New Media Reflections

There is a lot of controversy about teens spending so much time on the internet. There is some research that is indicating that all this time they are spending may actually be a good thing for them.

The New York Times recently ran an article: “Teenager’s Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing”.  There is a discussion that is based mostly on current research by Mizuko Ito “Living and Learning With New Media.” He has been looking at how teens are using the internet. According to Ito: “…their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.” If you want to read more than the summary above, read the full 58 page white paper.

The tools they are using are merely modern versions of ways teens have always communicated and shared. Teens used to be famous for hogging the family phone for hours on end while catching up with their friends. now the may be in  MySpace or Facebook, twittering or texting. They live in a multimedia world that is incomprehensible to the older generation. They multitask fluently, and none of this detracts from their real life, in person interactions. If anything, it is allowing for more attempts at reaching out, since there is a layer of technology between them and the interaction. So someone who might be shy about approaching someone in person, may do it through texting.

I hope we all stop worrying so much about this. As long as teens are still having in-person interactions with others we should let them find their own way. Their world is not the one their parents grew up in. I think the parents just need to spend some time learning what it is their teens are doing online. They will probably be surprised and impressed with it all.

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Privacy is a major concern on the internet. You don’t want important personal information available to those unscrupulous persons who would steal your identity and use your credit information. But what about your messages you send in emails?

According to Consumer Watchdog Google is recording all of your messages, searches and emails which they then use to determine which ads will appear on your Google pages. This allows them to post relevant ads of items and services that interest you. That seems like a good thing. But we are used to having control over our information (which I’m sure is illusory anyway), so we don’t like the idea of someone snooping in our email for tidbits of info that they can use to make money by putting specific ads on the pages we view.  This is a new concept for us, but I believe we will see alot more of this since there is talk of designing advertising that will recognize us as we walk by a sign or store (apparently using RFID tags) that will customize ads to our pre-determined tastes.

What really bothers us is the loss of privacy. There are arguments in both directions about this, but I believe as the younger generation grows up assuming no privacy, nor asking for it, that privacy on the web will be an antiquated concept that only those “old folks” are concerned about. If you have any young people in your life, or someone who is just up to date with interactive media, you will see that they voluntarily give up all kinds of information. Twitter is a way to share all the meaningless minutiae in your life. I don’t know why people want to do that, but they do.

So is it really a major concern that Google is serving you relevant advertising? Only you can decide that. If you don’t like it, avoid personal information on the internet. As for them keeping your info on their own servers, all the internet mail based providers do that. That’s why you can check your mail from any computer. Personally, I’m somewhere in between. I keep in mind that someone may be able to see my information, but then, do I really care? Not really. Maybe I’m living a “clean” life with nothing to hide.

Here is a video where the Consumer Watchdog group reveals the nefarious activities of Google:

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When I talk to people about virtual worlds, specifically Second Life, I try to make it somehow relevant to their future. One of the ways I do this is to talk about how it can be used in their daily life. I often use the example of banking. Many of us are using online banking now. What does it look like? It’s a flat two-dimensional page with click boxes and fill-ins. Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun and just as productive if you could bring your avatar into a virtual bank, have an interaction with a teller, and conduct your banking transactions with real world results. Interesting though, this sounds more like the old-fashioned banking where you actually went into the bank and interacted with a teller. I’ll let that settle in to your mind…

SAP is a large european corporation that specializes in retail business solutions. They provide alot of the computer program backbone for the business decision-making solutions. They are experimenting with a real life store in Sweden, as well as in a virtual world. The virtual store is a mirror image of the real life one. They are exploring the possibilities of how future shopping might work. While they don’t specify exactly what they are trying out, you can see from the video that they are working on tracking and usage. But I can see the possibility of virtual shopping followed up by real life delivery of goods, or virtual shopping as placing an order that will be ready for you when you go to the store so all you have to do is pick it up. Think of it as the ultimate in catalog shopping.

Here’s their video:

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About a year ago I had tried a new web browser called Flock. I liked it alot, but it didn’t quite pull me in enough and I don’t even know why. I went back to my dependable Firefox. As you can see from a recent post of mine, I had started using Google Chrome and was rather excited about it, even if it is still in beta. Somewhere in my readings I saw a mention of Flock and remembered liking it so I took another look at it since I still had it loaded on my computer. I really liked it again. Then I saw that there was a new version out, so I downloaded that. I was blown away, I love this browser. It brings together everything from your facebook friends to photos and video. It is so user friendly, but doesn’t get in the way like some other “this one does it all” browsers. You can even drag photos onto your friends pics to share, or store on a clipboard to use later. I’m one step away from making it my default browser, just because I have a sentimental attachment to Firefox. I’ll get over it. In fact, I may be writing my next blog from right within the browser. Nice. I’ve added some pics and even a video for those of us who love multimedia presentations.

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HP has introduced a computer with touchscreen technology. I have been following developments in this area just because I think it’s so cool. It actually seems like fun. The wall mounted displays are like the Wii in that you end up doing alot of physical movement to work the machine. 

This HP version is the first I’ve seen that actually looks like a conventional system but operates with the touch technology. I think this would be more widely accepted initially than the Microsoft table or the wall-mounted versions (which remind me of the movie Minority Report). My only hesitation is that I’ve always had a problem with disliking fingerprints on my monitor. I’m always admonishing people to keep their fingers off the screen. This one says “touch me” so I don’t know how easily I could make that transition. I would be cleaning my screen constantly… I wonder if they’ve thought about that. 

Ok, so time to show you what it looks like. Of course, if you are a digital native, you’ve already viewed the video first. 

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