Two weeks ago I purchased a new MacBook Air and I thought I would share all aspects of my user experience so far.
The model I bought is the 11" 124GB HD w/ 4GB of RAM and a 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 Processor. It is running OSX 10.7 (Lion). The way my graduate program is set up, nearly all of my reading is done online so having a reliable computer that I can easily carry to school is important. I switched from a 5 year old MacBook with a failing internal hard drive.
Size:
The size of this computer is awesome. Perhaps this is the first truly mobile computer. I've actually noticed that this computer (and probably all Macs running Lion) acts more like my iPhone. I'll get into the nuances of this later. I've watched movies and played video games on this small screen without feeling like it's too small. However, when I run programs like Dreamweaver or Word I do miss the extra work space. Sometimes windows will open larger then the screen and I'll need to resize them to be able to work with them. Also when editing documents with small text (Word, HTML...) I tend to lean in closer to my computer then I have ever before.
The balance of the computer is a bit off. It feels like it could easily be tipped over. When I lightly push on the top of the screen it easily tips backwards. This also makes it difficult to open with one hand. Instead of opening, the computer will rock back toward the hinge. I do not foresee this to be a problem over an annoyance. The computer is very light in weight which is why I bought this computer.
Functionality:
The MacBook Air is sold without an optical drive. I was not really worried about this because I rarely ever put CDs into my computer anymore. However, it is difficult to get around CDs when you first begin using a new computer. I had two new applications I needed to load that I bought from my campus bookstore plus I had professors giving me CD-ROMS full of readings. The nice thing about Macs is that they can share optical drives with each other. This means I can use the optical drive on my older MacBook to load these programs onto my computer. The downside of course is that both computers will need to be present for this to work. Perhaps this computer is ahead of the game here. It will be interesting to see if software programs will begin to sell their products as digital downloads even when sold through vendors like campus bookstores.
The hard drive capacity is the same as on my previous MacBook but I wanted to create a system of storing all of my data on an external hard drive. The system I am now using is the GoFlex Home by Seagate. (Costco had a great deal on these!) This is a 2TB hard drive that syncs to my computer wirelessly from home. I believe I can even access my files from the web but have not played around with this much. The wireless transfer rate is really slow compared to USB or Firewire but once the data is on the server it can instantly be accessed. I now keep all of my music on the hard drive which frees up a ton of space on my computer. It's great! Of course if I leave home I need to transfer a playlist onto my iPhone or else I'll have no music. I'll need to get creative when I go on my first vacation. The hard drive dock even has a USB port so I can plug my printer into it and print wirelessly.
Lion:
Perhaps the only downsides so far has been with the new Lion OS. Not all of my previous programs work with this OS. I image eventually these programs will begin to work. For example Time Machine cannot sync with my new wireless hard drive but it does sync with my older Mac running Snow Leopard. The SFTP client I use (Fugu) also does not work with Lion. This was really problematic last week when I was trying to get a webpage I had worked all day moved onto my Unix account. As I said, I image these will all begin to work at some point.
On the positive side, Apple has create an OS that mirrors their mobile applications. This means that scrolling on the touchpad is similar to the way you would scroll on an iPhone/iPad. In previous versions of OSX they were reverse. What this means is that scrolling is completely backwards to the way I use to do it. It took a couple of days for me to get use to it.
I also really like all the new shortcuts that were added with Lion. Launchpad gets me to my apps with a single click, my document folder is always open and accessible and downloads are always found in the same place! These are great.
Overall, I really like this computer and would encourage anyone looking for a truly mobile computer to consider it. I've been a Mac user for just under 5 years now and have always been pleased with their products. Right now I think their computers are a bit overpriced compared to other options. I looked into other mobile computers and none of them seemed to be as powerful as this computer. Still, I do believe it is worth the money I've paid for it.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Creating a Personal Current Events Catalog
Last week I was reading a blog post by Meredith Farkas (who you all should follow!) titled The Changing Professional Conversation. This post is about how difficult it is to recall conversations done through microblogging and status/RSS feeds (think Twitter, Blogs, Google+ or Facebook).
This got me thinking about an antidote a preaching professor told my class nearly 10 years ago. What he explained to the class was a filing system he developed for keeping track of current events and stories he wanted to save from the local newspapers. He told the class that every morning he sat down with the paper and a pair of scissors and clipped out stories he found interesting or important. He would then file them in his filing cabinet under particular subject categories. The purpose here was to have at hand sermon illustrations that were pulled straight out of the community at a moments notice.
I thought this was a brilliant idea. However today this practice runs into three problems. First, I don't own a filing cabinet nor do I know anyone who does. Second, nearly 100% of the news I read is done online. Third, a majority of what I read is delivered through aggregators and at times I am unable to recall the direct source of where I read the information. (This was the problem Farkas speaks to in her post.)
So can we create a system to help us quickly retrieve information sent to us through aggregators? I believe we can! Below I'll show you three ways (two online and one offline) to document and file this type of information. (Because I use a Mac these examples will be slanted in that direction. I'm sure there are similar ways of doing the same tasks using a windows based computer. Feel free to share those in the comment section below.)
To begin with it is important to think about this process at the level of the collection you will create and not at the level of the item. Going back to the filing cabinet idea, it would be better to have 50 folders with different subject categories then to have one or two that act more of a catch all. Your goal should be to crate folders that will catch a maximum of 30 items. With some of these systems you will be able to tag your items with multiple subject categories. When you use a consistent vocabulary for tagging future recall will be a breeze.
First Things First:
The first thing you will need to know is how to find the unique URL of aggregated posts. On Twitter and Facebook this is done the same exact way. Simply click on the time code of the post you are reading.
The image below was taken directly from my news feed on Facebook.
When I clicked on the time code (what the red arrow is pointing to) the post opens as it's own webpage. This will make it easy to file away in your new subject-based filing system.
This works the exact same way on Twitter. Simply click the time code in your Twitter Feed and the Tweet will open as it's own webpage. (See example below)
Saving For Off-Line Use:
Once you have the posts open as it's own webpage you can simply save it to your hard drive for future viewing. I do this in two different ways. First: You can save the page in a Web Archive format by clicking Command+S. When you reopen a file in this format it will look exactly like the original website including clickable links. Keep in mind that the page is being viewed from your hard drive and not from the web which might cause some problems for imbedded links. Another option I use is Command+P, which opens the print window. From here I click on 'save as PDF' (see example below). I'll save pages as PDFs when I want to add annotations to them for future reference, such as highlighting or adding notes. This is especially nice when reading longer articles.
You can save web based e-mails in a similar way. In Gmail you will find the print icon just to the right of the e-mail title. Simply click this icon but instead of printing the page save it as a PDF, as in the above example. Many news websites will also have a "printer friendly" version of their articles. This will allow you to save the content as a PDF without all the advertisements surrounding the article. Just look for the print icon and when the print window opens click "save as PDF".
Now that the files are saved on your hard drive you will need to figure out a system for retrieval. Typically I will create a master folder containing multiple folders within it. Here is where you will need to be creative with your subject categories. These folders will need to be named something broad enough to catch multiple pages you are wanting to save but narrow enough to be unique. Of course you can always rename folders so don't feel stuck if you cannot think of good folder names right away. I'm working on a project right now about QR Codes. Anytime a blog comes through my RSS aggregator I'll save it in the folder I've titled QR Codes.
Cloud Based Filing: Delicious and Instapaper
I call these Cloud Based Filing because you will be able to get access to these files from any computer that is connected to the web. Both of these sites will require you to register an account.
Both Delicious and Instapaper will allow you to archive webpages for future viewing. Both of these websites have shortcut links you can embed into your browser that will let you save websites directly from the page you are currently on, no need to navigate away from what you are currently reading.
Delicious will ask you to 'tag' the item before it is saved. You can think about tags in the same way as folders. As stated above think about your tags on the level of your collection. For example "classic films" would be a better tag then "Casablanca" unless you have a ton of pages about Casablanca. Think about words that will have the potential to group together a maximum of about 30 pages.
Instapaper uses folders to group your saved pages. The difference here is that with Instapaper you will need to go back in and create your folders after you save the page. This adds an extra step. You will want to play around with both websites and choose which interface you like best and which has the most favorable features.
As a privacy reminder, keep in mind that you might be saving Facebook status updates or Tweets that your friends have posted. Resist the urge to post these items in a blog or on a slide presentation without their permission.
Using these tips and manipulating them to fit your online habits can help save you time in the future when you are trying to recall what someone previously posted or a relevant blog for future reading. I'm not advocating for the archiving of your entire newsfeed, but instead showing ways to assist with information recall in the future.
This got me thinking about an antidote a preaching professor told my class nearly 10 years ago. What he explained to the class was a filing system he developed for keeping track of current events and stories he wanted to save from the local newspapers. He told the class that every morning he sat down with the paper and a pair of scissors and clipped out stories he found interesting or important. He would then file them in his filing cabinet under particular subject categories. The purpose here was to have at hand sermon illustrations that were pulled straight out of the community at a moments notice.
I thought this was a brilliant idea. However today this practice runs into three problems. First, I don't own a filing cabinet nor do I know anyone who does. Second, nearly 100% of the news I read is done online. Third, a majority of what I read is delivered through aggregators and at times I am unable to recall the direct source of where I read the information. (This was the problem Farkas speaks to in her post.)
So can we create a system to help us quickly retrieve information sent to us through aggregators? I believe we can! Below I'll show you three ways (two online and one offline) to document and file this type of information. (Because I use a Mac these examples will be slanted in that direction. I'm sure there are similar ways of doing the same tasks using a windows based computer. Feel free to share those in the comment section below.)
To begin with it is important to think about this process at the level of the collection you will create and not at the level of the item. Going back to the filing cabinet idea, it would be better to have 50 folders with different subject categories then to have one or two that act more of a catch all. Your goal should be to crate folders that will catch a maximum of 30 items. With some of these systems you will be able to tag your items with multiple subject categories. When you use a consistent vocabulary for tagging future recall will be a breeze.
First Things First:
The first thing you will need to know is how to find the unique URL of aggregated posts. On Twitter and Facebook this is done the same exact way. Simply click on the time code of the post you are reading.
The image below was taken directly from my news feed on Facebook.
This works the exact same way on Twitter. Simply click the time code in your Twitter Feed and the Tweet will open as it's own webpage. (See example below)
Saving For Off-Line Use:
Once you have the posts open as it's own webpage you can simply save it to your hard drive for future viewing. I do this in two different ways. First: You can save the page in a Web Archive format by clicking Command+S. When you reopen a file in this format it will look exactly like the original website including clickable links. Keep in mind that the page is being viewed from your hard drive and not from the web which might cause some problems for imbedded links. Another option I use is Command+P, which opens the print window. From here I click on 'save as PDF' (see example below). I'll save pages as PDFs when I want to add annotations to them for future reference, such as highlighting or adding notes. This is especially nice when reading longer articles.
You can save web based e-mails in a similar way. In Gmail you will find the print icon just to the right of the e-mail title. Simply click this icon but instead of printing the page save it as a PDF, as in the above example. Many news websites will also have a "printer friendly" version of their articles. This will allow you to save the content as a PDF without all the advertisements surrounding the article. Just look for the print icon and when the print window opens click "save as PDF".
Now that the files are saved on your hard drive you will need to figure out a system for retrieval. Typically I will create a master folder containing multiple folders within it. Here is where you will need to be creative with your subject categories. These folders will need to be named something broad enough to catch multiple pages you are wanting to save but narrow enough to be unique. Of course you can always rename folders so don't feel stuck if you cannot think of good folder names right away. I'm working on a project right now about QR Codes. Anytime a blog comes through my RSS aggregator I'll save it in the folder I've titled QR Codes.
Cloud Based Filing: Delicious and Instapaper
I call these Cloud Based Filing because you will be able to get access to these files from any computer that is connected to the web. Both of these sites will require you to register an account.
Both Delicious and Instapaper will allow you to archive webpages for future viewing. Both of these websites have shortcut links you can embed into your browser that will let you save websites directly from the page you are currently on, no need to navigate away from what you are currently reading.
Delicious will ask you to 'tag' the item before it is saved. You can think about tags in the same way as folders. As stated above think about your tags on the level of your collection. For example "classic films" would be a better tag then "Casablanca" unless you have a ton of pages about Casablanca. Think about words that will have the potential to group together a maximum of about 30 pages.
Instapaper uses folders to group your saved pages. The difference here is that with Instapaper you will need to go back in and create your folders after you save the page. This adds an extra step. You will want to play around with both websites and choose which interface you like best and which has the most favorable features.
As a privacy reminder, keep in mind that you might be saving Facebook status updates or Tweets that your friends have posted. Resist the urge to post these items in a blog or on a slide presentation without their permission.
Using these tips and manipulating them to fit your online habits can help save you time in the future when you are trying to recall what someone previously posted or a relevant blog for future reading. I'm not advocating for the archiving of your entire newsfeed, but instead showing ways to assist with information recall in the future.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Digital Collections As Library Outreach
Last week I gave two presentations on using technology in academic libraries. One was about ways to adopt a social media campaign and the other was about ways of integrating augmented reality with our digital collections. Both of these topics were fascinating to research in their own respect, however the lesson I took away is that technology is forever changing and libraries will always need to find ways to keep up with the current trends. The library that is focused on using technology will need to spend the time learning how the technology is being used and how to adapt it into the library setting.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about the relationship between the library, the technology and the patron. While it is fun to engage with technology and to think about how to employ it in the library setting perhaps the most rewarding aspect is the fact that it allows us endless opportunities to reach out to our students.
Beginning a social media campaign, for example, will not only give us the opportunity to learn how to use platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and so on, but it will allow us to think of ways to teach students how to best use these resources themselves. Despite what the latest Pew report says, I’m sure there are students who enter our library wishing they knew more about how to use social media. Perhaps a 30-minute workshop offered once a month will help those students use those resources. Or maybe there are students who are concerned with safety and privacy on social media. A library that uses social media for outreach will only benefit from hosting a social media privacy seminar once a semester. This will help with the library’s transparency by showing their students that they are concerned with privacy issues.
I do not mean to pick only on social media here. While I know many academic libraries offers hundreds of hours of instruction a year there is still a certain amount of information on our websites we expect our students to simply stumble upon. Every time one of these tools is added to our digital collection it allows us the opportunity to teach our students how to use them. We could even ask the students which tools they would like to learn.
I love learning about new informational technology, yet I enjoy the idea of teaching others how to use these tools even more. By thinking about our digital collections as possible ways to reach out to students we are creating opportunities for students to feel more connected to their library and perhaps in the long run creating an environment where students will feel more engaged and more comfortable using the tools in the digital collections.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Digital Handout Form My Presentation on Social Media
Adopting Social Media in an Academic Library:
Especially for Outreach and Accessibility Purposes
By: Philip Whitford
Articles & Reports:
Farkas, Meredith. “Going Where Patrons Are: Outreach in MySpace and Facebook.” American Libraries 38, no. 4 (April 2007): 27. Accessed Online From Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts.
Pew Internet & American Life Project. “Social Networking Sites and Our Lives.” Pew Research Center. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks.aspx (Accessed August 3, 2011).
Wellman, Barry et al. “The Social Affordances of the Internet for Networked Individualism,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 8, no. 3 (April 2003), under “Netville,” http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/wellman.html (Accessed August 2, 2011).
Sachs, Dianna E. et al., “Striking a Balance: Effective Use of Facebook in an Academic Library.” Internet Reference Services Quarterly 16, no. 1-2 (June 2011): 35-54. Accessed Online From Taylor & Francis Online.
Schrier, Robert A. “Digital Librarianship & Social Media: The Digital Library as Conversation Facilitator.” D-Lib Magazine 17, no. 7-8 (July 2011). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july11/schrier/07schrier.print.html (Accessed August 3, 2011).
Resources For Creating a Social Media Policy:
Kooy, Brian K. and Sarah K. Steiner. "Protection, Not Barriers: Using Social Software Policies to Guide and Safeguard Students and Employees." Reference & User Services Quarterly 50, no. 1 (Fall 2010): 59-71. Accessed Online From Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts.
Social Networking Sites (SNS):
Tools:
Google+:
Blogs To Follow:
David Lee King - David Lee King
iLibrarian - Ellyssa Kroski
Information Wants To Be Free - Meredith Farkas
Librarian In Black - Sarah Houghton-Jan
Tame The Web - Michael Stephens
The Ubiquitous Librarian - Brian Mathews
Monday, June 20, 2011
How is Netflix Changing the Way We View Film?
This past month I have been thinking a lot about the kinds of content and resources I am being exposed to. When it comes to media today I am becoming increasingly convinced that popular culture in America is moving further and further away from promoting an intellectual life and instead focusing on what is easy and convenient. I find this very problematic.
To explore this idea I looked at Netflix’s movie streaming service. A couple years ago I was given a Netflix account as a gift. I found their distribution service to be fast and they had a great selection of films. At that point their business model was to offer three different options that allowed their customer’s to have 1 – 3 discs in process. With the 1 or 2 disc options the most movies a customer could watch was 2 or 3 movies a week while with 3 discs a customer could view 5 or 6. Either way the customer could choose between newly released blockbusters, classic films and even art house films and no matter the title there was little difference about the amount of time it took to receive the film in the mail.
Today Netflix has completely changed their business model from mail-focused distribution to online streaming. Their subscription options begin with a streaming-only option and then for $2 more you can add the mail service. The problem with this is that Netflix does not offer many high quality films to stream. They offer a handful of decent films and then supplement that collection with films of a lesser quality.
As a quick disclaimer I will acknowledge the fact that Netflix is not always responsible for the movies they are allowed to stream. I’m sure Netflix wants to offer all of their titles for instant streaming and that it is the studios who are getting in the way. Eventually all of the details and negations for allowing a movie to get viewed through a subscription based service will get worked out but until then I cannot fault Netflix for not streaming more movies. However, my problem with Netflix lies in the fact that they promote themselves now as a comprehensive movie streaming service, which they are far from.
To not come across as a complete film snob, I chose to evaluate their streaming collection against the top 250 films according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). I chose to use this list as it is compiled through user rankings and it also contains films from many different genres and time periods. Of these 250 films only 65 of them can be streamed. This means that only 26% of the films can be streamed. Of the top 100 only 22 can be streamed and of the top 25 only 4. Honestly, these numbers are higher then what I originally thought I would find.
Looking closer at the films that can be streamed I found some interesting trends. First, I found that Netflix only streams the theatrical release for Fellowship of the Ring. While I have not seen this film yet I have seen that most people who own this movie own the Extended Edition, which you cannot stream. Second, five of the films, Fellowship of the Ring, Toy Story 3, Aliens, Die Hard and Terminator, are films where only part of the franchise can be streamed. This is especially problematic for Toy Story 3 and Aliens where the prequels cannot be streamed. Finally, the films Seven Samurai, M, The Third Man, Rashomon, Yojimbo, Wild Strawberries, Ikiru, Diabolique, 8 ½, The Battle of Algiers, The 400 Blows, The Killing, The Passion of Joan of Arc and Fanny and Alexander are all films that are (or soon will be) licensed through The Criterion Collection which seems to be one of the larger supporters of streaming film. These films make up 20% of the list of 65 mentioned above. What all of this data tells me is that only a small percentage of films that people consider high quality are available to be streamed.
Another aspect to keep in mind is that Netflix streams the films only. For the most part the features included on a DVD are not really all that great but some features and commentaries add a lot of interesting information about film and film history that cannot be accessed elsewhere. Once again I imagine this has to do more with influences outside of Netflix who are trying to keep a separation between the DVD experience and the streaming experience.
So what does this all mean? My concern is that Netflix no longer cares about the quality of the films they stream, which seems like a total change in their business plan. By promoting themselves as a streaming service first and mail service second they are decreasing the number of quality films available to their customers. Not every film on the IMDb list is for everyone and I do believe that part of watching some movies should be escapism, but it is problematic if the movies we now get to choose from do not stimulate our intellectual side.
It seems to be a new trend in American business to gravitate only to the business practices that allow for quick money to be made. Netflix is at an advantage here because their brand is already a household name. Through Netflix’s streaming service we are only being exposed to a low number of quality films while being over exposed to poorly made cinema. We cannot allow this to be what we expect as normal because it will lead to decreased standards.
I’m not calling for a boycott against Netflix. Instead, I just want to kindly remind everyone to explore quality films. Netflix is making it easy to forget about the process of critically examining films. Do not settle for what is conveniently placed in front of you but instead take the time to explore films. There are many great films that are not available to stream on Netflix. Be sure to look into those films as well.
[This study was done during the middle of June. Both the IMDb list and the films Netflix streams are constantly changing. It is possible that the numbers would look a bit different if this study was repeated at a later date.]
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
My Overly Ambitious Summer Reading Plan
- American Jesus
- Freethinkers
- Everyware
- Scott Pilgrim
- The Wordy Shipmates
- Unfamiliar Fishes
I’ll be writing reviews for some of these books on my LibraryThing page and will also dialogue with them here on this blog.
Feel free to leave a comment if you have read any of these or if you want to leave a list of your own.
Big Data: A Quick Introduction
On June 23rd 2009 at 11:44am, according to iTunes, I was listening to the Decemberists’ album The Hazards of Love. What were you doing on that day?
As everyday tasks are merging with computing technology a sort of “digital residue” is left behind. Through the help of social network sites (SNS) and other forms of Web 2.0, we are quickly becoming a self-documenting society. So what do we do with this digital residue?
The iTunes example used above will help to give a simple definition for both Big Data and ubiquitous computing (ubicomp). These are terms that those using SNSs or a Smartphone should be aware of. Before I go further I must disclose that a) I am not a tech person but instead am more interested in how people engage with information and data and b) do not see these terms as threats to your personal security (but more on that later).
So what exactly is Big Data? The main task of iTunes is to play digital music but what happens in the process is that the music file gets time stamped, placed into a timeline and receives a play count. As this process continues over time you, as well as the iTunes program, can better understand your relationship with your music. You can know what songs you listen to the most, what songs you have not listened to in a while and what songs you have never listened to. This is vastly different then the way we used to listen to music on CD players. Not only are we able to carry our entire music collection around on a small portable device but also we are able to carry our entire music history as well.
An understanding of Big Data takes this process a step further by looking at the larger picture, that being that millions of people are generating this kind of data. Software can then be written to help make sense of the data. The basic assumption here is that meaning can be extracted from the patterns that are found in the data. However, as far as I know, iTunes does not publish your data so this works best as an example of self-generating data.
Big Data becomes even more interesting when computing gets moved online. With smartphones and GPS enabled devices the movement from offline to online is often blurred. Smartphone applications (apps) are used for specific tasks but as you do the task data is generated. For instance you may use an app like Runkeeper to keep track of fitness routines like running or biking. After a run you can analyze the data and know where you went, how far you went and how long it took you to finish the run. If you perform the same run again the next day you can then compare the two runs. These are the basic functions of the app. However, because all of this data is stored on Runkeeper’s servers you potentially have the ability to find people in your neighborhood who have similar data. The benefit here is that people could meet up who are trying to achieve similar goals and running similar distances at a similar pace. This data can also be moved to a much larger scale as city planners can look at it and determine where people prefer to run and perhaps even try to evaluate why people are not running in a certain area.
The question that I am sure is lurking in your minds now concerns personal safety and privacy. Do we want people knowing where and when we are running? Amber Case, the developer of the appGeoloqi (which I highly recommend), stated that this sort of computing is helping humans become more human. Big Data and ubicomp is pushing us towards a more highly connected society and also helping us better understand ourselves. It is making data that has always existed more visible.
This post just barely begins to expose the much larger picture of Big Data and ubicomp. My goal here is to present a basic understanding of a concept that I will come back to often. It will be interesting to see how computing changes as more and more of this data becomes machine readable. One aspect that is already in the media concerns who will end up being able to access this data and what that means for personal privacy. Amber Case helps explain this by comparing it to buying food at the supermarket. Club card savings at supermarkets require customers to enter their unique ID# or a phone number to receive discounts. Maybe people are concerned about leaving this information with the store because of what the store will do with their info. However, these stores really do not care what the individual person is buying but are concerned with the much larger picture by finding patterns in the way people shop.
Still, the data you you are creating, either consciously or not, should be yours to control. Al Franken is currently taking on some of the larger tech businesses that are creating ways to get at all of this data. I agree that you should be able to control what you broadcast and what gets collected and what does not. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the end. Computing as you now know it will be changing drastically in the next couple of years. The most savvy users will be those who are aware of the changes and are able to take full advantage of them. Many of my future posts will give glimpses of how the Internet will be used in the future.
New Blog, New Name
I was playing around with a new blog on Wordpress for a bit but found their interface to be awful so I'm back to Blogger! I'm renaming the blog but keeping the address so my previous postings will all be kept together. If you missed my introduction to my Wordpress blog here it is! I promises this will be the last move. I'll be here to stay for a while and plan to update regularly so you will be safe to add this blog to your RSS feed.
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I will be developing this blog around the understanding of the “self”. My posts will be explorations of what it means to be human in the created world we now find ourselves in. I believe that there are three “selves” we can explore: the physical, the spiritual and the digital.
Posts will discuss topics from popular culture to religion to social networks. My hope is that they will be written in a way that encourages both engagement and dialogue. If ever there is a topic you wish I would address please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Have New Technologies Helped Us Learn More About Ourselves?
As I was walking to the bus stop today I began thinking about all the ways recent technologies have impacted my peripheral knowledge. Simply by making media digital we now have access to a huge amount of information. I remember when I got my first iPod 6 years ago. I was blown away by the fact that I no longer needed to carry CDs around with me. Now in one device I could carry around my entire music collection. This new technology brought stress as I no longer only had 10 albums to pick from but instead could pick from thousands. Today this is no longer a problem because I have found ways to adapt to what these new technologies have made available.
In the above paragraph I used the term ‘peripheral knowledge’ and I must explain what I mean. 15 years ago, before music went completely digital I had a rack of CDs that would sit in my room next to my stereo. These albums did not do anything unless I applied some sort of force to them (i.e. picked one up, took out the CD and placed it in the CD player). Today all of our albums are now on our computer and are constantly interacting with each other and telling me about my listening habits. For example I can create a list in iTunes that consists of songs I have listened to 7 times. Never before was this possible unless you kept a post-it note on your CDs and checked it each time you listened to an album. iTunes can also tell me if there are songs I have not yet listened to. iTunes can also tell me when the last time I listened to an album was by telling me the exact date and time I last listened to it.
Now you might be wondering who cares but there is a lot of significance in being about to track this information. If we were to move our iTunes account onto a cloud network and let our accounts interact with other people’s accounts we could ultimately use that information to find people who have similar listening styles. We could also use that information to find music we may never have listened to before. As technology progresses this information will become more and more precise.
Netflix already uses this technology to help me find movies they think I would want to watch. By tracking my movie watching practices Netflix can match me up with the practices of other users and make suggestions based on these results and often times it is very accurate.
If you think about this another way we already do this with the social groups we interact with. How many of us have ever looked someone up on Facebook after meeting them for the first time? Our Facebook profiles are huge resources of information just waiting to be accessed. The amount of surveillance possible on Facebook is incredible. If I am invited to a party through an invite on Facebook I can determine if I want to attend based on whom else will be there. If there is someone on the list I do not know I can look at there profile and figure out what they are into and consider, before even meeting them, if they are someone I would want to talk to. Considering if this is productive social behavior will need to wait for another post.
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