Tag Archives: Technology

The Friend of my Friend is My…?

As you may have heard, I use a lot of social networks. It’s interesting, really, to explore different networks and decide whether or not they fit into your lifestyle, and then how you use them. That last piece is really important. Every network, I think, has a way that its developers originally foresaw it being used. How each of us uses a network, though, can be subject to some interpretation…just like an author and a reader of good fiction.

Take, for example, Facebook. I used to be quite enamored with the book of faces, and it has certainly had a positive impact on my life. Then, I went through a phase in which I really didn’t use it that often, which was right after Karen and I were married. Then came a brief addiction to Mafia Wars, and now I’m recovered and have discovered that Facebook has lost any identity of its own as it has attempted to copy what others have done well. Further, their complete disregard for privacy turns my stomach.

I keep a Facebook account, although I don’t really post to it very often. I have other things that show up there automatically, but I typically use it to simply keep in contact with friends and colleagues with whom I would have otherwise lost touch. All of those functions could, I think, be better served on other networks, but Facebook seems to be the lowest common denominator where everyone has a profile of some sort.

Tonight, I ran a quick errand to the neighborhood grocery store for a couple of essentials that we found conspicuously absent from our refrigerator. Upon leaving the store, I passed a woman that a quick memory search revealed that I know. Sort of. We did some theatre together briefly. We exchanged a quick “hello” in passing, and went about our way. That was the extent of the conversation that I’ve with this woman for about two years.

However, we’re “friends” on Facebook. With a few clicks she could see more details about my life than I care to consider, and I about hers. Odd, isn’t it, how we consider digital friendships? In theory, they are extensions of our “real” friendships, except they’re more generic than that. In truth, I would call this woman an acquaintance. On Facebook, however, I only have the option of “friend.” No option for colleague, no option for family member. Only friend. Even if you’re only sort-of-not-really friends.

That’s what gives me pause. At first blush, it makes me wish that people used more networks, because the spaces for different sorts of connections can be more customized that way. At a deeper level, though, it makes me want to re-consider how we connect in the digital realm.

Photo Attribution: Kr. B.

Finding Headroom

Do you remember Max Headroom? The artificial intelligence from “20 minutes into the future,” which was in a dystopian world in which huge corporations dominated and off-switches were illegal? When I look back over the types of science fiction that I experienced during my formative years in the 80’s, its no wonder I’ve developed a love for cyberpunk and dystopian science fiction. In fact, “good science fiction” and “dystopian” are practically synonymous to me.

When I think of a media-driven world in which a constant exposure to corporate-controlled media is a reality…that’s pretty dystopian for me. When I grew up, I remember when we first had cable television connected (I was completely stoked to watch Battle of the Planets). From that point forward, the television became more and more of a reality, a constant source of white noise that brought difficulty to the dinner table, sparked occasionally heated conversations in the evening, and was used as a litmus test for the fact that I needed glasses to correct my vision. Television had become such an integral part of my life, in fact, that, when Karen and I were married and combining our lives into one apartment, I remember her giving me a quizzical look when I included cable in the list of essential utility bills. She could live without cable. I couldn’t.

Of course, cable television has become a bit of a dinosaur now, just as landline telephones have for personal residences. Both industries struggle to survive, with only the fact that they are also ISPs giving them any chance of life, at all. When Karen and I disconnected our cable shortly into our marriage with the realization that the Internet was now the source of all network programming, I imagined that there would be even more white noise. The decision was primarily a financial one, though, and one with which we continue to be happy. We find all of our programming through either the network websites (which stream a great deal of their programs for free), Hulu, Netflix, or simply by purchasing season passes on iTunes. Gone were Tuesday night Cops marathons. Gone was having the television on in the background, forgetting what was even airing, as we went about this or that. Gone were the TV Guides. Unfortunately, gone were tennis matches and basketball games, as well, which is the one thing that I miss. Now, we’re more intentional about watching specifically what we want to see. There’s more music playing in the background, and rarely looping television programs.

When we visit family that still uses cable, I find myself noticing just how nearly omnipresent the television remains. I’m glad that’s not the case for us.

Moving to the Internet for all of our television viewing has reduced the amount of television that we watch. I know that’s not the case for everyone. I know people who can waste hours in front of YouTube, or stream endless programming on Hulu. I know that its all in how you use the technology, and perhaps that fact hasn’t changed from one medium to the next. I just think its kind of interesting that the same technology and media trends that brought us the frightening landscape of Max Headroom actually moved us beyond that landscape into something with much more flexibility.

Here’s to the Internet.

Photo Attribution: *USB* 

Everyman

There was a point in the history of Western culture in which it was fashionable for everyone to keep a journal. In our new age of social networking, journaling is, of course, more popular than ever…its just that we want everyone else to see our thoughts, instead of keeping them private. We invite their comments. We want their opinions. We want to challenge their opinions. Thus, nearly everyone I know posts status updates somewhere. They share links to the things that interest them. Whether in the compact form of Twitter, the more creative palette of Tumblr, or the long-form written expression of a blog, we’re all about letting everyone else see our thoughts.

Blogging, of course, has brought about its own debates in the cultural sphere. Specifically, we wonder, are the blogs of anyone who witnesses a specific event and decides to publish the details as they witnessed them to be considered journalism? Most bloggers are not trained journalists, and neither are most social networkers…yet its not an exaggeration to say that we learn news from Twitter more quickly than any formal news media outlet. And, news media outlets are making it much easier to post eye-witness video and accounts to their websites.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily include the so-called “elites.” No direct eye-witness accounts or opinions of Joe Public in the pages of the New Yorker, for example, or the bylines of the Washington Post. Some publications and media hold to a higher standard. They want to be gate-keepers, filtering what goes through their sites to their readers and viewers. Societies have always, and likely will always, have these elites.

Yet, our information age has brought about a new distaste for the elites in favor of the common person. Not only is it easier to find out what someone just like us thinks about a situation, but it is also possible for any of us to publish our own books, record and produce our own albums, shoot our own films, and then to circulate them to a worldwide audience. Albeit a small worldwide audience at first, but…you never know what will go viral tomorrow.

Interesting, isn’t it, how this invention of the Internet has brought about a lack of tolerance for the elite gatekeepers? We are no longer as interested in what the publishing houses and record labels think is worthy music. We want to hear the album made by the guy on the other end of town that just posted his first music video on YouTube, or read the novel self-published by the author we’ve connected with on Twitter.

Yet, we still respect the elite in most areas. When push comes to shove, we trust a news report from the New York Times over a more amateur news blog. We value a degree from an Ivy League institution over an online school. We respect great literature over a print-on-demand novel. There’s value to the excellence brought about by people who have a reputation for doing it the best, yet there’s value to the fact that anyone can do it.

So, where’s the reconciliation of this conundrum? I respect novels published with well-known publishers. I respect authors who self-publish, and, in fact, intend to self-publish some of my own work in the near future. That’s where it hits home for me. Writing, musicianship, acting, film directing, are all difficult crafts that require much work to achieve any level of competency or excellence. Yet, all of these gifts can fall by the wayside, regardless of their level of excellence, because of business decisions based on executive profit or the lowest common denominator of the audience instead of the quality of the art.

Do you read self-published books? Watch independent films? Listen to indie bands? The technology is there for these artists to do excellent work, and the information pipeline is there for them to distribute it as they please, without working in connection with agents or executives. This is an exciting time to be creative. Ironically, I wonder if the so-called “entertainment industry” will implode, or at least be forced to alter drastically, as a result?

And, I wonder if it would be such a bad thing if it did?

Photo Attribution: goXunReviews

Bits and Bytes

Somewhere in the middle of a hectic Monday morning, Karen sent one of those email forwards that are meant to brighten your day. The email was (supposedly) written by an older gentleman who had operated a business for years while content to keep his mobile phone in his golf bag in the garage, who became annoyed with a GPS telling him what to do, and who certainly didn’t comprehend Twitter. It concluded with an emphatic statement that many older people are content with what they still consider to be the advanced technology of cordless telephones and garage door openers, and that those younger and more technologically adept should accept this and move on.

It was a good laugh.

I remember the jokes that used to circulate about how friends and family had difficulty programming their VCRs. I remember thinking that it wasn’t that complicated. I listen to Karen periodically muse to her friends that she can’t keep up with which social network is my current favorite, because I have too many. I pounce on the latest updates on my iPhone, and she shrugs her shoulders and contents herself with what she needs to know. I listen to myself with amusement as I lapse into geek-speak when one of my friends has a technical issue, to which I typically know a solution.

My parents, however, don’t understand the concept of Facebook.

It occurs to me that my generation has, arguably, seen the greatest number of life-altering technological advances of any in human history. Actually, let me qualify that: we’ve seen the greatest number of information-based technological advancements of any in human history. I can trace back with wonder the changes in the way I live my day-to-day life through my 30-ish years on the planet. When I was an undergrad, having a computer in your dorm room was unusual. Most of us walked down to the computer lounge that was in the wing of our dorm, plugged a 3 1/2″ floppy into the drive, and hacked away at our term papers with software that was either nameless or whose name escapes my memory. And we were glad we no longer had to do it on typewriters while slinging whiteout.

By the time I was a junior, I had a pager. My grandmother used to try to leave messages on that number like an answering machine, and couldn’t understand why it didn’t go through. Then I had a huge bag-phone in my car with an antennae mounted on the back glass and was feeling pretty spiffy about 60 free minutes…you get the idea.

Now, my phone literally can manage my entire day. I’ve heard that the average iPhone, in fact, has more processing power that the computers used to generate the special effects for the original Star Wars films.

While I joke with my friends and family about what I perceive as their technological ineptitude, however, I feel concerned for those older than us. I feel concerned because I wonder if there has ever been a time in our history in which our elders have been left behind so quickly…disregarded as though they have no idea about life. I wonder if, in our quasi-arrogant self-assurance of possessing and being intimate with technology that our parents could never have imagined, that we de-value the wisdom about life that our parents and grandparents have.

After fussing with email and weather forecasts and so forth on my iPad Monday morning, I settled into the beginning of the week by looking at my daughter. I watched her sleeping face, and thought about how wonderfully superior a creation she is to any metal and glass device that I hold in my hand. I think about how the wisdom of those who have gone before us is invaluable to how we raise and treat those who come after us. I think about how the core of the human condition hasn’t changed, and about how we endanger ourselves of repeating the mistakes of history because we are so obsessed with our present.

I think about all of the times that I couldn’t be bothered with my elders, and how I’ve lived to regret that choice every time. Every. Single. Time.

Progress is a beautiful thing, when taken as a next step to our humanity, our arts, our culture. Should we attempt to replace those things…to replace our history…with the progress of today and dreams of tomorrow, though…then we’ve torn away parts of our souls. We need to be careful in discarding those pieces of ourselves so flippantly, because I’m not entirely certain that we can get them back when we do.

Should a day come when our technology is no longer with us, we will still be with each other. Humanity can’t be fixed with software upgrades and new apps. Its much deeper in its problems and its beauty.

We need to know what to do with that.

Photo Attribution: brendahallowes 

Socialite

Its no secret that I’ve been accused of being an early adopter…its actually something in which I sort of pride myself. I see it as being a sort of risk-taker…you never know if that great new device or service is really going to prove itself worthy of what you just paid for it.

With social media, however, there’s a little less of a risk. I’ve been an early adopter, there, as well…while I joined the blogosphere somewhat late (I started this space in 2005, and it has evolved with me into something very different since then), I set up a Facebook profile when Facebook was new and all the rage (remember back when you had to be enrolled in an academic institution to set up an account?). Since then, I’ve jumped on some social media, and avoided others (Foursquare? No thanks.). I use social media for which I can realistically see a use or benefit, and sometimes begrudgingly hold onto social media profiles only because I can still see a benefit.

A few months ago, a blogger I follow regularly posted a list of the social media sites that he uses regularly, and asked his readers to comment with theirs. I did, and I was amazed at how many social media sites I use. Certainly, social media has changed our world, altered the ways in which we interact with each other forever, and guided us to new people with whom we can interact. My commenting on his post drove that fact home to me, and I thought it would be interesting for you, as well. So, just for fun and a break from my usual blogging fare, I thought I’d do something similar. Here are the social media sites I use, and how (or why) I use them.

Facebook. I have a personal Facebook profile, and I keep it locked down pretty tightly. This blog, of course, also has a Facebook page. Personally, I’m over Facebook. As its privacy thresh hold becomes lower, and as it leaves its niche to attempt to do everything (first it attempted to copy Twitter with streams of status updates, now it offers video chat…really??), I find myself posting to Facebook very sparingly, and use my personal account only because it is the easiest way in which to contact several of my friends (and, perhaps for sentimental reasons, as well).

Twitter. I love Twitter. I love the people I meet there from various backgrounds and disciplines, I love the real-time nature of it, I love the casual conversations that are sparked there. I love the interesting links that I discover that I otherwise wouldn’t, and the absolutely hysterical humor that can brighten my day. If all you ever do is tweet about the meetings you go to or how when you’re talking on your iPhone, I won’t follow you. Give me a stream full of interesting links or quips, and my attention is yours.

Tumblr is a recent venue for me, but I’ve already met fascinating people. I love the simplicity of Tumblr, how its not about how many people you follow, and how it is full of great art, beautiful images, and thought-provoking quotes. Tumblr receives far more of my time than Facebook, and I’ve turned it into sort of a collection of the things that inspire me to write, both here and elsewhere.

Google+ is the site that I truly wish would replace Facebook, and is perfectly capable of doing so. Because my blogging activities are tied into my Google profile, this one is important to me. However, while I’m connected to a relatively large number of family and friends there, not many of them use Google+ regularly, so my activity there is unfortunately limited until everyone recognizes how superior it is to Facebook. Of course, I have a YouTube account associated with this, but use it rarely. I aggregate my RSS feeds with Google Reader, and share interesting posts occasionally that way, as well.

LinkedIn is valuable for keeping in touch with present and former colleagues. I’m careful about my connections there, and its one of those sites I have a feeling will become much more useful in the future, so I’m keeping it around.

Goodreads is where I keep track of my voracious reading appetite, and chat about good books with good friends. I’ve began to connect more and more with other writers that I’ve met on Twitter, there, and I’ll eventually set up an author page…I just haven’t gotten around to that, yet (once I finish the work-in-progress, I think).

Delicious was a network I joined several years ago. Its one of those profiles that you forget you have until there’s a link to a site that you really need to store somewhere for future reference, and keep it with other similar links, and then suddenly Delicious is the most valuable profile you have. I don’t use the social aspect of Delicious as much…its a repository for my bookmarks.

Instapaper is something I don’t know how I survived without. Its simply a place to put all of those stories and articles and posts that you know you want to read, but just don’t have time to read at the moment you find them. Instapaper is amazing!

Of course, other sites have come and gone, but this is quite enough to manage, don’t you think? When I consider how integral these sites have become to my daily routine, I’m quite amazed.

What social media do you use on a regular basis? How has it impacted your life, for better or worse?

Photo Attribution: ivanpw