This isn’t new, but it’s mad interesting (and I’m slow sometimes):
If you like it, try watching his other videos too, they’re all worthwhile.
Category: socialweb
I’ve reached the point, hurrah, where I get to start applying for jobs. And not just jobs, either. I get to start applying for careers; specifically, to begin my career. This is a magnificent thing, and I’m truly incapable of expressing just how exciting I find it. It’s like getting a baby elephant for your birthday. What, that’s never happened to you? Well, just imagine then. It’s got large, velvety Dumbo ears, a cute, short tri-foliated tail, three little spots that look like toenails on each foot, and a long, mischievous trunk that it uses to steal peanuts; also, it wants you to work from nine-to-five, teach people how to organize and use information effectively, and it has a nice benefits package.
It’s amazing.
I attended the Web 2.you conference today out at McGill, and while I’ll provide a write-up for it in full soon, one of the presentations got me thinking about the job application thing. Alright, so I was thinking about it beforehand, but it strengthened my need to have these thoughts. The presentation was on blogging: how to blog, why to blog, and to whom to blog.
Now, I’ve been blogging for a long time, so if blogging is something that libraries should start doing, I think that puts me in pretty good shape. On the other hand, I’ve been blogging for a long time and I’m applying for jobs and I have the easiest name in the world to google. It’s not that I’m ashamed of my blog. On the contrary, I have very strong feelings about this, my home on the interwebs, and my right to feel comfortable here. And besides, I don’t post anything objectionable, really. Maybe the occasional F-bomb. Plenty of things off-topic (whatever my “on” topic may be). Some personal stuff, some poetry, and lately, some music. I don’t know, I think that all these things, when put together, make me out to be a pretty well-rounded person. My problem is, what if someone I really want to work for googles me, comes here, and sees my post on say, The Mighty Boosh, and decides that because I find Old Gregg hilarious I’m obviously a poor candidate for their nifty if very serious position as Librarian X? Maybe they’re turned off by my usually pretty personal poetry, my aptitude for alliteration, or just the frivolity of this whole affair in general. Bam, nifty job gone. I wouldn’t even get to experience the dubious pleasure of being dooced.
I presented my dilemma at the end of the talk. Most of the people there were professionals, already working, so might have similar if not exactly the same problem. They could get dooced, but mostly I don’t think employers google their employees names on a regular basis all that often. And if they do, well, something has to come up to warrant the justification of firing a person, the pain of going through a rehiring process, and the risk that the new person may blog too. I’m not worried about getting fired for having a personal website that put poems and songs and stuff on; I feel justified in worrying that it could affect my being hired, though.
So what’s the solution? I’m not sure. I guess I could relax under the assumption that all librarians are amazing people and will really get a kick out of Old Gregg. Relaxing and assuming the best seems like a passive approach, though, and I don’t know if I want to put all my trust in it. At the same time, I don’t want to go through and turn select posts into “private” posts because, as I said before, I really do believe in the idea of a home on the web and of being comfortable in that home. Sure, I know anyone can come into my home, take a nap on the couch, raid the fridge, and pet my cat. I can invite them in, true, though I can’t keep them out, but I don’t want to, so I’m okay with that. They can’t move my furniture and there’s nothing worth stealing. The only bad thing they can do is come in and judge me; maybe I’ve hung the wrong art on the wall, or my living room isn’t feng shui, or my couch is too lumpy or my DVD collection sucks. I like my stuff. My home is for me, primarily, though other people can come in anytime and part of me hopes they think my art is cool and my couch is comfortable. The only time it matters if they don’t is if they can hire me, and they choose not to because the fact that I own and enjoy Sin City makes me a horrible person. I don’t feel like they should come into my home and judge me, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast, really.
So what to do? I feel hiding posts is a form of self-censorship, and I hate that idea. At the same time, are my ideologies worth not getting a job that I would really love and be amazing at? I’d like to trust in the better nature of an employer, and think that if they really find my blog that objectionable then maybe I’d rather not work for them anyway, but being a poor, way-in-debt soon-to-be librarian doesn’t really put me in a strong bargaining position in the first place (despite my amazing skills), and to be honest I’m not going to turn down a job on the moral standpoint that they don’t like my blog. That would just be silly of me. They have every right to not like my blog. Really.
So long as they hire me.
Everytime I blink it seems like Google takes over one more small part of the world. Maybe next weekend they’ll learn French?
Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
Sound familiar? Yeah, Google is out to kill Wikipedia. Kill ’em dead.
(via Steve)
My friend Yuri lives in Bellingham, WA, and is in a band called the Planets. They used to be the Jetsons, but I imagine that certain copyright issues were discussed, and a name change ensued. But hey, the Planets is good. I like ’em.
So there’s a bit of a competition going on right now for new bands to try and get a demo gig with Virgin Records, and to get their song on the next Burnout soundtrack. 
And you guessed it, the Planets have a song entered. Personally, I think it’s awesome. You should too. But more importantly, you should click on over here to the MySpace Burnout Bandslam Contest Page, click to “Listen and Rank” the U.S. Gallery, and find the Planets submission, which looks like this:
You don’t have to do it for me. But you should do it because their song is actually really great.
On the evening of July 27th, the Deleting Online Predators Act passed in the House with 410-15-7; otherwise known as a ridiculously gigantic margin. The bill, which is incredibly vague, threatens once again federal internet subsidies for schools and libraries unless they take measures to block social networking sites and chatrooms. The goal is to block children, specifically; adults should still be able to ask permission to access the sites.
How many times are we going to try and put walls around the internet? How long will it take us to realize that our kids are smarter than we are and that the only way to really protect them is to be there, paying attention to their lives, and getting involved.
Though advocates for the bill constantly mentioned MySpace, the bill is broad enough that any site that allows "communication among users" could be blocked. In the Web2.0 world, this could mean pretty much every site out there, before too long. Blogs, forums, chat, IM, Skype, Amazon, Ebay, Livejournal, and online games are all at risk. Why not just outlaw the internet for anyone under 18 years of age, or better yet, 21, and see how much we've shot ourselves in the foot when, in less than a generation, we don't have any web innovators anymore.
From Library Journal:
"This unnecessary and overly broad legislation will hinder students' ability to engage in distance learning and block library computer users from accessing a wide array of essential Internet applications including instant messaging, email, wikis and blogs," said ALA president Leslie Burger. "Under DOPA, people who use library and school computers as their primary conduits to the Internet will be unfairly blocked from accessing some of the web's most powerful emerging technologies and learning applications. As libraries are already required to block content that is "harmful to minors" under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), DOPA is redundant and unnecessary legislation."
DOPA is in the senate now, and it needs to be stopped. Please make your voice heard on this one, or else it's another Patriot Act in the making.
ZDNet has a great rundown on DOPA if you want the background skinny.
(via geekaresexy)
Categories
Cuddle Party
Cuddle Party is pretty much what it sounds like: a platonic snuggle-fest. It may be the coolest idea ever conceived. Aside from the downright neatness of it all, their website is pretty entertaining as well. I would say more, but really, I think cuddling sells itself.
(via pcmag)
Most of us who use MySpace have something of a love/hate relationship with it. Let's be honest, I find it damn useful. Whether for tracking down friends, keeping up to date, or sending annoying bulletins (about important events, NOT pointless surveys), it's pretty handy. Oh yeah, and for pretending you're an internet sleuth, aka being a total voyeur. On the other hand, the code is complete shit, the whorebots are annoying as hell, and as soon as people start using MySpace they seem to lose about 30 IQ points.
Still, one thing I like about MySpace is the music scene, and that makes sense because that's how MySpace got its start. If I hear a random band, I can find out who it is, and then chances are I can find it on MySpace and listen to a few songs. Sure, some bands have websites; some of those websites have streaming audio; some even have videos. But MySpace is a one-stop shop, and you don't have to click through quite as many splash pages with annoying if artsy flash designs to get to the music. Plus, MySpace just restructured the music search engine, making it a bit easier to find the stuff you're looking for.
That said, here are a few bands I've discovered through MySpace.
The Jetsons proclaim themselves as "retro dance rock from the future", which is probably pretty accurate. Their tunes are jangly, annoyingly catchy, and instrumentally tight. Jules Jetson also has one of the best singing voices, ever, at least for this kind of music though I could see her doing well pretty much anywhere. I should probably mention that in a complicated fashion I'm sort of related to Jake Jetson, and that we used to play Magic together a lot back in '98. Aside from that, though, the music is great, and I'm really excited that they seem to be getting noticed and really going places with their music. If you like them, be sure to swing over to their NME music page and drop them a vote.
June Madrona is a local Olympia band that focus mostly on folky instrumentation and heart-wrenching ballads, i.e. very pretty songs. They're signed with Bicycle Records, a local indie label on the rise, and have one album available to purchase with a second one on the way, eventually. Ross Cowman, who does guitar and vocals for June Madrona, has a solo album available as well, which is certainly worth checking out. I ordered both albums from the Bicycle website and was surprised when Ross knocked on my door and delivered them personally (since he had been riding by on his bike), and then we ended up hanging out and chatting for a couple hours. They play live a lot, so if you enjoy their music, it's easy to catch a show.
Changing gears a bit, Bitter:Sweet is a poppy trip-hop group that sounds like it should have done the soundtrack for the No One Lives Forever line of video games. They're already popular, and not local, so I don't feel as much like I might be turning you on to a "hidden gem", but they still sound absolutely fantastic, and if you like trip-hop (and even if you think you don't), you should definately check them out.
Zofka is also described as sounding "futuristic and retro at the same time". Is there a specific genre for this sort of thing? Neo-retro? If not, perhaps there should be, because it seems to be music that I enjoy. In any case, they sent me a friend request out of the blue the other day, and I've been enjoying their sound. Sometimes it's nice when bands can find you; another MySpace perk.
Last but not least, I heard a band called Smoke City whilst perusing a surf/board shop in Friday Harbor this last weekend, and I had to ask the salesdude who was playing. The song playing was probably their most popular at the moment, Underwater Love, and I made sure to remember the band's name for the rest of the weekend until I got home and could check them out. Underwater Love really enchants me, and the rest of their music is top-notch as well. I've only recently realized that I'm a fan of trip-hop, and now find I may be a fan of nu-jazz as well. Having expansive musical taste is exhausting.
But I couldn't live without it.
Robin for Yahoo! Tech writes about MySpace accountability, particularly when it comes to youth using MySpace to plan and engage in less-than-healthy activities. But how much should MySpace be accountable for what its users are doing, even when they’re young?
When she went to her daughter’s page the headline on her last entry seared through her. It said, “Priceless: Joyriding with Your Friend at 3AM”. Dana says after reading her daughter’s entries she realized she knew nothing about this place where her daughter could freely “promote her indulgences, had no accountability and just be cool”.
I can’t help but feel that if kids were not using MySpace to plan their dangerous indulgences, they’d be doing the same thing somewhere else. Just ten years ago, keeping your kid off the telephone was the way to keep them out of trouble, and if they made plans over the phone to go joyriding later, well, no one would have tried to make the phone company accountable for what happened. Now pretty much every teen has a cell phone and it’s easier than ever to make plans and coordinate mischief without even stopping by at home to check your messages. Still, while parents may try to limit or monitor their kid’s phone usage, they don’t point their fingers at Cingular or Verizon or Virgin if their kid uses their phone to plan some rabble-rousing.
But back to computers. If MySpace weren’t an issue, you’d have instant messenger services like AIM where kids could coordinate, and more and more we’re going to see video-conversations propagating, which may or may not be a hit with image-conscious teens. The point is that teens are social, and they’re going to talk to their friends one way or another, and what they plan to do with their friends is much more dependant on what kind of kid they are than on what medium they are using to make those plans. Sure, their may be a certain amount of peer pressure involved, a certain adrenalin and ego-boosting that go along with being able to post pictures and accounts of your exploits for all your friends to see. But MySpace isn’t offering these kids the wine, it’s just out there growing the grapes.
So, the issue, I think, is simply that parents don’t understand MySpace. And this has always been an issue in parenting: kids are always technologically two steps ahead of their parents. In the end it all comes down to active parenting, which means being involved in your kid’s life and knowing what they’re up to, showing an interest in their hobbies and ideas. Sure, teens don’t want their parents to be interested in their lives, but they don’t get to decide. After all, the difference between being a parent and having a kid is in how much responsibility you take in raising them.
In the meantime, MySpace has made some conciliatory efforts to make their site safer for teens.
Imbee is a social networking site designed specifically for children aged 8-14. Along with allowing youth to chat with their friends, they can also blog, share photos, and earn points which can be redeemed for prizes and rewards.
The Internet is a powerful and essential part of our society. While it contains potential dangers, it is also a valuable and indispensable tool. imbee kids will learn real world skills, such as reading, writing, problem solving, and social interaction through an interactive and challenging environment. But, most importantly, imbee is fun! Kids will meet their classmates and neighborhood kids online, to do what the big kids do, but at their own pace and in a safe and forgiving environment.
Imbee is a product of Industrious Kid, Inc, a company that just opened in March of 2006 with the mission to develop “kid-friendly and parent-approved online products and destinations for kids and tweens, allowing them to gain positive experiences with the Internet in a safe environment.” Imbee is their first product and only one to date, but it sounds like they have plans to offer many more.
Obviously, the solution of offering an alternative “safe internet” is preferable to censoring the internet we have, and I like the fact that parents have to be involved with the process, and can see what their kids are up to. But kids need to learn how to deal with the real world too, and sheltering them from every little thing now means they’ll just be that much more disillusioned and/or vulnerable later. If parents are going to be involved, why don’t they get involved with the social networking sites already out there? If they explain to kids the dangers of the internet, and tell them to be careful of creepy stalkers and dangerous situations, wouldn’t that work as well?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m well aware that the “adult” internet isn’t perfect, pretty, or fully-clothed most of the time, but that’s nothing that a little active parenting couldn’t fix.
Robin over at Yahoo! Tech has an interesting round-up on social networking sites, and the new sites that have popped up to monitor them. Now, if someone changes their MySpace “relationship status” to single, you can be the first to know. Also, any site named Stalkerati makes me cringe.
Meredith has posted an excellent article on libraries using social networking software. It’s one of my favorite library subjects these days, and she’s really written some great thoughts and included some great links. I’m looking forward to reading her book. I particularly appreciate the distinction she makes between libraries simply being on these networks, and libraries actually using these networks.
A lot of libraries have started building presence in MySpace and Facebook by creating profiles. And I honestly think this is a really good idea though unfortunately most libraries are doing it really badly. When you decide to put up a library profile on MySpace or Facebook, what is your goal? If it’s to look cool or to make students more aware of the library, don’t bother. A profile that offers nothing but a picture of the library, a blog post or two and a cutesy thing about how we won’t shush you just looks cheesy. I think there is a big difference between “being where our patrons are” and “being USEFUL to our patrons where they are.” I think some of the libraries in MySpace and Facebook have put a profile up, but they have not tried to make it useful to their patrons at all. Just putting up a profile does not make the library seem cool, nor does it make the library more visible.
I have seen two ways that libraries have used MySpace and Facebook effectively. The first is to get feedback from students. The second is to create a library portal within MySpace and/or Facebook (or whatever social networking software inevitably will come next).
Being on MySpace as an end to itself is pointless. Using MySpace as an information or communication gateway to connect with your patronage in a place where they already are and are comfortable is, for me, the entire idea behind library 2.0. She includes some links to libraries and library systems who are using MySpace in practical and active ways. You should definately go check them out.
If you’re interested at all in online social networking (well beyond MySpace), you should check out this extensive bibliography of articles and links published by WWWtools. Aside from the more common and well-known applications such as MySpace and Facebook, you’ll find links to social networking sites with a more educational bent, as well as links to interesting articles on the past, present, and future of online social networking applications.
The Net’s New Age. Business Week has an interesting if fairly general article on some of the big “Web 2.0″ products in the works from the major companies.
The implications reach far beyond the Net. The new Web is changing the business model for media and communications companies. Traditional players in these markets have built their businesses on a foundation of brand and content, forming a customer base and marketplace. In the Web 2.0 era, they’ll aim to cultivate a community of users on the Web, according to Troy Young, executive vice-president and chief “experience architect” at Organic, an online advertising and consulting firm.
Personally, I’m going to get annoyed if every single website I go to wants me to be part of its “community”, interact with it on a personal basis, and create a profile so it can pander to my tastes. Having the content and tools is great, certainly, so long as function maintains dominance over form, and pages don’t get interactive when they don’t need to be.
43 Things is social networking in a self-help sort of way. You create a list of 43 things you’d like to accomplish. Simple enough. The neat part is the tagcloud of goals on the front page, allowing you to see the aspirations of people worldwide. If you’re feeling helpful, you can find someone who has a goal that you’ve successfully accomplished, and offer them advice. If you like the concept, check out some of the other things the folks at The Robot Co-op are up to.
Freevlog has a great tutorial for setting up your own vlog (video blog). You too can have your antics pasted all over the internet for the world to see! The world trembles with anticipation, I’m sure. Still, it’s a great tutorial and you should check it out.
“If you’re not on myspace, you don’t exist.” By now, everyone’s heard of MySpace. So what are some of the secrets behind its success, and what can we take from it? How about ultra-fast release cycles?
Skyler’s comment about how myspace keeps changing and growing organically, almost every day, is a passionate user’s view of what the developer’s call quick release cycles. Where software developers are typically on release cycles of 6 months to a year, the Threadless guys said that even two weeks was a little long. In fact, virtually all of the web 2.0-ish folks at the conference mentioned these quick release cycles as crucial.
Work is now over and it is time to go dancing tra la la.
I am hoarding links and hiding them in my del.icio.us.
If you look, you might like some of them.
Ta ta!
Perhaps I’ll watch that show. After the city has turned its lights off and the pre-midnight rainbow has become a sea of flashing yellow down State street, I’ll huddle quietly and try to dissolve the mystery surrounding musical and television pop culture. Reality TV? Maybe, but you know it can only be real when people don’t know they’re being filmed, and some of these people are really, very obviously, aware of the cameras. I’ll watch it though not on TV and I won’t vote, but part of me is curious about this pervasive pop phenomenon. It’s interesting, but I can’t get past a skeptical detachment (nor do I want to). Some people spend more time communicating with this show, about this show, than they do with their children, their spouses, their books or their dreams.
Once, when we were all in black and white, television seemed so wholesome. It was a reasonable extension from the family sitting around the radio, listening to the Little Orphan Annie show, news radio, or dramatic productions of great (by “great” I mean pulp) mystery stories. Then we had Bewitched, Leave it to Beaver, I Dream of Jeanie, etc etc. The shows were limited and wholesome, the time spent in front of the television set was balanced by time reading, talking about the news, playing chess, checkers, cribbage, bridge, being a family.
[long rant deleted]
Now, huddled in the blackness as my screen flashes lightning and laugh tracks guide me, sometimes I shiver quietly, and wonder how television could have been so subtle in devouring my integrity.
Consider this a link-dump, if you like. I won’t ramble much myself.
I don’t think it’s that people think of the internet as private, neccesarily, but that they just don’t expect it to be used against them. Or perhaps, that it’s so big that they can be just a face in the crowd. But internet privacy issues are becoming bigger and bigger, from getting google searched at the border, to having your Facebook profile checked by university admissions staff to help determine if they should accept your application.
This Times article highlights the issue of search engine anonymity. Though it clearly states that no “private” information was being proferred, doesn’t it feel like that would just be a matter of time?
“These search engines are a very tempting target for government and law enforcement,” Givens said. “Look at the millions of people who use search engines without thinking of the potential to be drawn into a government drag net.”
I’m not a big fan of facebook (I do have an account), but evidently a lot of people are. This story claims facebook has over 6 million active users, and that over 2/3 of them log on daily. And with stats like that, can you blame a college for “keeping an eye” on their students. Yes, and I think you should. It’s easy for college and university administration to forget that students are what keep them in business. So they had a few drinks, in private. So they “threaten” to commmit a crime. On the internet!? Hell, I’ve threatened to do a lot of things on the internet, but you can bet your ass that if someone “disciplined” me for it, I’d bring a lawsuit down on them with an unholy fury. Should students watch what they post? Perhaps. But maybe the administration should try and respect their privacy a bit too, before they scare all the students away. Because then what will they do?
Hit cancel on the login form and you’ll get two paragraphs of this story, which details students rushing a football field and starting something of a “postgame riot”. Campus police were overwhelmed and only managed a couple arrests, but once again facebook came to the rescue, and through posted photos they managed to finger a whole ton of other students. These students were actually breaking the law, so it makes a bit more sense than the previous example. Yet just another story of Student Beware!
This eweek article highlights the story of an Iranian man and resident of Toronto being stopped from entering the US when border guards found out he was a blogger and so googled his name, finding too much evidence that he had been living, without proper documentation, in New York. His blog post about the experience is interesting. It’s from November 24, 2005, so a little old but very relevant to the issue. Sure, it seems obvious in retrospect, but how would you feel if the border guard not only found your blog, but started to interrogate you about each and every post? I know I’d be outraged.
He was ecstatic. My blog made his day, or in this case, his night. He kept reading my posts and asking questions about a lot of them: Why did I go to Iran, what are my feelings about Bush administration, why I separated from my wife, what did I think about Iranian politics, etc.
From this article:
Now that students have grown accustomed to posting every detail of their lives, from the mundane to the torrid, on their profiles, they need to show a little more restraint. On many profiles, discretion takes a back seat to showing off Thursday night’s killer keg stand or commenting on Friday night’s hook up.
Though I totally love this turnaround by some clever students:
At George Washington University, students took it upon themselves to prove that university police were using the Facebook to find and break up parties. They created a “Beer Party” on the Facebook and waited, digital cameras in hand, for police to arrive. When squad cars rolled up, police found students sipping punch and downing cupcakes frosted with the word “beer.”
And facebook isn’t the only “dangerous” public domain. Myspace is, of course, immensely popular, and got these kids in trouble.
Do a Google news search for facebook right now, and you’ll get 332 articles, at a glance most of them about students getting busted by schools for things they’ve posted on their facebook profiles. While you’re there, try searching myspace as well, or livejournal, blog, typepad, friendster, etc etc etc. The social tools available on the internet today are amazing, and they certainly have their uses. But unless federal law steps in with internet privacy laws, expect the people you would least like to see your blog/profile/photos to see them, and act accordingly. Also, don’t forget that myspace and livejournal both have privacy locks you can put on posts so that not just anyone can read them. Until every service offers similar protection, bear in the mind that at its core, the nature of the internet is that it’s public.
Whatever their shortcomings, neither encyclopedia appears to be as error-prone as one might have inferred from Nature, and if Britannica has an edge in accuracy, Wikipedia seems bound to catch up.
In other Wiki news, have you heard about Wikiversity?
The main goal of Wikiversity is not just to impart knowledge but to facilitate learning. The collaborative model of the wiki will be applied to an e-learning framework. This differs significantly from a classic university model, although it does acknowledge the growing acceptance of a social theory of learning in pedagogical and academic practice.
Wikiversity will not prohibit research, though it need not necessarily be a part of every course. In the technical training aspects of its work, its goal is not to discover new things, but to teach things which are already known to new people. At a higher level of education, there will probably have to be some scope for students to do their own research, whether a survey of the literature or of primary research, though this will have to be monitored carefully, and will be dependent on the type of course offered.
Wikiversity does not yet certify student’s mastery. We currently have no way of assuring who is doing the work for a course. We have no way ensuring that every course that would be required for a degree has enough teachers to even attempt it. We attempt to teach the same material many accredited schools do, and to teach the material as well (or better!). But we are not yet an accredited university. There is no guarantee that we will attempt to gain accreditation in the future. It is an open question with diverse opinions within the current community of participants whether accreditation and the ability to award recognized credentials will be useful or effective in the performance of our mission to facilitate free learning. It is already clear that Wikiversity will be a radically different kind of learning platform/environment/resource and its identity and scope will be continually shaped by its students and its practitioners.
Our goal, therefore, is to teach the material to whomever wants to learn it, to the best of our ability and theirs. We set out the materials needed to learn, and set up a framework for collaborative learning and teaching. It is the task of the self selected participants to work towards actual mastery of desired skills sufficient and necessary to pursue personal goals.
And since I don’t remember if I posted this before, it’s a great wiki resource for librarians.
You guessed it, it’s Wiki Wednesday!
Before I said that, I didn’t even know it was an actual phenom.