, after years away, are considering returning to Asturias and want to ask those who have already gone through that experience.

A community where users decide what is discussed

Asturi.as is built around content published by its users.

Any member of the community can start a conversation, ask a question, share a photograph, recommend a place, ask for help or tell an experience.

The topics can be as diverse as the community itself. Someone might ask where to find cider or Asturian products in Berlin, while someone else looks for recommendations on visiting a municipality, information about how to return to live in the Principality, or professional contacts in a particular city.

Food, travel, culture, professional opportunities, the experiences of people living abroad and meetings between community members can all coexist in the same space.

The platform also does not begin with dozens of categories that need to be filled artificially. Topics will emerge and evolve from the conversations and interests of its users.

The Asturias that exists outside Asturias

Emigration has been part of Asturias’s history for generations. Asturian families settled in other parts of Spain, Europe, America and numerous places around the world, creating ties that in many cases have endured for decades.

Today, the reasons for leaving may be very different, but distance continues to create common situations: arriving in an unfamiliar city, looking for information, maintaining certain customs, staying connected with what is happening in Asturias or finding other people with similar experiences.

The internet has reduced much of that distance, although these communities are usually scattered across different social networks, private groups, associations and platforms.

Asturi.as wants to provide a common meeting point.

It matters less whether someone is ten kilometres or ten thousand kilometres from their place of origin. What determines their belonging to the community is their relationship with Asturias.

From a recommendation to a meeting

Asturi.as’s usefulness depends not only on the amount of information the platform can accumulate, but also on the connections that may be made through it.

A question can lead to a recommendation. A conversation can bring two people from the same city into contact. A post can help someone who has just moved abroad. A photograph can introduce someone who has not returned for years to a corner of Asturias.

Something much simpler may also happen: two Asturians may discover through the map that they live only a few kilometres apart without knowing it.

These kinds of connections are one of the project’s main ideas.

Technology serves as a tool, while the community and the relationships established between its members are what will determine the platform’s value.

An open space with community guidelines

Asturi.as is conceived as an open community where different opinions, experiences and ways of understanding Asturias can coexist.

Users do not have to agree with one another to participate. Debate and differing points of view are part of any community, provided conversations take place within basic standards of respect.

To this end, the platform has Community Guidelines and a system that allows users to report posts or behaviour that may breach them.

Members themselves can thus help identify inappropriate content and maintain a useful space for the rest of the participants.

The aim is not to determine what the community should think, but to make it possible for different people to share the same space.

Asturi.as starts with its first users

Like any community, Asturi.as will take shape as its users arrive and conversations begin.

Taking part can be as simple as introducing yourself, answering a question, sharing an experience, posting a photograph, recommending a place or voluntarily indicating on the map where you are.

There is no single way to be part of Asturi.as.

It can be used by someone who has never left the Principality, someone who has lived abroad for thirty years, someone who has just moved away, someone considering returning or someone who maintains a family or personal connection with Asturias.

The platform thus aims to turn a geographically dispersed community into one that is also digitally connected.

Asturi.as wants to make it clear that Asturias does not end at its borders. It is wherever there is someone who still feels it is part of their life.

Asturi.as is a project developed by Mapnia Smart Communication and does not represent the Government of the Principality of Asturias or any public authority, political party, institution or association.