Monthly Archives: May 2003

reflecting on LinkedIn

The emergence of social networks sites delights me, but i’m struggling to understand the value of LinkedIn as anything novel or specifically advantageous. My concern is that the site will immediately appeal to all of us obsessed with social networks (specifically those who love them for business purposes), but that it’s value outside of a specific subset is limited. I would *love* to be proved wrong (because i really want to see social networks become more prevalent on the web and i think that Ryze / Friendster / LinkedIn are fabulous learning opportunities). Here are my concerns…

1) LinkedIn gives public kudos to the heavy Connectors by listing them in order in the Network. This is important because social validation helps encourage the role of the Connector. The problem is that one of the best validating measures is when the Connector introduces two people who are compatible in the appropriate context. Connector validation is hidden in LinkedIn. When you want to get to know someone, you have to write them a message and then you get to see your first link towards that person. But you don’t see the path.

2) Links weaken over distance. The greater the degrees of separation, the harder it is to vouch for someone. If the connections are A-B-C-D and A wants to meet D, B & C have to decide if that’s appropriate, but that’s a much harder call than when there is only one person in between. LinkedIn makes it hard to figure out the distance.

3) You value people’s connections for different reasons, even in business land. You probably don’t trust your *amazing* HR person to recommend a programmer, while you’d love their recommendation on a sales person or something closer to their expertise. Without a viewable network, this becomes challenging to operate.

4) How does the system become trustworthy enough to be valued by all involved? When would you not do introductions when asked? What are the social consequences of such actions? If someone indicated that you are their “friend”, would you say no? Again, social consequences…

5) The profile interface is soooo limiting. When i’m hiring consultants, i use a lot more than their job experiences. I look at their skills, their educational training, their personal interests (including volunteer habits). Character is so crucial in connecting people, but the system limits one’s ability to voice that. Also, a picture is worth a thousand words.

6) Finding people is frustrating as anything. Searching simply based on location OR what they’re looking for/offering OR their industry? Actually, i have a problem with searching in general, because it makes the system appear to be a simple professional DB that limits your searching based on an assumption that you only want to meet people a few degrees apart. It’s true; i’m far more likely to hire folks a few degrees a part. But, i’m not likely to do a limited search and then see if the connections might be of interest to me. I’d be far more likely to use the system if i could limit the network and then walk through my network to see which people fit my needs. Or better yet, a big visual overview of the network, graying out all of the people who didn’t fit my needs, letting me see my first degree connectors and letting me click on people down paths i’m curious about.

OK… Tell me i’m wrong and missing the picture.

Balancing Data Needs And Privacy

Balancing Data Needs And Privacy… Somehow, folks never come up with a balancing act that makes me feel safe and secure. Of course, it’s not terrorists that i’m worried about, but the rabid intolerant, xenophobic American culture. And perhaps my government. But, perhaps they could be called terrorists. Hmmm… perhaps we need data about our government.

my beloved bubble

Anyone who knows me knows that Boston brought out some of the most despicable and horrid aspects of me and it made me more depressed than i’ve ever experienced, yet without any of the supports necessary to get through it in a non-destructive manner. I thought that i could deal with that wretched city long enough to get my grad degree, but i learned quickly that grad school is challenging itself and thus you must be in the most positive context imaginable to deal. I knew that i needed to be in San Francisco. Period. Grad school or not. Hell, even my MIT advisor points out my San Francisco tendencies. Well, this morning a little article reminded me of why i love my silly bubble and why i never want to leave…

It’s that odd dumbstruck jolting feeling you get as soon as you step more than 25 miles away from this most progressive and funked-out and deeply flawed and self-consciously screwy of kaleidoscopic American urban metropoli: oh my freaking God, what is happening to the world? This is what you say. To yourself. Probably.

Because suddenly you find yourself pummeled with many of those lovely bleak horrible things you’ve somehow become so inured to while living in S.F., those things you might’ve slowly come to hope don’t really exist quite so violently and vehemently anymore. But of course they do.

…

Sexism. Racism. Guns. Jingoism. Jesus fetishism. Psychopatriotism. Rampant pseudo-religious family-values faux-ethical circle jerking masquerading as Christian humility. Wal-Marts like giant florescent-lit viruses. Strip malls like a stucco plague. Ho hum, ain’t that America. It so is.

…

let my blog meet your blog

BlogMatcher is a dating service for blogs. Well, not exactly, but it seems as though every networking tool out there is either for business or dating. Through a blog into their search and it’ll give you back a handful of blogs with similar links. How cute!

us dept of art & technology

It’s always fun to run across old friends and find out what new adventures they’re up to. It seems as though Mark Amerika has his fingers in a collective called the “US Department of Art & Technology”. The site, “Political Art Creates a Shadow Government,” is a nice little play on our current government agencies, complete with lots of undersecretaries and directors (Mark is the Director of the Office of Freedom of Speech).

for god and country

I often wonder how my grandfather must have felt knowing he had killed thousands of innocent people in the line of duty. But i know not to ask. I learned that long ago. Not all questions are to be asked. Some are simply to be forgotten. One answer will suffice: for God and country.

These thoughts have been more present in my mind in recent months. I remember being asked how i could be anti-war and pro-soldier, as though these ideas were completely contradictory. My response was always simple: Stanley Milgram. On a listserv today, someone noted that they would never participate in killing others, that they would rather risk jail than participate in the military, that the only justifiable option is conscientious objector. I wish i could live in a world where that option was available to everyone. Instead, i wrote:

This is a privilege that is currently afforded to you, yes. But it is not something that is afforded to all people everywhere, nor does it guarantee that you will never be situated in a kill-or-be-killed environment.

In many places in the world, you are required to serve in the armed forces. In many places, war is on your front step. Sure, you can say that anyone could rebel for moral reasons, but obedience to authority runs very deep. Are you familiar with Stanley Milgram’s work (mostly stemming from Obedience to Authority)?

Of course, the most interesting analysis of how stress will motivate “good” people to do “bad” things is Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment…

One well established perspective is that people’s moral values and practices are highly context-dependent. Put people in a position of fear, stress or anxiety and some of the worst characteristics of humanity are bound to emerge, even if they are the most altruistic and well-demeanored people in everyday life.

This research is very interesting in light of most war-vets PTSD. Needless to say, both Milgram and Zimbardo induced PTSD on their subjects (and they are the reason that we have the IRB today). Anyone who has been to war will articulate the conflicting feelings of not wanting to kill and yet doing so. It’s hard to make sense of and it tears at the fabric of your self-perception.

It’s also really important to note that we live in a very individualistic society. Most societies are more driven by community and family pressures and norms than personal beliefs. Rebellion is an act of dishonoring your family/community, a cultural force that most people don’t overcome. Also (best noted by Milgram), the values of an individual and the values of a group are often very different.

While we have the privilege to sit in (mostly) American cities and voice our dissent towards military participation, the forces that operate in most places would push any (even educated) member of society towards participation. Also, for the most part, we have education, jobs (or job potential), and lack family responsibilities, all of which affords us a lot of mobility and freedom. Most of the US’s military force is comprised of the poorest and least mobile individuals. Most signed up to get out of their home environment and never expected to have to participate. I would guess that most are not motivated by murder, but then put in that context…

I would love to believe that i would never kill. I would love to believe that if i were drafted, i would have the strength to rebel. Yet, i imagine that instinct would kick in and if i weren’t so privileged, so would need to conform.

Given this perspective, my personal view is that it is the responsibility of those of us with privilege to create a worldwide context where the worst in humanity doesn’t need to emerge. How can we reduce the tension so that the instinct to kill out of fear does not need to be considered? How do we increase communication so that the worst-case-scenario is never realized?

Of course, i realize that this is not the perspective that most people have. My grandfather came back from war to a culture that realized that whatever happened in wartime stayed in wartime. It was not to be discussed; simply honor the vets. In Vietnam, vets came back from their harrowing experiences to a country of people who hated them for doing what they didn’t see as representative. Anti-war activists took a stance that any conscientious person would object to the war and thus our own people were criminals. This divided our country unnecessarily and we saw the ramifications very recently. People still cannot separate between anti-war and anti-soldiers. The public sees the two as synonymous and it always saddens me to hear people validate that. To believe that soldiers are evil and immoral people is to be so steeped in privilege that you’ve lost touch of humanity.

procrastination devices

I’m going to take this moment of procrastination to articulate how deadly technology is for aiding procrastination. In the last year, i’ve been pretty responsible to no one. My one responsibilty has been to V-Day. I’m expected to work 20 hours a week, but i often easily work 30, partially because that job is attuned to my best procrastination habits and thus work feels like procrastinating. An old friend of mine used to wimper about TV being a deadly reason for his prolonged PhD stay. Of course, this sounds like a typical “back when i was your age…” and of course i want to respond to how it is sooo much different now. But it is! Really!

I’ve managed to rid myself of the traditional procrastination tools. Solitaire has been removed from my computer and there is no TV to be found. Plus, i’ve never mastered the clean to procrastinate technique.

But there’s email… well, i have justified that email has work purposes (V-Day only validates this by having the focus of my work day spent on dealing with emails for tech support). Thus, i check email obsessively. *Obsessively.* There are two different accounts. One account has 6 different folders in which email may arrive. The idea was that all list email goes far far away from my INBOX. But what do i do? I check those other boxes in rote rotation. To top it off, i always have my INBOX displayed so that i can see a new little “N” pop up next to a new message. ::sigh::

Of course, IM is just as bad as email, only the relationship between productivity and work is much weaker. Luckily, a simple “i’m working, interrupt if necessary” message often keeps that procrastination tool in line.

Then there are blogs. Reading blogs, writing in blogs, surfing blogs, surfing the links in blogs. Blogs are truly a distraction. You can justify them as learning, or keeping tabs on people’s social behavior or the digital memes. Direct web surfing feels like procrastination; blog surfing feels like you are doing your mind a service. Which you are. You are helping it avoid the task at hand.

Next comes the myriad of sites out there intended for you to come back and surf them out of curiousity, particularly those targeted at making you feel socially relevant. Friendster, neopets, … Cruel. Evil.

Of course, so much of this centers around my Internet Explorer window. In theory, i should not be allowed to open it. But, you know, when you’re writing a paper, well, you *need* Google don’t you??

Next comes my small obsession with any form of data. I fill out surveys to procrastinate. I check my web logs (y’know – the ones that tell you how many visitors you have). I re-analyze any data i’m collecting in databases. (No, no new signups for the conference; yes, organizers are still procrastinating their Follow-ups…) I make certain that all of my book purchases are entered into the DB and that proper, and kind, feedback is left for the seller. Of course, if i haven’t purchased a book in 4 days, i probably surf my wishlist at half.com to see which books are relevant to the currently procrastinated paper. I even redo my finances and try to figure out how i can spend less than i make each month (which is brutally hard in San Francisco, particularly with my half.com habit).

Finally, when all else fails, i remember why procrastination is an essential feature of grad school by reading phdcomics. [Conveniently, this week’s comic is on the sale of research to the military…]

Altered States and the Spiritual Awakening

I realized that i did not announce that registration for Altered States and the Spiritual Awakening is now live.

For those who don’t know, i’ve been helping organize this conference. The idea is that most conferences that give people access to the psychological perspective on altered states and spirituality are obscenely expensive. Of course, putting on a conference is expensive, but still. Well, a friend of mine decided that he wanted to create a conference that was more accessible to young researchers, students and other poor, but motivated folks. When i first heard about the conference, i had to get involved.

At Brown, i was introduced to both psychedelics and Zen, all wrapped up together in a nice neat package. My early psychonautics helped structure who i am and how i perceive the world. As someone once said, psychedelics let you know that the top of the mountain exists, while Zen teaches you to climb it. After leaving Brown, i was stunned by how many Zen practicioners were both dismissive of and horrified by my experiences with psychedelics. This was tremendously disappointing and made me believe that i was not on the right path afterall. Over time, i found some of the older psychonauts and found that they were able to validate some of my experiences (partially wrapped into a book called Zig Zag Zen).

My interest has come to a head in the last year – how do i take it further so that it can be more personal and more meaningful? What can i learn about myself and about the world? How do i integrate my life experiences, ideas and values into a religious form?

Of course, these questions are far from answered, but the idea of meeting some legendaries in this quest is so exciting i can hardly wait!