Facing down Facebook

I had opened an account with Facebook several months ago but had really made no use of it. My original idea had been to look into comment about political issues in Ottawa as they were reflected in the Facebook comments. I found it a bit frustrating to find anything meaningful and didn't look at Facebook again, even though I had the account.
Then I started to receive some e-mail messages with links into Facebook images of relatives and I did look to see photos they had posted.
This time, on returning to Facebook at Betty's instruction, I've looked around a bit more. I need to see how Facebook can be used to rally people around specific issues or common experiences. I am a little concerned that I may spend a fair bit of time to get to the point that I can see how Facebook can actually be useful.
I do have some concern about the privacy aspect of Facebook and I should look at the supplementary material pointed out by Betty to understand the issue better. I was surprised to see that earlier I had posted my birthdate for all to see in my profile. On reflection I'm not sure that is a good idea and I have changed the info that is provided.
I think I will use Facebook in the future, not because I now completely see how I can best use it, but rather because others use it and I expect I have to communicate with them. It's a bit like learning a new language -- it would be simpler for me if everyone just used my language, but if I want to really communicate with the natives, I better learn some of their language.

How delicious

Well I jumped into Delicious as Betty instructed. First I found a wonderful list of salad recipes from the New York Times, but decided that with the cool summer we are having I should not bookmark salads.

What I did bookmark are The New Yorker magazine [http://www.newyorker.com/] and Art & Letters Daily [http://www.aldaily.com/]. These are existing favourites of mine -- particularly the latter, which can prove to be just as significant waster of time as YouTube (if you like reading).

Through Delicious I also discover two previously unknown sites I wanted to bookmark. The first is makeuseof.com [http://www.makeuseof.com/] which has a wide variety of articles on software etc. The second appealed to my love of the slightly weird; it is BoingBoing [http://www.boingboing.net/]. Maybe everyone knows about this site except me.

The tags I connected to the bookmarks included "diversion" and "fun" for BoingBoing, "web2.0" and "tips" for Makeuseof, "culture" for Arts & Letters Daily and the New Yorker.

Yes I will continue to use Delicious. I think it will take a while for me to understand all the possibilities offered by the site.

Predictable Irrationality

Usually we assume that we act rationally and that others will do the same. Most of the time this is a reasonable assumption (maybe it did not apply when I was an adolescent) but perhaps we don't examine our thinking as carefully as we should.


Here is a professor from Duke University who has studied how we make decisions. His conclusion is that often we are not rational but that our strange irrational behaviour can be predicted. In other words, he believes that humans have an irrational side which can be studied.


This is a good example of the kind of thing I like on YouTube.


- Did I enjoy my YouTube experience?

Yes indeed. In fact I find it difficult to tear myself away. Once I find something of interest, other links dealing with related subjects appear. It is a great way to spend time -- but, depending on what you are watching, may be a better investment of time than some other distractions.


- Why do I think streaming has become so popular?

At one time "broadcasting" was the fad. We watched TV, accepting what others chose to show us. Today "narrowcasting" has become possible through technology. It is possible to pursue very specialized interests by selecting a specific subject. No doubt there is an article somewhere on the web about Latvian music for the kazoo. That interest can only be deepened through links to notable Latvian kazoo artists performing in streaming video.

But the streaming aspect is also important. It is not necessary to download and retain the information on your computer. You can experience it and move on (presumably to kazoo celebrities from the Comoros Islands, for example.)



- Will I continue to use YouTube?

I'm not sure that I'm ready to start posting original videos, but no doubt friends will continue to refer me to strange and amusing items on YouTube.

Dipping first toe into blogging

After hearing for months about the phenomenon of social media, it was not a minute too soon when I learned of the Betty Blogger training course.

I am deeply involved in community issues and colleagues keep telling me about the potential offered by social media. They say that this is a highly effective way to reach others, particularly young adults, who have an interest in their community but are not engaged through traditional means, such as meetings or newpapers. I have a reasonable understanding of the utility of the classic website but am at a loss when others talk about engagement through the new social media tools.

This was particularly frustrating when I participated in a recent conference under the title "ChangeCamp". Other participants (almost all of them much younger than I am) were interested in the same issues as am I, but they seemed to be engaged in way that I did not comprehend. In the midst of the meeting, they all seemed to be communicating electronically. While I was involved in one discussion group at a time, they seemed to be simultaneously participating in several.

All this stimulated me to jump at the chance for a friendly introduction to Web 2.0, thanks to the Betty Blogger course.