Living iPODless in an iPOD World

Archives for the Month of October 2005 on Living iPODless in an iPOD World

Amsterdam Digital City -- What would it mean here, today?

I want to dedicate today's post to the wonders of DDS-- the Amsterdam Digital City. I was amazed to learn about it, but even more amazed that I hadn't learned about it. Perhaps this is a matter of my age, but after asking clueless others, I wonder why there hasn't been more publicity of this phenomenon. My first thought ran along the lines of Castells' remark that the city of Amsterdam allowed its internal networks to be linked to the internet, helping to provide a controlled transparency. Such transparency is desired by all in civil society, as we see in the news today. We see Republicans and Democrats alike demanding documents about past activities of the new nominee to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers. The call is not entirely for a justice who will side with certain opinions, nor just a credible nomination, but for our right to some transparency from authority figures.

I was also curious about DDS and its organization as a nonprofit; while the structure was top-down, the ability to express opinions helped DDS to feel democratic. A smaller, non-internet based nonprofit with similar purposes of organization and information might not be expected to be "democratic"; even with volunteers, there are always leaders who determine how members are organized and informed.

A final note: is there room for non-commercial social interaction and internet culture? This notion seems to bring to light the capitalist vs. communist nature of even internet cities. Despite some struggles inherent to communism, I would hesitate to accept a fully commercial ("capitalist") internet civic society. Originally reading about DDS gave me hope for equality in the ability to organize and inform through the internet, regardless of economic status.

My Dad is a N00b

I'm very impressed by network enterprise models for businesses like fashion. Companies like Zara that are able to design, produce, and distribute products based on market responses in two-week periods should be applauded and taken as examples for other businesses. I would be curious to know how the market responds to the inventory. How do buyers provide feedback about products? Companies like eBay provide ways for buyers to give feedback to sellers; although this might not affect inventory in the same way as Zara, they might provide a model for ways that buyers can respond and which buyers actually provide feedback.
I'd also like to add to Castells' argument in The Internet Galaxy regarding the technology of transactions and participation in online stock tracking and trading. Transactions provide for more opportunities to invest online, but not just in other online transactions-- they encourage online exploration and investment in technology. Perhaps I only have one example, but it's firsthand. My father has vowed that he wants to die without ever learning how to use the internet or a computer. He's avoiding the time and energy it takes for an older generation to learn. But when it came to the dotcom boom a few years ago, he was all about learning how to use the internet. As a result, he broke from many of his "backwards" ways to invest in technology for the family. He still doesn't use the internet regularly, but online trading helped him to explore a world he would have otherwise ignored.

Value... Convenience... What does it all mean, anyway?

I'm interested in McCollough's view of value and of his belief that value in itself is nothing unless it is made into something by someone. First and foremost, this made me think of a popular example of our changing schemas and definitions of value based on today's technology. The example is the value given to items acquired in computer games such as EverQuest. One of my good friends was a die-hard everquest fan, so I heard a lot about its details. most importantly, people were selling swords and other pieces of equipment acquired by getting to new levels on everquest, and selling these items on Ebay. Although this practice has stopped, I found it extremely curious and hard to understand. I couldn't fit into my schema of value the "pricing" of such an item. As technology expands our definition of value, we will probably see more instances like this.

Secondly, it made me think of a problem I encountered on my research paper about IM/SMS technology. I encountered, in advertising and user experience claims of products, the word "convenient". Looking it up on several different dictionaries, it meant everything from comfortable to desirable to necessary to efficient to easy... and it occurred to me that convenience is, as value, in the eye of the beholder. The definition of convenience is dependent on the needs and desires of the users, just as value is assessed by users. These words carry a breadth of information in a time where details surely matter... We will constantly need to reupdate our schemas surrounding these words. Are you ready to do so?

I Declare My Presence.. And so much more?

I'm struck by the dichotomy of the "declaration of location" described in chapter 5 of "Digital Ground". The chapter discusses growing occasions in which we are required to declare our presence in literal and digital locations. The first catch lies in the fact that it can never be assumed that we're declaring merely our presence. While by swiping a card to get into a building or entering a username into an e-vendor's site, we only indicate our own presence, we are very often including others under our "name". How many times have you let someone piggyback into your building, intentionally or unintentionally? How many times have you forgotten to sign out, causing someone to perform all sorts of activities (oftentimes illegal) under your name? When I first received my laptop as a Christmas gift, it became a download free-for-all. It had so much space on it that, under my name and IP address, all sorts of files were illegally downloaded by other (e-glares at a certain person). But while we often fail to indicate the presence of another at these locations, there's another catch: our presence indicator declares much more than just who we are. A ZIP code tells a multitude of things, while a username and password on any given site might know your mother's maiden name or that of Fluffy, your first pet. Our goal in declaring our presence is, oftentimes, security. Are we (in the true meaning- us and our piggybackers), as well as those asking for our information, truly protecting our own security? Why do we need to declare our presence when we're really declaring so much more?

On a separate note, I was both excited and melancholy upon reading about the idea of motion detectors alerting help when elderly persons are not sensed in their homes. My great aunt, who lived alone, suffered an aneurysm on a night when her family was out of town. Collapsed on the floor for multiple days, it did great damage to her, and today her right side is completely paralyzed. While I understand the desire for humanitarian needs and personal responsibility, isn't humanitarianism also focused on helping those who can't help themselves? After all, a "walk" signal is not necessary for everyone- we can just look for red lights of opposite-moving traffic. But what's wrong with subtly informing those who need the signal that it's safe to go? I think these precautions are helpful if not necessary, and I know my great aunt would have appreciated a precaution.

I Declare My Presence.. And so much more?

I'm struck by the dichotomy of the "declaration of location" described in chapter 5 of "Digital Ground". The chapter discusses growing occasions in which we are required to declare our presence in literal and digital locations. The first catch lies in the fact that it can never be assumed that we're declaring merely our presence. While by swiping a card to get into a building or entering a username into an e-vendor's site, we only indicate our own presence, we are very often including others under our "name". How many times have you let someone piggyback into your building, intentionally or unintentionally? How many times have you forgotten to sign out, causing someone to perform all sorts of activities (oftentimes illegal) under your name? When I first received my laptop as a Christmas gift, it became a download free-for-all. It had so much space on it that, under my name and IP address, all sorts of files were illegally downloaded by other (e-glares at a certain person). But while we often fail to indicate the presence of another at these locations, there's another catch: our presence indicator declares much more than just who we are. A ZIP code tells a multitude of things, while a username and password on any given site might know your mother's maiden name or that of Fluffy, your first pet. Our goal in declaring our presence is, oftentimes, security. Are we (in the true meaning- us and our piggybackers), as well as those asking for our information, truly protecting our own security? Why do we need to declare our presence when we're really declaring so much more?

On a separate note, I was both excited and melancholy upon reading about the idea of motion detectors alerting help when elderly persons are not sensed in their homes. My great aunt, who lived alone, suffered an aneurysm on a night when her family was out of town. Collapsed on the floor for multiple days, it did great damage to her, and today her right side is completely paralyzed. While I understand the desire for humanitarian needs and personal responsibility, isn't humanitarianism also focused on helping those who can't help themselves? After all, a "walk" signal is not necessary for everyone- we can just look for red lights of opposite-moving traffic. But what's wrong with subtly informing those who need the signal that it's safe to go? I think these precautions are helpful if not necessary, and I know my great aunt would have appreciated a precaution.