OK. That is a fanstatically entertaining representation of the echo chamber. ::giggle::

Of course, someone pointed out to me that in both of my panels, the phrase “So, i have to disagree with X” was quite common. Still, i totally love this.

Giles Turnbull asked various people why they gave up blogs.

The various responses are fascinating… My favorite: “General sense of despair with: a) myself, b) the internet population in general.”

I have a little Mac and a really nice stereo with speakers. I keep meaning to buy long wires to connect the two so that i can spit out iTunes. But, is there any way to do this remotely in some fun configuration that i know nothing about? Like little Bluetooth devices that would make my stereo a wee bit smarter? Or?

OK… the Vaginamabutt is really really funny. Thank you BoingBoing.

I did actually talk at SXSW. I’m so bad about posting recaps of what i talk about. But here’s a short overview.

Panel 1: Blogging Next: Where Personal Publishing Goes From Here [w/ Justin Hall and Anil Dash]

The only thing i remember talking about was the importance of storytelling in blogs. People want a way to share their stories with their friends and their future. They want to do so in a way where they can control the vulnerabilities that they’re faced with. We can tell people to get over the public/private concern until we’re blue in the face and it’s never going to work. People don’t get that public means persistent/searchable and they don’t get how they’re going to feel about this data in the future. It’s like asking Derrida to imagine IM when he talks about the differences between writing and speaking in the 70s. Never gonna happen. People don’t conceptualize this future, especially not when they’re 15 and trying to figure out their identity by screaming to the world “look at me!!” We all regret that. Luckily most of us don’t have it on record.

Jason Calcanis: Entry 1 — Entry 2

Fast Company (transcript)

Panel 2: The Aesthetics of Social Networks (with Jon Lebkowsky, Molly Steenson, Honoria Starbuck)

I brought up the Kant/Nietzsche approach that the only aesthetically pleasing thing is that which represents ourselves. I showed pretty pictures of Visual Who, Social Network Fragments and BuddyZoo. I talked about how people wanted to see themselves represented in relation to those that they knew. Articulated vs. behavior driven networks. Social networks stemming from anthropology and kinship networks. YASNS and the tendency to represent ourselves in context of friends… our representation being affected by our friends (including Clay turning me into a porn queen).

Fast Company (transcript)

I’m sure i babbled more; send me links if you blogged it.

OK. It’s a lost cause. I’m thousands of email behind, without cell phone or the Sidekick that keeps me sorta on top of email sometimes (or at least lets people bug me on AIM). Plus, my server crashed so i lost a bunch of email. Furthermore, i lost everyone’s phone numbers (again….). I don’t know how to be gracious about this so please accept my ungracious apologies for truly turning into a California flake about communication.

I used to send out emails to my friends in bulk telling them that i suck for being a bad communicator and promising to be better about it. At one point, i wrote out to everyone and said that there’s a low likelihood of me ever catching up or getting better abou communication and groveling. A friend immediately wrote me to congratulate me on learning to be honest with myself. Hrmfpt. He knew me all too well.

Alas…

Oh, and riddle me this. You are a robber. You have two phones in your hand. One is a Sidekick with a pretty little image that says “Web.” The other is a Sanyo operating Sprint with its slow backasswards Vision interface. Which one do you use to make web purchases? The Sprint of course! [In fact, as far as i can tell, you never figured out how to use the toy.] But don’t worry. You’re an equal opportunity credit card abuser even if you refuse the cool toy for the broken one. Of course, maybe this says something about interfaces for the masses that i just don’t get…

This incident once again affirmed my feelings on the “man” is basically good/evil discussion that got me into bigtime trouble in the 9th grade. We were stuck reading Lord of the Flies and apparently supposed to argue that it could never happen because “man” is basically good. I disagreed. I fundamentally believe that “man” is basically greedy (which converts to evil in a binary world). Those in power do whatever it takes to maintain power; those without it do whatever it takes to live the lifestyle they want to live. We live in a society that doesn’t see most forms of greed (a.k.a. capitalist success) as bad and we encourage everyone to strive for it. Ah, Protestant ethic. But lots of people never get out of the gates and thus are never going to win the race so they might as well cheat. I remember talking to a friend who worked in a retail store. 25% of the merchandise went out the door unaccounted for. Most theft was employees. Everyone paid for it.

So, here i am sitting in my overly privileged life griping about someone stealing shit from me that will probably cost me about 80 hours of hassle and a little over 1 month’s rent. I can cope. I can get a job. I have opportunities. I have job interviews.

I try really hard to think that maybe they stole that shit from me and helped out their kids or paid their rent. But the little doubter in me can’t help but wonder if my Sidekick and wallet went up their nose/arms. And the cultural pessimist in me wonders how much everyone’s experience with this little incident (since so many people apologied for letting them in) increased homophily in some way… increased intolerance and lack of openness for people different than us. ::sigh::

But i do indeed understand why people get more intolerant as they get older… the burns start to hurt more and more. This is my fourth time dealing with pain-in-the-ass theft in 2 years. It was always due to my naive trust. Let go of my purse at a friend’s loft (2 years ago). Let a AAA guy into my car. Left my car in mid-town NY. Let go of my purse at a friend’s loft (this week).

I hate not being able to resolve the “why” question… why do people do this? If you read this blog and you’ve ever stolen someone’s wallet, can you explain why (anonymously)? I really want to know…

I’m in Austin with no IDs, no cash, no credit cards, no phone, no Sidekick and missing a variety of other purse items. Why? Cause some fucking bastards (6 of em) decided to steal all of my stuff FROM MY PARTY. To torment me even more, they did shots with me before they left. ::grumble::grumble::grumble::

I have a love/hate relationship with conferences. On one hand, i’m stoked to see everyone. On the other, everyone wants to organize and plan. This makes me recoil into a small ball and hide in my hotel room. I’m learning that i’m definitely an adhoc social person. If it can’t happen on the fly, it’s not going to happen. Blame cell phones and AIM if you want, but it’s really causing me grief and anxiety to think about planning. This time, i’m trying to pretend like there are no plans and just head to SXSW for some joy amongst my colleagues and friends (and family) and see what happens.

I’m also talking at SXSW. Two talks in a row:
– Monday, 11:30-12:30 – Blogging Next: Where Personal Publishing Goes From Here
– Monday, 3:30-4:30 – The Aesthetics of Social Networks

Monday will be a killer! Hopefully this time, i’ll keep my voice in tact.

On top of that, i’ll be looking for bloggers and journalers to interview. That should be fun!

Can’t wait to see folks in Austin!

Fellow researchers of mine are doing a blog survey. Help them out and share your opinions. Get good karma in return.

OK… Japan continues to astound me. Thanks to Joi, check out Come for the Seamen, Stay for the Ship (a very gay Flash animation).