Quiver & Quill

Originally uploaded by Planet Pixel.

I urge you to read Ross Mayfield , Alex Soojun-Kim and David Perscovitz’s discussion about the death of cyberspace. Which term will replace cyberspace? Ross Mayfield suggests ‘On.’ On implies perpetual connectedness. It’s our culture of immediate mobile, online, digital, portable access to anything from anywhere. Only a few years ago, signing ‘On’ took effort. It now takes effort to sign off. Ross reminds us: “We need to retain Off as a right.”

What is Off? How do you disconnect from the connected society in which you live? I’ll leave you to ponder this with Thoreau’s famous Walden Pond quote:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the
essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and
not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to
live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice
resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out
all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout
all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into
a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why
then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to
the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to
give a true account of it in my next excursion – Henry David Thoreau

As I side note, I checked my email (on my Treo 650) while walking around Walden Pond about week ago. With all due respect Mr. Thoreau, can you hear me now?

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetpixel/50569504/

Share This

When do you to provide your personal information to a web site you’ve just discovered? If your information 1) permits access to special content 2) allows you greater access to the in web community 3) is apart of a transaction.

Certain web sites, like engaging conversationalists, make me feel comfortable sharing personal information immediately; it’s as natural as discussing Thanksgiving dinner with the guy next to me on the plane. Good social networking and online community web sites exemplify this. The more profile information you provide, the richer your online experience. Yet what communities are worth the time investment?

This week I explored the question by trying three new sites. I registered on Gather.com because of blog buzz. I spent twenty minutes copying and pasting my profile from Myspace to Gather; I even uploaded my picture. However, when I was finished, I neither felt like reading anyone else’s posts nor posting my own material. I felt like a teenager faced with countless options yet still bored in a 2006 Geocity site. I’ll check back with them in three months.

A friend recommended me to Chatsum.com, an instant messaging tool that allows users on the same web sites at the same time to chat with one another. Chatsum is still in beta phase. My Chatsum experience emphasizes the importance of relevance in new communication channels. Simply providing chat features for users on the same web site isn’t enough to spark meaningful conversation. I eagerly wait their next phase where contextual profiles may improve the chat experience.

I signed up for Heyletsgo.com because a friend, who had not signed up, forwarded it. I joined immediately and loved it. It requires the least time investment of all these sites and provided the most immediate value. Imagine a City Search without the ads and with local events, a ‘buzz’ indicator to measure their popularity and simple way to organize preferences on an event wish list. I wanted to build a profile to enhance my site experience.

Engaging these new sites this week illustrated the importance of small details in web communities. Sometimes a daily quote, a simple picture, and small anecdote is more important than the grandiose, “cool,” features web communities frequently boast. Online communities can function similarly to traditional communities in this respect. It’s often the waitress who remembers my name at the local dinner, the drycleaner that stays open twenty more minutes for me, and the clothing store clerk who remembers my shirt size that earned my business - and my trust. I’m in favor of small features online that inspire this feel, that make me feel at home, which make me feel welcome. These are the communities in which I seek to invest my time.

What’s your take?

Photo on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atanas/8145124/

Share This

I’m at a Meet Up.com event for Bloggers as I type. I found the free event online and attended without any set expectations. The group consists of several likeminded geeks and bloggers. It’s held at the Harvard Law School and half way through the event, we left the room and joined others at a law school lecture hall. Two Jamaican men are addressing us social justice issues. People to my left and right have their laptops open. They’re blogging too. The event is being published live on the internet, and the whole thing is surreal. An hour ago, I was drinking tea and talking with my girlfriend. Now I’m at Harvard Law School listening to how Jamaicans prisoners found peace and restoration in prison, and I’m encouraged to blog about it!

There are many things that make this surreal. First off, I had no background into this event and just propelled myself into it. Secondly, I have wireless connectivity. As I’m writing, I’m Googling. I’m finding out that the man in front of me is Dr. Ruben “Hurricane” Carter. Ladies and Gentleman, he’s amazing. As I’m reading about him, I’m listening to him. He has the grace and charisma of a Southern preacher and the fire of a righteous lawyer. I think this says a lot about the event that bloggers were invited to record it - as live journalists. It’s quite an evening thanks to a random Google search and Meet Up.com.

Picture on: http://www.graphicwitness.com/carter/

Share This

One way social anthropologists study ancient civilizations is by examining their trash. What will future scholars say about us? Everything’s preserved and searchable. If they want to know when trends began, how they started or proliferated, they will have an immense ability to do so.

With the emergence of consumer generated media – podcasts, video sharing and blogging for example – we not only have a record of macro-trends, we also have millions of personal narratives. More than ever before, we can understand how personal voices shape history. The new tagging and searching technologies use to sort new content, are equally valuable resources for understanding our shared culture and history. I wonder if Google will make money by monetizing the past the same way the do with present online content?

If you haven’t already visited, check out: the way back machine. You’ll have access to over 40MM web pages; it’s the history of the internet online.

Photo by Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaun_morrison/23664600/

Share This

The-decisive-moment

I recently spoke with Hunter, a fifteen year old boarding school student. He described how he uses the internet to find new bands and artists. He’s an avid Myspace user, and equally savvy at finding ways to circumvent his boarding school’s firewall to download music. What I found most fascinating about his online life is how he utilizes the internet to connect with people about a niche interest in graffiti art. Here’s a part of our conversation:

Q&Q: How do you talk to your friends online?
A: Over the net I use AIM, much easier then playing email tag

Q&Q: How many people in your high school use AIM?
A: I would say 99.9%

Q&Q: Are you friends with anyone on AIM that you’re not friends with off aim?
A: Oh ya I have alot of people I talk to on aim regularly I have never met.

Q&Q: How did you meet them?
A: Business.

Q&Q: What kind of business?
A: All sorts, ebay mostly

Q&Q: Do you have an example?
A: This guy on ebay was selling really cool custom hats, and he had an example up on ebay and said “email me for an custom jobs you want me to do for you” so I emailed him asking for one. He was questioning me on what I wanted some how we got side tracked and just started talking about the most random s*** and after that I just stated talking to him regularly. I still AIM the guy every few days to just talk, he was a pretty fascinating guy to he had some stories to tell

Q&Q: Have you spoke with anyone on myspace you don’t know?
A: Yes, I just looked like cool people an I wanted to be their friends because they were into some of the same hobbies or bands. I like Dane Cook. He has a myspace and I have never met him I just love his stuff, so I added him as a friend.

Photo by Flickr: See http://www.flickr.com/photos/trois-tetes/8816344/

Share This

As a celebrity ivy-league playboy and blind Rhodes Scholar, Cyrus Habib’s online experiences are unusual. It’s neither his blindness nor his brilliance that make him an ideal interviewee for the Life Online project, but rather his mastery of instant messenger. Ask anyone about IMing with Cyrus. They will smile and tell you the same thing ‘He’s a trip.’ This usually means one of two things: he’s an outrageous flirt or a complete jerk.

Instant messaging is an essential aspect of Cyrus’ online life. He has instant messaged from his office inside the Senate, signed on from +25 countries, and even at Starbucks from his speech equipped laptop. Cyrus’ computer reads to him. Watching him interact with his laptop gives one a new appreciation for multi-tasking. I spoke with Cyrus, while he listened to his computer read to him at 4X speed and with the stereo blasting and the phone ringing. He didn’t miss a beat. Here are the highlights:

Q&Q: When did you get Instant Messenger?

A: By the end of my freshman year. I needed a more powerful way to procrastinate.

Q&Q: Did AIM change your friendships?

A: I used it whenever I didn’t want to bother with a call; I used it to flirt a lot.

Q&Q: Are you more interested in people over AIM?

A: I find that people tend to be the same online as offline if someone is a jerk offline; they’re probably going to be one online as well. Chat is that quality of casual conversation where the stakes are incredibly low, and yet you are called to perform:

Keep it interesting, light, flirtatious, playful, engaging, and charming. There are also etiquette rule…like, not leaving without telling the other person; or not cutting/pasting what the other person says w/o permission; that’s part of good AIM.

Q&Q: What the best away message you’ve used?

A: During finals, I would often put up that I only want to speak to 4 people, “and you know who you are.” It would make people crazy. I like messages that any person could think is meant for them specifically, but they’re not sure, ya know?

Q&Q: Do you use any AIM jargon?

A: I like to say “brb” when I’m actually going out for dinner

Q&Q: Why not just going out to dinner?

A: Because i don’t want to have to deal with the whole ritual of saying “nice talking with you,” “let’s catch up again soon,” “I’ll be back on later,” etc. In order not to make it awkward, I just say “brb” It’s like slipping out in the dead of night.

Share This

I recently spoke with a true Myspace Casanova. If you were to see his Myspace profile, you’d notice it filled with beautiful women, most of whom he’s never met. His top eight, or the eight spots for close friends in his profile, are reserved for women he’s currently courting online.

Our discussion goes a step beyond online dating; it reveals the new rules of a social life revolving around Myspace.com: a site supporting 45MM members and garnering up to 10% of all online advertising dollars monthly.

Q&Q: How long have you gone without being online this year?
A: 1 week, I was on vacation.

Q&Q: What was coming back online like after a week away?
A: like going home to a dog u haven’t seen for a week, u just want to play with it forever

Q&Q: Did you?
A: I probably spent 4 straight hours online, at least and Myspaced it up

Q&Q: what’s “Myspaced it up” mean?
A: I just read my notes, comments, friend requests, etc. it gets addicting, super addicting. Haha. I met my current gf through myspace.

Q&Q: How?
A: Well, when I was on that same trip, I started talking to this girl. She gave me her Myspace name, about 3 weeks later, her friend her saw a pic of me on her page. She came over for dinner a week later.

Q&Q: Did you talk before she came over?
A: yea, online, then text message, then phone.

Q&Q: Is that your formula?
A: Well, txt and phone can be interchanged at times, just gotta feel it out, but online is non-threatening, same w/ txt, it’s an easy way to get to know someone.

Share This

It wasn’t so long ago that people who dated online, or socialized over instant messenger, were called socially inept. Around late 1999, Friendster and instant messenger found a high school and college presence. However, meeting someone on Friendster was stigmatized, even ‘Googling’ was considered somewhat stalkerish.

Within 3 years, everything changed. Shortly after I graduated college in 2003, literally 2/3 of students at my alma mater were active on Facebook. It quickly became so intertwined into the college social scene that the administration adopted it as a spying tool.

In early 2004, having an online identity wasn’t just necessary for Generation X: it became cool. Club promoters, unapproachable women, guys on my old high school’s football team, teen girls at the mall were all online. The Life Online project asks how this happened.

Share This

Quiver and Quill, Q&Q, interviews a young male college student about his online and text messaging habits. Here are just a few highlights from the interview.

Q&Q: Why do you talk with girls online?
A: It’s easier; I don’t have to worry about voicemails. It’s easier because this one girl from NJ, she knew what I was looking for, so I think it made it easier for her too.

Q&Q: How’d you get their screen name, did you ask when you met?

A: Nah, you shouldn’t ask unless you already have their number.

Q&Q: When you do ask, how do you do it?
A: I ask if they’re ever online.

Q&Q: Who are the last two people you’ve
texted?

A: A Dominican girl from Dorchester and a Puerto Rican from
PR.

Q&Q: Why’d you’d text them?
A: The PR girl is always in class, and she likes getting nice messages and writes back…I think it’s sometimes better to send a text, so you don’t interrupt someone and they can read it see it later.

Q&Q: So sounds like you use text to flirt?
A: Yes, it’s all flirting. I don’t text my guy friends,
they’re like, ‘why didn’t you just call me?

Share This

Yahoo’s Flickr, a photo sharing community, just released a wonderful toy with fascinating implications. Retrievr lets you draw shapes and colors into what looks like an old MS Paint application. It then searches Flickr’s photo database and matches the shapes and colors of your drawing withactual pictures in its database utilizing similar shapes. Check it out!

Share This

I’ve started a project called Life Online. Every week, I’m conducting interviews with different people about how their online lives have an impact on their offline relationships. Whether it’s Generation Y’s addiction to Myspace, or Generation X’s embrace of the Facebook, the 12-24 year old demographic is defined by their online activities. However, what about the seniors, working moms, new immigrants, and the every day people we encounter: do they view their online activities as a choir, or an integral part of their lives? Life Online poses these questions and examines how our relationships have changed and perceptions evolved because of our online interactions.

True to citizen journalist form, I’m using my mobile phone to take pictures of interviewees, or pasting their profile picture from an online community (with their permission). During the first several months of the Life Online project, my scope will be broad to explore many topics. In time, I will select a specific theme and include links to the interview Podcasts. In the meantime, I’ll post excerpts from the interviews on www.quiverandquill.com.

Share This

Reading through the Stranger, an alternative magazine in Seattle, you’ll find unusual classified ads. Every time I’m in Seattle, I turn through the pages with great amusement. I just found an ad for Date My Pet, an online dating community for owners and their pets, or visa versa. It’s worth checking out the site. It highlights everything I love about online communities: meeting people passionate about niches and forming actual bonds with them.

Share This

The Facebook is an online community with 6 million members at 3,000 colleges and universities. Access is restricted to users with an .edu address. Ask any current college student or recent grad about it, and they’ll share how the Facebook is integrated into their online life. As an example of its campus persuasiveness, when college couples break up, they each rush to be the first to change their Facebook profile status from “In a relationship,” to “single.”

Facebook is more integrating into a real community than Myspace; primary because members are sorted on basis of their school; students and campus clubs use it as their primary communication channel. In fact, some colleges are even advertising on the Facebook to reach their own students.

It’s an ideal situation for advertisers, who have behavioral and contextual options. Deliver ads to individual profiles who have demonstrated an interest in the subject matter. Sponsor a room of enthusiast for your product. They just released a new feature worth discussion: campus pulse. This feature is ideal for advertisers and members alike. It aggregates data on each school and reports breaking trends. Want to find out the most popular band at your school? Interested in comparing the music at your school with that of your rival school? Now you can. This is a media buyers dream because it reveals the interests of student bodies of campuses. Here’s a look at Tufts University, my alma mater:

30% more Tufts students listed The OC than Sex and the City.

27% of male students are looking for friendship.

6% of male students are married.

1896 photos have been uploaded at Tufts today.

305 students poked each other today.

1.1% of Tufts reads Catcher in the Rye.

The persuasiveness of the web site in college communities, its integration into the online and offline lives of its members and the way it provides advertisers with a channel to deliver relevant messages makes the Facebook the epitome of how we will live our lives online.

Share This