I discovered a wonderful source of information on social networking this evening at The Belonging Initiative. They’re committed to fostering belonging and ending isolation among people with disabilities. The vision is wonderful but their comments extend beyond the vision to each of us. With the growing sense of isolation in this nation, and the explosion of social nets online, these social networking analysis resources may be a great help for those interested in exploring social networking.
Pilgrim Notes
Reflections along the way.
Category: Community (page 3 of 5)
I know America bowls alone, but soon we will no longer have to browse alone. Medium lets you watch what your friends are browsing at in real time. Makes me think of how Netflix lets you see what your friends are watching.
On one level this looks pretty cool, but then again, I’m not sure how often I would use it. I like chat for quick notes back and forth, but I am not one who likes talking on the phone for long periods or chatting for long periods. I prefer face-to-face talking when possible. But it still looks cool and more communal than other site sharing concepts.
Here’s a great quote from a man whose writings have deeply shaped my life:
All real living is meeting. – Martin Buber
I could write a few paragraphs of commentary or I could simply let it stand and encourage you to think about that for a little while today. Good words.
I’ve been in Chicago this week at the Forrester Consumer Forum: Humanizing the Digital Experience. I’ll try to post some notes later this week, but I had to put up a few thoughts on one session that almost made me jump up a shout “Hallelujah!” Of course, I wasn’t sure how these “corporate folks” would respond to a Southern Pentecostal boy whooping and dancing.
Nicholas Negroponte spoke this morning about his vision of putting a laptop into the hands of every child in the world and how he is working to make that happen. This wasn’t just blue sky dreaming. This is a clear vision that will make a dramatic launch of putting $100 laptops into the hands on children in several countries as a precursor to a larger distribution.
Working with corporations, researchers, and country leaders, Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child non-profit is stunning combination of problem-solving, business planning and long term visioning for our world. The implications of how this could impact learning and development as well as communication, bridge-building and more are staggering. (Not to mention the impact upon computer technology .)
But don’t waste time listening to me ramble, visit his site and find out what’s happening for yourself.
“We are here on earth to do good for others. What the others are here for I don’t know.”
— normally attributed to W.H. Auden but actually from John Foster Hall
Don’t forget that the people around you are humans and not machines. Here’s another great quote from Charles Wagner:
People burn with ardor for humanity, for the public good, for righting distant wrongs; they walk through life, their eyes fixed on marvelous sights along the horizon, treading meanwhile on the feet of passer-bys, or jostling them without being aware of their existence. – Charles Wagner
If you’re going to post anything to the Yahoo time capsule, you’d better do it in the next 21 days. I just noticed this today, but it’s another cool form of human connecting. While there is no direct sharing going on between participants, it does give a sense of human connectedness.
Micahel Calore, Wired News Online, recently asked readers for the best and worst of Web 2.0. Yesterday, he posted responses. Worst? MySpace. Sure it’s the most popular, but it’s also the ugliest and doesn’t want to play with other Web 2.0 apps. Here’s the rest of his list:
Best Top 5
Flickr (I likee.)
Odeo (I need to play around podcasting at some point.)
Writely (I personally like ThinkFree better)
del.icio.us (it is just me or is that hard to type?)
NetVibes (This is one of my faves!)
Worst
MySpace
Squidoo
Browzar
Fo.rtuito.us
Friendster
iVillage, once the very example of websites dedicated to women, is now a perfect example of Web 1.0 thinking. Originally built around message boards, the site limits the amount of user input and customization. While the technology can easily be modified, can the administrative thinking behind the site change? can it go from a site with highly managed content to a free-wheeling customer content driven site?
NBC bought iVillage in March, Bob Wright, NBC President, recently announced that they plan to make iVillage the foundational pattern for NBCs digital efforts. Bambi Francisco of MarketWatch offers a wonderful comparison and analysis of MySpace vs iVillage and the challenges ahead for NBC.
MySpace is as close to a democratic virtual world as you can get on the Web, as its own liberating culture and subcultures allow for new talent to rise from the virtual pool of wannabes. To wit: MySpace recently struck a deal with SNOCAP so that the 3 million bands on MySpace can sell their music to their fans directly.
Ten-year-old iVillage, on the other hand, is a first-generation Internet community site, built on an earlier top-down model of what community meant to those of us who were around back in the old days of the Web — message boards. IVillage has 1,000 message boards. But they are so limiting that the only way to demonstrate self-expression, besides writing in all caps and using expletives, is to upload a photo. Additionally, iVillage is a place where news is delivered to you; where editors rule the roost; where the audience learns and takes more than they give, and where the bulk of the content is polished and scrubbed. It’s almost too perfectly maintained compared to the anarchy, mess and grunge of MySpace.
The differences remind me of my walk through the Sausalito, Calif. Art Festival a couple weeks ago. As I made my way through the very clean, organized and civil art show, I couldn’t help but think of my friends who were — at that same time — attending the raucous, eclectic and countercultural art festival called Burning Man. The two environments couldn’t be more different. One liberates our individuality, like MySpace. The other quietly asks us to conform, like iVillage.
The list of social shopping sites is growing. New York Times ran a piece on the growth of this new phenomenon. In a way, its an expansion of the Amazon reviews. Anytime I buy I book, I almost always check out the Amazon reviews/debates. It is fascinating to see how these review pages often become an ongoing conversation or argument among Amazon reviewers. Take this to the next level, social shopping allows people to share their passion for a variety of products and to build a community of friends at the same time.
Check out some of these social shopping sites:
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