|
« September 2004 | Main | November 2004 » October 29, 2004Happy Birthday InternetThe Internet turns 35 today. I have the fortunate position of being the youngest speaker to present at the Birthday Party. I spoke about what it meant to grown up with the Internet being a given and what it is that youth are doing with the tool today. It's amazing to sit in a room full of people who completely revolutionized my life and those of my peers and of the generations to come. Being here has reminded me of how much we have taken this technology for granted. The stories have been beautiful, full of the chaotic process of creation, including crashes. Happy birthday Internet... we're glad you're alive and well. Category: digitalness
Posted by zephoria at 4:28 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0) October 28, 2004Secret Service follow up on LiveJournalerApparently, anniesj wrote an anti-Bush post on her LJ. Someone else on LJ reported this to the FBI and the nice Secret Service people showed up at her door. While they didn't arrest her, she now has a record. She documents the full situation on her LJ. Category: politics
Posted by zephoria at 2:28 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (2) peculiar synchronicityAfter work, i stopped by to see a friend. We talked at length about research and she told me that i needed to track down a NYTimes Magazine article from about two years ago that discusses the Pro-Ana community. She thought i'd find that report fascinating. I went home, poured some OJ and picked up the magazine on the top of the magazine stack to read some non-theory before going to bed. On the top of the stack was a NYTimes Magazine with a discussion of the architectural replacements for the WTC site. I groaned since this was one of the topics in my theory reader that i was avoiding. I noted it that it was an older Magazine, thought it odd to be on the top of our stack, put it down and went to bed. My roommate woke me this morning when the cable modem guys came. He said that it was really strange that there was an old NYTimes Magazine in the kitchen. I told him i'd seen in too. I poured some cereal and picked up the same Magazine, avoiding the cover story. The first page i turned to after the cover story was the Pro-Ana story. I didn't live in that house on the date it was printed. No one in that house at that time had a subscription to the NYTimes. I had cancelled my subscription to the NYTimes after their dreadful coverage of Afghan bombing. We only have about 4 other NYTimes Magazines in that stack. Strange strange strange. Category: reflections & rants
Posted by zephoria at 10:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) October 27, 2004revisiting Walmart and Starbucks NationLiz revisited my Walmart/Starbucks Nation piece. In doing so, she reminded me that this piece failed to make its point. So i thought that i'd retry. 1. Both rural areas and cities have brands that they ascribe to; these are very different brands. There is a bi-directional disdain for the brands of the other group. Certainly, the brands bleed into both regions, but those brands tend to resemble certain class/regional expectations. Yes, i can get to a Walmart somewhere in the Bay Area, but i see a Starbucks on every corner. I'm always humored when my city friends go home to their parents and bitch because they can't find a Starbucks. These are the same people (self included) who groan at the ever-present obviousness of Walmart. 2. Consistency of brands allows for easy mobility between regions. At this point, suburbia in most regions resembles the suburbia in other regions, provided that we're talking about the same socio-economic level. Cities start to bleed together (and god knows airports do). What keeps most of this consistent has to do with brands. No matter where you go, you can find the Walmart/Starbucks of your choice. This provides for security in the shifting. 3. The tendency of city people is to critique the brands in the rural areas AND vice versa. There is a great article in my reader from a Kansas paper bitching about those Starbucks people. What i was trying to do was expose my own bias while realizing that there are branding wars on both sides. I have immediate disdain over Walmart, thinking that i have choice, but realizing that i live in a culture that moves from Starbucks to Safeway. 3. Historically, the image of the rural area was precisely what Liz is getting at - beautiful houses, streets with sidewalks, community. For most of the country, i don't think this is as true as it was 20 years ago, mostly because of the consumption culture that is present. It certainly isn't true where i grew up. When you don't go to the corner store, you don't talk to everyone in that small geographic region. When you go to the Safeways, you do your shopping without a community (unless we're talking the Castro Safeway). Big corporate shopping institutions become very de-personalized, very anti-community in all regions. There's often talk about how people in cities don't know their neighbors; it saddens me that this is spreading. 4. My concern over consumption culture is connected to my concern over this election. There is a divide in this country and it falls along city/rural lines (with the suburbs trapped in the middle). When i'm visiting Walmart Nation, i'm visiting predominantly red nation. When i'm in Starbucks Nation, i'm visiting predominantly blue nation. It's unbelievable because it is both a class and regional division that has resulted in entirely different lifestyles. It's even more painful because historically the rural areas were as Democratic as it gets; today they side with the wealthiest Americans under the pretense that they have the same values. More than anything though, the moral division in this country is branded on all sides. We have companies that cater to each of our values. They've figured out how to identify with us so that we'll identify with them. Rural America used to pride itself on mom & pop everything, but that's no longer the case. My post was not supposed to be a judgment against rural/suburban culture. It was intended as an exposure of my own biases as i evened the playing field in conversation. I life in a "lifestyle consumption" culture which is just as despicable as a "bargain shopping" culture - they both play into the desires of corporate consumptions by playing on the moral views of two different groups. Anyhow, i hope that clarifies what i was getting at. Category: social observations
Posted by zephoria at 10:25 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack (1) eminem's mosh
Update: The lyrics are in the extended entry for those who want to know what is being said. Screenshot from 'Mosh' I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America Scrutinize every word, memorize every line Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness To the people up top, on the side and the middle, Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us, So come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness [Eminem speaking angrily] Category: politics
Posted by zephoria at 1:02 AM | Comments (94) | TrackBack (2) educating ourselvesWhen i moved to CA, i was startled by the absurd number of Propositions. So, as an excuse to see some friends that i haven't seen as a while, i brought 25 people to my house tonight to discuss the ballot. Everyone had researched an issue so we took turns explaining the pros/cons of each Proposition, joking around, and drinking whenever Starchild's name was invoked. It felt good to be more informed as a voter and to have the opportunity to share amongst friends. A further plus is that we spent a night in political discourse without any fights breaking out. Everyone was conscious to present both sides of the argument instead of demanding solidarity in voting. I strongly encourage other Californians to gather their friends for an evening of discussing the different issues. It's a great opportunity for socializing and engaging in civic responsibility. For those in SF, there's a ballot party at Commonwealth tonite, the 27th - it will be an opportunity to learn the different sides. Also, if you're in California and you're supposed to vote on an electronic machine, ask for a paper ballot in case of recall. They are required by law to let you vote on paper, but they won't give you the choice. Check out this animation: Paper or Plastic. Category: politics
Posted by zephoria at 12:40 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) October 26, 2004structured procrastinationI hate cleaning my room, but it is wonderfully clean for the first time in months. Why? Because i have a two mile long To-Do list that makes me shudder. Reading email is no longer a procrastination devices for me because it is full of stressful reminders of what i haven't done. So, it is on the to-do list. Thankfully, in blog procrastination, i found an essay on Structured Procrastination, kindly validating my procrastinating tendencies. (Tx Caterina) Category:
Posted by zephoria at 10:16 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) October 24, 2004our bodies... their battleground
Category: gender & sexuality
Posted by zephoria at 11:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1) October 20, 2004resurrecting e-quillI'm still cranky that Microsquish squashed e-quill upon purchasing it (even if Matt went on to do a good thing). I loved that program, absolutely loved it. I used it for lots of different things, including turning in class assignments, commenting on sites, taking notes. I beta-tested that puppy like you wouldn't believe because i truly thought it was a fantastic step forward. And then MS went and brutally murdered it, with no trace left behind but a sad website.
So, when Mary posted about this cross between a blog and a wiki, i was overjoyed. I know that one day e-quill will have to come back in some form... it really is the answer to comments and collective voices. It is digital graffiti and the opportunity to focus on the collection before the individual, offering a perspective of collective action instead of linear narratives. It makes every hypertext bone in my body quiver with excitement. Please, please bring back e-quill soon. Update: ::gulp:: I didn't realize that when i found Will's page (pictured above), i was writing graffiti on someone's page and starting it as a trend (tx Mary). I was just trying to point out a new tool. So, i explored further, made my own webnote so that readers can graffiti me. Category: social software
Posted by zephoria at 2:14 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (6) October 18, 2004i love beesWired has a great article on the I Love Bees game. I've been peripherally following this since it started, and i'm quite excited about it. In short, I Love Bees is an interactive game played throughout the US, encouraging people to figure out a large storyline and follow clues online and offline at payphones. Absolutely fabulous. Category: fun links
Posted by zephoria at 10:30 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) October 17, 2004Harrison BergeronKurt Vonnegut Jr's "Harrison Bergeron" was one of those short stories that blew me away as a kid and i find myself still referring to it. In talking about identity online with two friends tonite, we got into a conversation about how digital tools create certain handicaps that, in theory, might place everyone on an equal playing field. I brought up "Harrison Bergeron" and was stunned to find that they hadn't read it. So, i figured that i'd post it here (under extended entry) in case there are others who haven't had the opportunity to read this wonderful short story. Harrison Bergeron The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm. "That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel. "Huh?" said George. "That dance--it was nice," said Hazel. "Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two of the eight ballerinas. Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been. "Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George. "I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel, a little envious. "All the things they think up." "Um," said George. "Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion." "I could think, if it was just chimes," said George. "Well-maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General." "Good as anybody else," said George. "Who knows better'n I do what normal is?" said Hazel. "Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that. "Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?" It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples. "All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while." George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me." "You been so tired lately-kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. just a few." "Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain." "If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just sit around." "If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it--and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you? "I'd hate it," said Hazel. "There you are," said George. "The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?" If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head. "Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel. "What would?" said George blankly. "Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?" "Who knows?" said George. The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and gentlemen-" He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read. "That's all right-" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard." "Ladies and gentlemen-" said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men. And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me-" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive. "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous." A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall. The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever borne heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides. Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds. And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that. he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggletooth random. "If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not-I repeat, do not-try to reason with him." There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges. Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake. George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have-for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!" The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head. When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen. Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die. "I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook. "Even as I stand here-" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened-I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!" Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds. Harrison's scrapiron handicaps crashed to the floor. Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bars of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall. He flung away his rubberball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder. "I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne! A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow. Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all, he removed her mask. She was blindingly beautiful. Now-" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded. The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls." The music began. It was normal at first-cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs. The music began again and was much improved. Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it. They shifted their weights to their toes. Harrison placed his big hands on the girl's tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers. And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well. They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun. They leaped like deer on the moon. The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it. It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it. And then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time. It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on. It was then that the Bergeron's television tube burned out. Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer. George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying?" he said to Hazel. "Yup," she said. "What about?" he said. "I forgot," she said. "Something real sad on television." "What was it?" he said. "It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel. "Forget sad things," said George. "I always do," said Hazel. "That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a riveting gun in his head. "Gee-I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel. "You can say that again," said George. "Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy." Category: fun links
Posted by zephoria at 10:16 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (4) October 15, 2004election woesThis election is going to suck. I have yet to receive my little packet of information on the candidates and the propositions; none of my roommates have, even though our friends have. I started getting anxious, wondering if it was possible that someone de-registered me. I voted last winter - can you de-register? Of course, i thought that i registered permanent absentee but my roommate received an absentee and i haven't. Then again, i think i registered like 10 times when i moved here out of anxiety. A friend of mine is receiving loads of election materials to a new nonexistent roommate with a peculiar name. Apparently, people are registering folks who don't exist. In my birth state, Nader is being kicked off the ballot for fraudulent signatures used to get him there, in the order of 25,000 fake signatures - apparently Mickey Mouse is now voting. In swing states, it appears as though the RNC is funding voter registration volunteers to tear up registration forms if they're marked Democratic. The worst part is that there will only be more horror stories between now and November 2. This election will be nasty. Category: politics
Posted by zephoria at 9:52 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0) a new word: starts with 'n' ends with 'o'When i was a little girl, my mother worked absurd hours to keep food on the table. She was always on the brink of collapsing (and on a couple of occasions did). We had this amazing babysitter - a grandmother type figure who would come and pick us up from school, take us to soccer practice and otherwise help my mother out. She loved us and my mother was beyond thankful for her help. One day, my mother came home a complete mess. I don't know exactly what prompted it but Mrs D looked at mom and said: "Kathryn, you need to learn a new word. It starts with 'n' and it ends with 'o'. The word is 'no'!" The memory of this tale used to always make me smile, but i never quite got it. Nowadays, i'm trying to learn the same lesson. Like my mother, i'm always excited about a new possibility, a new opportunity. But i'm definitely cracking under the weight of what i've committed to. There's nothing that makes me feel more guilty than flaking, yet i flake because i'm avoiding a more fear-driven action: having to say no. I want to be involved in everything, i want to be helpful to everyone; i want to be social and a workaholic. Much to my dismay, i cannot take on anything more for a while so i'm trying to learn the lesson my mother tried to learn 15 years ago. Of course, i don't think that my mother succeeded. Category: reflections & rants
Posted by zephoria at 9:16 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (1) October 13, 2004the term social softwareOf course, i still despise the term (sorry Clay) and its (ab)usage. The term bothers me because the software is helping the hardware mediate between two people engaged in a social interaction. I've always loved 'computer mediated communication' (CMC) because it describes the action and then we can talk about CMC hardware/software and CMC behavior. In CMC, the focus is on the communication with the computer and its role as mediator being a description to the primary activity: communication. With social software, the adjective is describing our focus: software. I know that the term is used by technologists who build things instead of dealing with social interaction, communication or even hardware, but it still bothers me. I feel as though the term allows us to emphasize the technology instead of the behavior that it supports. Its usage has grated me because folks use it as though a revolution has happened. We've been building software that can be labeled as social software for a long long long time. Why are we acting like giddy children who just found a new toy? Worse: it's either far to inclusive or exclusive. Is SMS social software? What about MMORPGs? I guess retrospecticely, we'd call them that, but for the most part, we just focus on YASNS, blogging, wikis, social bookmarking and other recent developments. Anyhow, it's not like i have a better term. I tend to talk about social technologies or social media and i tend to use the term CMC. The problem is that CMC isn't describing the new wave of behaviors which aren't always about communication. Perhaps i need to use computer-mediated social interaction. Category: social software
Posted by zephoria at 11:57 PM | Comments (18) | TrackBack (6) October 12, 2004Public Displays of ConnectionJudith Donath and i wrote a paper for the BT Technology Journal called Public Displays of Connection that some may appreciate. It was just published today. Abstract: Participants in social network sites create self-descriptive profiles that include their links to other members, creating a visible network of connections — the ostensible purpose of these sites is to use this network to make friends, dates, and business connections. In this paper we explore the social implications of the public display of one’s social network. Why do people display their social connections in everyday life, and why do they do so in these networking sites? What do people learn about another’s identity through the signal of network display? How does this display facilitate connections, and how does it change the costs and benefits of making and brokering such connections compared to traditional means? The paper includes several design recommendations for future networking sites. Category: friendster
Posted by zephoria at 8:07 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack (4) October 10, 2004g'bye supermanI am stunned. When Derrida died today, i chuckled at the NYTimes label Abstruse Theorist. But Christopher Reeve's death hits home on a much more personal note. I broke my neck only months before Reeve broke his in 1995. Our injuries are very similar, only a calcium deposit in my spinal chord from an earlier gymnastics accident prevented my destiny from looking like his. Every time a doctor looks at my chart, they are stunned that i am walking. I am very lucky and very thankful. Every time i see Reeve, i am humbled. I lose vision and hearing often and have ongoing chronic pain. Still, this is nothing compared to Reeve's story. Yet, i have always held onto the dream that through his celebrity, research would continue and there would one day be a cure that will stop the deterioration of my neck. When Kerry referred to Reeve in his answer on stem-cells, i couldn't help but get teary-eyed. Reeve has been an icon for my quiet struggle. I just hope to god that, in his memory, the fight will go on. I am sad to see my Superman depart this earth and i hope that he is dancing in the heavens. Category: reflections & rants
Posted by zephoria at 11:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) a culture of feeds: syndication and youth cultureAs i wrote before, i quit using RSS/syndication readers. Sitting in at Web2.0 for 20 seconds, i was intrigued by the ongoing hype of RSS - how everything is going to be syndicated and how everyone is going to access data that way. For this audience, i think that it is certainly true. But i'm wondering if that's really true beyond the info-nerds. Syndication is based on an email model, relatively close to a mailing list model. You subscribe to a set number of things and the program informs you of updates. Like email, updates come in the form of a new item. If you leave your syndication tool alone for too long, those new items build up and you're faced with an INBOX-esque situation, an eternal queue waiting to be checked off. Of course, there's also a morbid pleasure in keeping that number at zero, motivating most digital control freaks to obsessively and compulsively check off the items as read. Syndication readers are the modern day whack-a-mole. I will fully admit that my digital OCD runs deep. Mixed with digital materialism, a penchant for collecting things and a fetish for information, i found that my addiction to RSS wrecked my world, making it impossible for me to go to bed at night until everything was checked off. While email has long since weighed on me by having an INBOX full of reminders that i'm a bad friend, syndication brought out my voyeuristic tendencies, letting me feel safe lurking without feeling compelled to respond. Reading was enough; reading was everything. If only that were the case in email. What gets me about syndication is not my personal neuroses around it (although i fear that others will be pushed over the edge with the continuous increase in feeds). What gets me about syndication is that i can't resolve the proposed models with the usage patterns i see in youth culture. Melora Zaner did some great research into why youth are throwing away email for IM. In my blogging research, i was only able to validate her findings. Youth use email to talk with parents and authorities (including corporate emails like from Xanga); it's where they get the functional stuff. They check email once a day. They get notices there, but they're mostly disregarded. IM is where the action is. Youth see this as their digital centerpiece, where they communicate with their friends, thereby maintaining their intimate community. They use the Profiles in IM to find out if their friends updated their LJs or Xangas, even though they are subscribed by email as well. The only feed they use is the LJ friends list and hyper LJ users have figured out how to syndicate Xangas into LJ. [Remember: blog is not a meaningful term to youth culture.] LJ Friends Feeds look a lot more like IM than email, unlike most feed readers. Posts are just aggregated in a reverse-chronological ordering and you page through the various posts. There are no checkboxes, no little red numbers that tell you you didn't read everything. You can easily scan. Unlike their adult counterparts who seem to add and never delete, youth talk about removing people from their LJ friends list if they're annoying, if they don't talk much anymore, etc. Because of the overhead of reading LJ friends' lists, there is a desire to only retain those who are of actual interest. Youth are not grabbing institutional feeds; they're not reading name-brand journalists just for show; things like Kottke and Boing Boing mean nothing to them. The only strangers they seek are those of genuine interest, those who are like them. Youth use LJ/Xanga like they use IM - to keep in constant touch with their intimate community. This is quite interesting because the current generation of youth is more brand-conscious, more advertising-aware than any previous generation. Branding is part of their identity, yet their communication technologies are not how they see themselves keeping tabs on their brands. Whenever i hear about syndication madness, i hear how everything will be syndicated. This mostly means that every company wants to syndicate their material so that the consumers will keep pace. Usually, this references the info-nerds (like myself). Yet, i can also imagine that the goal is for brands to shove info down the throats of everyone and anyone. That said, i cannot imagine youth syndicating non-intimate feeds unless the benefit is exceptionally large, or the feed plays into that culture already. When my generation signed up for mailing list after mailing list just to get access to a particular site, we often used one of a million throw-away addresses, but once we were on the list, it was hard to get off. With feeds, the user doesn't have to ask the company to be removed; they can simply stop accessing the feed. The question then becomes: why start accessing the feed unless you're exceptionally motivated? Of course, there are going to be consumption feeds that are of interest to youth culture. I can certainly imagine the local rag shooting out a feed of what's going on that night and this being of interest to youth culture. But, for youth culture, news access and social access are very distinct. Google is for information; LJ/Xanga are for friends and social lives. The future of syndication that folks at Web2.0 are professing is really structured around information organization and access. It's about people who are addicted to content, people who want to be peripherally aware of some discussions that are happening. It is not about people who use these tools to maintain an always-on intimate community. There is a huge cultural divide occurring between generations, even as they use the same tools. Yet, i fear that many of the toolmakers aren't aware of this usage divide and they're only accounting for one segment of the population. I know that i haven't completely sussed out my thoughts on this issue, but i wanted to throw this out there for those who are interested in where RSS is going. And i would love to hear a reaction to my thoughts here. Update: I should make some clarifications since, as usual, i painted broad strokes. I was definitely throwing this out there unpolished, but then again, that's my favorite use of this blog. These are in response to various comments so far. 1. My division between youth and adult cultures is by no means strictly bounded. Texting exists across ages, although the patterns change the younger the audience. And much of youth culture is dependent on fads, but i do believe that much of their decisions pushes the boundaries that shape technology as it evolves. IM and SMS can certainly attribute their successes in mass culture to youth. 2. I do believe that quite a few youth keep tabs on things beyond their circle, just that they still use mainstream media to do so. Their participation in "blogging" is not in the form of alternative journalism and so they, like most people, seek news from mainstream (even if digital) forms. 3. I do believe that there are life cycles. Much of youth culture is about identity formation, social network formation, etc. Of course, this continues on into adulthood. Yet, i am amazed at how college kids use IM for productive means as well as personal ones, giving me some indication that the tools that they developed as youth are going to pervade their working lives as well. I'm not convinced that these folks will jump on the email bandwagon simply because patterns in their lives will change. Certainly, they will use email - it is not dead, per say. It is just no longer central. 4. I am not arguing that all syndication is dead in the water. I'm just wary of the hype and the broad claims about its possible usage cases. Of course, many people find it valuable. I'm not denying this at all. In its original usage case - news aggregation - i think it is infinitely valuable. But most of the hype around syndication seems to extend far far far beyond news. Category: social software
Posted by zephoria at 3:04 PM | Comments (32) | TrackBack (34) identity kitsMany of my friends have photographed the contents of their bags or that of strangers bags. Thus, this Identity Kit Series completely blew me away - they are images of the bags and belongings of homeless people. Category:
Posted by zephoria at 12:58 PM | TrackBack (0) October 8, 2004supporting the Mac is required for social computingI keep beta-testing software the crashes this, that or the other on my Mac. [Given, i'm really really really good at crashing everything.] Worse: i'm often asked to beta test things that don't work on the Mac. I want to scream. You can build enterprise software that doesn't work on a Mac but you CANNOT build social technologies that don't work on the Mac. Who are key driving forces behind sociable technology? Freaks, (independent) geeks, academics and other marginalized populations. What do marginalized groups use when it comes to technology? Surprise - they use subversive tools. Conferences organized by geeks, freaks and academics are like walking into an Apple distribution warehouse. If you only lived in this world, you would think that Apple makes up 70% of the market share. It doesn't. But it does matter, particularly if you're building sociable technologies and you want the attention of the geeks, freaks and academics. This includes the bloggers, who are often bleeding edge geeky freaky academically-minded folks. Sociable technologies are not enterprise technologies nor are they low-end consumer technologies. They require connecting clusters of people. And to do that, you start with the "mavens" to get to the hubs. Mavens are not mainstream users; they don't play by mainstream rules. They value their position as outsider, alternative. They love new gadgets that have cultural value. This is the type that Apple has done a fantastic job at attracting and maintaining. In a sociable technology economy, it is no longer acceptable to treat Mac users as second-class citizens. Category: social software
Posted by zephoria at 12:10 AM | Comments (41) | TrackBack (8) October 7, 2004Google PrintGoogle announced a new endeavor today - Google Print. The goal is to make all texts searchable, even if they started out on paper. I'm quite excited by this prospect, but i'm not quite sure how it works. I went through a handful of class papers i've written recently and thrown quotes from authors - Geertz, Levi-Strauss, Marx, Adam Smith, Malinowski, Nietzsche - into Google with no reference to a book. [I did find lots of other class papers citing these exact quotes though.] Category:
Posted by zephoria at 4:10 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1) if you sent email....If you sent me mail between noon yesterday and noon today, i didn't get it. I don't know why. :( Resend please. Category:
Posted by zephoria at 1:58 PM | TrackBack (0) October 6, 2004the term 'user'I've always had an aversion to the term 'user.' First, there's the negative drug connotation. When someone speaks of a drug user, it's often under hushed breath or a code for an addict. No one who actually uses drugs refers to themselves as users, except perhaps in jest. In the technology world, 'user' is the term given to one who uses technology. Well, actually, only certain types of technology. One is not a TV user, but a TV consumer. And business people often refer to those who use their technology as customers. My problem with the term 'user' really resides in the fact that it doesn't convey what i want it to convey. I use a hammer. There's a prescribed usage pattern. I am at the whim of the tool; it has power over me by dictating what i can do with it. When it comes to using blogs or wikis or Friendster, i'm not a user. I'm not following a prescribed usage pattern. I am a producer, a consumer, and a user. I may use a blogging tool, but i don't use a blog; am i a blog user? I may use Friendster to surf profiles, but as i create one, am i a Friendster user? What happens when i fundamentally alter the tool and the content in my use of the software? To be a 'user' feels so disempowered. There's no creativity in that position, no positive output - i am simply taking, not giving. It also feels so inhuman, lacking emotion, passion, feeling. It is action-driven only. The term 'user' grates at me, but i don't know how to get around the term. I find myself trapped in it as i write. Are there other approaches to this? Category: academia
Posted by zephoria at 12:27 AM | Comments (31) | TrackBack (0) October 5, 2004Help: Apple Mail peopleNow, i know that i hate email and i know that it hates me, but our standoff has reached new levels, creating absolute chaos. I know that many of you are Mac people so i could really use your help since Apple's site is oh so not helpful. I use Apple Mail. It's connected to an IMAP server at school. There's a procmail process remotely that moves various messages into various folders. That procmail process also forwards certain emails off to my Sidekick. Apple Mail has never automatically updated those folders so, instead of "check mail," i've always right clicked and selected "synchronize folders." I read email, i move it to other folders. It stops being "new" and when i reply, it gets a little arrow next to it. This is normal. Well, something has gone terribly wrong and normal no longer exists. Now, when i "synchronize" a random assortment of "old" messages reappear in each box. Most are marked as "new" and some are not. Some of the moved ones are in the folders i moved them to; some are not. Some of the ones i reply to have the arrow; most do not. Messages that i swore i sent are not in my sent directory (nor in my drafts or out directory). I'm completely baffled. Help? [Or perhaps this should be a sign that i'm never going to catch up on email and i should quit now.] Category: techno doom
Posted by zephoria at 11:40 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (1) October 4, 2004goodbye Ev, go cause troubleEv's leaving. ::sigh:: I will very much miss him, but i'm soooo glad he's going. No, no, nothing like that. When i first met Ev, i instantly adored him. He has that passionate scattered attention that i very much recognize. He's hyper-curious and in love with his work, with his life. His baby grew up and things became stable, procedural, functional. He needs to be out exploring. He needs to chase down a new adventure. And i'm sooo in awe that he realized this and decided to go, even though it meant walking away from his baby. I wish you the very best, Ev! Category:
Posted by zephoria at 7:14 PM | TrackBack (4) house of fashionOn 9/11, Ani unveiled a new song called House of Fashion. I just put the lyrics up for Ani fans. It's a beautiful song. Category:
Posted by zephoria at 12:18 AM | TrackBack (0) October 2, 2004Love Parade
Yes, i attended the Love Parade and Mie kindly snagged a picture to prove it. What a goofy San Francisco day! Category: reflections & rants
Posted by zephoria at 11:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) October 1, 2004why i love my sidekickI ran into a skater kid on the BART yesterday who was sporting the newest Sidekick. I peered over with envy. He told me it was fucking rad and that a friend of his worked at T-mobile and snagged him one before it came out. I keep seeing kids wearing their sidekicks around their neck on chains. At the X-Games this summer, there were tons of sidekicks. The Hiptop is definitely appealing to the hip-hop youth crowd. And for good reason. First, look at the device. It looks like a gaming device. It says: you will use me for play and textual communication. Forget the phone - who talks on the phone anyhow? Certainly not you... you don't want to shove a piece of toast up against your ear now do you? And besides, if you want to talk, you'll use an earpiece. Next, look at the interface. There are no horrible menus, no poorly named programs. It's simple: scroll on the right and find everything you need. AIM is obvious. Email is obvious. SMS is obvious. Everything you need with simple scrolls. The feedback mechanism is purrfect - little icons in the upper corner no matter what screen you're on. And if you're away from the device, it'll buzz for certain messages and turn pretty colors for others. Feedback. Constant feedback. Three things would make it beyond perfect for me: a longer battery, a retractable ear piece (i always forget mine) and the ability to add programs to the ones available. I hear synching is improved with the latest version, but i haven't tried it out. That was previously on my list. But the fact is that using the Sidekick makes me feel like a subculture kid. And even as the mainstream kids are picking up on them, only a few adults are. Adults don't get the importance of text, particularly AIM text. And the Sidekick understands that American kids are mostly on AIM and it's a central feature, not a pain in the ass add-on. This is what texting looks like in the States. Turning AIM texting into a gameboy and voila! Category: digitalness
Posted by zephoria at 12:31 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack (7) |
Eminem's video for his new song Mosh
