Thursday, August 23, 2007
What Happened to Art Movements?
I'm reading a thoughtful book on the history of development in America called "The Geography of Nowhere" by James Howard Kunstler. It was recommended by an online acquaintance. (Thanks, M.N.!) I'll blog more specifically about the book later, but one thing that came up while reading is that there used to be all of these movements in art and architecture. Of course I remember studying various artistic movements while in college - cubism, the Renaissance, pointillism, impressionism, art deco, neoclassicism, modernism, pop art, post-modernism. This got me to wondering . . . what artistic movements are we in the middle of today? Certainly we have a whole new computer-generated movement led by our technological wonders. Has anyone bothered to name whatever we're in now?
Labels: america, art, book, college, development, james howard kunstler, technology
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The IT Seduction
I've been gone from blogging for a couple of days. Tuesday evening saw a reception at my workplace that I planned and two of my kids were involved with, so I very well couldn't have skipped out on that. Last night my husband and I attended a birthday party for a new friend. Regardless of how chatty I appear to be here, I'm quite shy upon first meeting people and this party had lots of people I didn't know. As it turns out, I spoke in depth with four people I met at the party - a personal first for me and ever so cool.
In any case, due to the two evening events, I was simply too tired to blog. What's poopy about this is that I miss blogging, and ache to get back to it. Mind you, I've only been blogging for about a year. My evening computer routine goes something like this: When I can find a free computer (which is quite difficult in this household - two computers + a gamer + a college student + an IMing daughter + a Young Son who checks out YouTube = when does Mom get to blog?), I jump on and first check my emails and respond to those needing responses. I have several accounts to check. Then, if I have a blog post idea, I'll do that. It can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, depending on the topic and the post length. Next I'll check the blogs I'm following in Bloglines. Sometimes I leave comments, so that eats up some time. Then I'll check email again. By the time I've done these few online tasks, two-to-three hours have flashed by. Then I'm sick of looking at a computer screen.
Whatever did I do with my time before we had high-speed internet and I had a blog? I had to think about this because I don't really do less housework and I seem to be getting plenty of creative time. I think that I'm not watching as much television in the evening. I'm not much of a couch potato anyway. Even when the TV is on, I'm always flitting around the house. I catch a bunch of my news online now, whereas I used to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the local evening news. I've also noticed that I'm going to bed later, but that could just be summer in Minnesota.
I had to secretly cheer for Neil Gaiman's productivity when he lost power due to a storm this past weekend. Without the seduction of the computer, he was able to write. Pen, paper and candlelight, anyone?
In any case, due to the two evening events, I was simply too tired to blog. What's poopy about this is that I miss blogging, and ache to get back to it. Mind you, I've only been blogging for about a year. My evening computer routine goes something like this: When I can find a free computer (which is quite difficult in this household - two computers + a gamer + a college student + an IMing daughter + a Young Son who checks out YouTube = when does Mom get to blog?), I jump on and first check my emails and respond to those needing responses. I have several accounts to check. Then, if I have a blog post idea, I'll do that. It can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, depending on the topic and the post length. Next I'll check the blogs I'm following in Bloglines. Sometimes I leave comments, so that eats up some time. Then I'll check email again. By the time I've done these few online tasks, two-to-three hours have flashed by. Then I'm sick of looking at a computer screen.
Whatever did I do with my time before we had high-speed internet and I had a blog? I had to think about this because I don't really do less housework and I seem to be getting plenty of creative time. I think that I'm not watching as much television in the evening. I'm not much of a couch potato anyway. Even when the TV is on, I'm always flitting around the house. I catch a bunch of my news online now, whereas I used to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the local evening news. I've also noticed that I'm going to bed later, but that could just be summer in Minnesota.
I had to secretly cheer for Neil Gaiman's productivity when he lost power due to a storm this past weekend. Without the seduction of the computer, he was able to write. Pen, paper and candlelight, anyone?
Labels: blogging, children, computer, creative, email, husband, neil gaiman, technology, television, time, work, writing
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Call Me Sneezy
Just call me Sneezy. Okay, I'm not particularly sneezy at the moment, but I was pretty close earlier this afternoon. I cleaned our bedroom, top to bottom, side to side, including under the bed. Eldest Son helped me flip the mattress. We'll be having Happy Clean Sheet Day in a short while, when I remake the bed. Let me tell you, there are two things that don't mix - cat hair and faux velvet. Actually, the trouble is that they mix too well. Why are the backs of some photo frames and the bags for cell phones and MP3 players so often made of black faux velvet? I am not impressed with this material. It does nothing to add to the value of the goods. It just collects dust and cat hair and causes no end of aggravation in cleaning. Down with faux velvet!
Labels: clean sheet day, cleaning, faux velvet, son, technology
Monday, June 25, 2007
That's Soooo 2000
I've got my new issue of Wired magazine, working my way through it cover-to-cover. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily reading every little thing, but I like to work front-to-back so I don't miss something. The cover image/article is of Transformers - as in the "more than meets the eye" type. I didn't get into these as a kid, so haven't read the article yet. My son went right to it, though - first thing read. I was more interested in the the mapping article "The Whole Earth, Cataloged: How Google Maps is changing the way we see the world" by Evan Ratliff and "Dispatches From the Hyperlocal Future" by Bruce Sterling.
Wired is relentlessly future-seeking, which makes me breathless and frustrated. Can't keep up! Can't . . . keeeeeep. . . up! Part of what makes me feel this way is how Wired's articles talk about what happened a mere seven years ago as if it was ancient history. For example, did you know that the Captcha (those squiggly letters/numbers that you have to type in periodically when doing web work in order to foil spambots) was invented by Luis von Ahn in 2000? Luis von Ahn has moved on to figuring out how to teach computers how to recognize beauty. (See the article "The Human Advantage" by Clive Thompson.) Seems like the Captcha has been around a while, but seven years is nothing in human history. Of course, this notion of three, five, seven years ago being ancient history is not Wired's fault. It's the nature of technology that is warping our sense of time. Wired simply reflects that. (What does irritate me about Wired is its habit of amplifying how incredibly backwards people are if they don't keep up or don't know what every abbreviation means. Where is their online glossary when you need one?)
What astounds me is that human creativity in general has ramped up to that same dizzying speed as technology. Think about how many books are produced per year now as opposed to in the 1800s. The classics from the 1800s are classics because they didn't have as much competition. We have thousands of Ansel Adams, what with digital photography, millions of publishers with blogging (although a good share of those aren't worth the 0's and 1's they're written with), and how many gazillions of movie producers with YouTube. There is simply no way the human mind - a single human mind - can track everything. We simply have to do our best and forget the rest.
Wired is relentlessly future-seeking, which makes me breathless and frustrated. Can't keep up! Can't . . . keeeeeep. . . up! Part of what makes me feel this way is how Wired's articles talk about what happened a mere seven years ago as if it was ancient history. For example, did you know that the Captcha (those squiggly letters/numbers that you have to type in periodically when doing web work in order to foil spambots) was invented by Luis von Ahn in 2000? Luis von Ahn has moved on to figuring out how to teach computers how to recognize beauty. (See the article "The Human Advantage" by Clive Thompson.) Seems like the Captcha has been around a while, but seven years is nothing in human history. Of course, this notion of three, five, seven years ago being ancient history is not Wired's fault. It's the nature of technology that is warping our sense of time. Wired simply reflects that. (What does irritate me about Wired is its habit of amplifying how incredibly backwards people are if they don't keep up or don't know what every abbreviation means. Where is their online glossary when you need one?)
What astounds me is that human creativity in general has ramped up to that same dizzying speed as technology. Think about how many books are produced per year now as opposed to in the 1800s. The classics from the 1800s are classics because they didn't have as much competition. We have thousands of Ansel Adams, what with digital photography, millions of publishers with blogging (although a good share of those aren't worth the 0's and 1's they're written with), and how many gazillions of movie producers with YouTube. There is simply no way the human mind - a single human mind - can track everything. We simply have to do our best and forget the rest.
Labels: ansel adams, books, captchas, creativity, frustration, google, history, luis von ahn, maps, photography, technology, time, wired magazine, youtube
Monday, May 21, 2007
Visible / Invisible
The newest issue of Wired Magazine (15.06) has two articles that deal with polar opposites of the same issue - online privacy. One of the articles is called "The Visible Man" (page 74) and talks about Hasan Elahi, who ended up on one of the American government's terrorist watch lists. In order to prove his innocence, he has decided to make his life an open book, posting photos of himself and his whereabouts, along with his debit card receipts, online in a continuous effort to allow the Feds to track his life. He even runs around with a GPS tracking unit in his pocket so they can map his location.
The other article (page 160), called ******* (okay, they are really dots, but I can't get that to show up here - it's supposed to simulate how passwords are seen when entered on a computer), is about Linkin Park's lead singer, Chester Charlie Bennington, and how his email password was stolen by a fan, who used the info in his emails to torment him and his wife. The fan, a woman named Devon Townsend, was caught. She worked for Sandia National Laboratories, "one of the Department of Energy's three nuclear weapons research facilities" (page 164). Scary, huh? Someone a little unhinged working in a nuclear facility. Her reason for messing with Bennington? She had about a half-hour's worth of work to do a day and stalked Bennington out of boredom. The whole incident has understandably scared the pants off Bennington, who has learned not to use his middle name as his password.
The articles taken together prove that navigating privacy issues on the internet is no easy task. On the one hand is a guy who is letting it all hang out; on the other is a guy who started out trusting his fans, but was taken advantage of and now wants some of his invisibility back. What's interesting is that boredom plays a factor in both cases. The woman bored with her job felt compelled to engage in stalking behavior to alleviate that boredom. In The Visible Man's situation, he's attempting to encourage a sense of boredom about his life in order to throw off any remote suspicions that he'll do something wrong.
To be visible online, or not to be visible? It's a conundrum that's going to take a while to shake out.
The other article (page 160), called ******* (okay, they are really dots, but I can't get that to show up here - it's supposed to simulate how passwords are seen when entered on a computer), is about Linkin Park's lead singer, Chester Charlie Bennington, and how his email password was stolen by a fan, who used the info in his emails to torment him and his wife. The fan, a woman named Devon Townsend, was caught. She worked for Sandia National Laboratories, "one of the Department of Energy's three nuclear weapons research facilities" (page 164). Scary, huh? Someone a little unhinged working in a nuclear facility. Her reason for messing with Bennington? She had about a half-hour's worth of work to do a day and stalked Bennington out of boredom. The whole incident has understandably scared the pants off Bennington, who has learned not to use his middle name as his password.
The articles taken together prove that navigating privacy issues on the internet is no easy task. On the one hand is a guy who is letting it all hang out; on the other is a guy who started out trusting his fans, but was taken advantage of and now wants some of his invisibility back. What's interesting is that boredom plays a factor in both cases. The woman bored with her job felt compelled to engage in stalking behavior to alleviate that boredom. In The Visible Man's situation, he's attempting to encourage a sense of boredom about his life in order to throw off any remote suspicions that he'll do something wrong.
To be visible online, or not to be visible? It's a conundrum that's going to take a while to shake out.
Labels: boredom, invisible, linkin park, nuclear, online privacy, technology, visible, wired magazine
Friday, April 20, 2007
Inspiration
Something dawned on me recently that quite surprised me. Before I get to that, I'd like to talk about inspiration. As an artist and writer, I take inspiration from many, many things. Science, the woo-woo mysteries of life, birds, flowers, children, historical events, small human behaviors, technology, the interesting juxtaposition of words and the sounds of words, and, of course, the creations of others, be they books, art, movies and music. I'm never sure how all of these things will come together, or what the result will be. My latest realization came to me while listening to a U2 CD. As I was listening, the music translated into images in my mind. This has happened before with U2 music. It has also happened with the music of Duran Duran and Ultravox. The result is that I'm inspired to create visual art with the songs of U2 et. al. The surprise about this is that I've been listening to the music of Dave Matthews Band a lot these past couple of years and it makes me want to write stories. It wasn't until I re-listened to U2 that I saw the difference. U2's music doesn't have the story-writing effect on me, not in the least. U2 inspires visual art, DMB inspires literary art. I don't know why this is, but there it is.
So, now, what inspires you to fits of creativity? Feel free to be more specific than I was. (Science, sheesh! That about covers everything, doesn't it?)
So, now, what inspires you to fits of creativity? Feel free to be more specific than I was. (Science, sheesh! That about covers everything, doesn't it?)
Labels: album art, children, creativity, dave matthews band, duran duran, inspiration, music, rocket science, technology, u2, ultravox, writing
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Frustration Overwhelm
Normally, I don't blog about work, but that's what's on my mind tonight. You see, I'm attempting something new with the website using cPanel and Fantastico and I couldn't figure out what the fudge I was doing. I hate when I can't figure out what I'm doing. It leaves me crying in frustration - really crying. You gentlemen out there reading this will prefer swearing instead. For me, frustration overwhelm causes crying - major league bawling. You'd have thought I just lost a cherished pet or something. Nope. Just mad as all get-out that I can't figure something out. And, of course, I'm not willing to walk away and cool down. I've got to solve the problem NOW! So, I came home and did some internet searching to see if I could find the answer. I emailed a bunch of links to work, hoping one of them will have an answer. In the process, I got so engrossed that I burned a pizza - charred that baby so crispy that it could be a piece of performance art. Luckily, I have a super-sensitive nose and, after about an hour's worth of baking, the thing finally started to smell burnt and I realized that I had forgotten it. When it rains, it pours. Sheesh!
P.S. If any of you can walk me through loading WordPress properly using cPanel and Fantastico, I'd appreciate it. I'm part way through the process, but don't know what to do next to get it to do what I want. Thanks.
P.S. If any of you can walk me through loading WordPress properly using cPanel and Fantastico, I'd appreciate it. I'm part way through the process, but don't know what to do next to get it to do what I want. Thanks.
Labels: anger, burned pizza, crying, frustration, problem, technology, work
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
I Can't Think of What to Write
I've had so much frustration waiting for web pages to load this evening that I don't know what to write. So, here's a fortune cookie fortune:
Your present question marks are going to succeed.
And a question:
How do you define success?
Maybe tomorrow my internet connection will behave.
Your present question marks are going to succeed.
And a question:
How do you define success?
Maybe tomorrow my internet connection will behave.
Labels: fortune cookies, frustration, success, technology, writing
Saturday, March 03, 2007
User I.D.
I've finished reading the book "User I.D." by Jenefer Shute. The plot revolves around identity theft. The author alternates chapters between Vera, who has had her identity stolen, and Charlene, the identity thief. There are lots of great details about identity theft and how to deal with it woven throughout the story. Jenefer Shute also covers the existential angst felt by both women in relation to the fluidity of identity in the digital age. She makes Charlene a sympathetic character, despite her illegal activities. I wish she had bolstered Vera's character more. By the end of the book, I felt like slapping Vera for her whiny, limp-wristed attitude. There was one other thing about the book that set me on edge. Periodically, it seemed that the author played a bit heavy with the description. It wasn't enough to make me stop reading, but it subtly hit me that some of the details were overdone. Because I picked up on this, I wondered if I do the same thing in my fiction writing. I'll have to check to be sure. Precision excision is the solution.
Labels: books, editing, identity, identity theft, jenefer shute, story, technology
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The IE Gremlin
I had something a little freaky happen on my computer last night. My son was closing out the program he was using and he said that the Mozilla Firefox icon was gone. In its place was an Internet Explorer (IE) icon. Strange, as the original IE icon was still on my desktop. I looked under my Start button and found the Firefox icon, but it said that the program was running in safe mode. I clicked it and got a message, which I didn't quite understand, so I cancelled it. I logged off and logged back on, thinking that would clear things up. Nope. I decided to drag the Firefox logo under the Start button onto the desktop to make a new icon. The new icon had a little number 2, which indicated it was the second one on the desktop, but the first was nowhere in sight. I dragged the new IE icon into the recycling bin. I looked in the bin and found that the IE icon had turned into a Firefox icon. I dragged it out to the desktop and it turned back into an IE icon. Back to the recycling bin, it became Firefox. Dragged it out again and it finally stayed Firefox. Does anyone know what caused this phenomenon? Is IE just messing with us?
Labels: computer, desktop, firefox, gremlin, icon, internet explorer, recycling, son, technology
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Candy Hearts and Dogs
Happy Valentine's Day, to those of you who celebrate. Our family doesn't because we aren't particularly attached to the holiday. It feels too much like a marketer's holiday to us and we don't buy into conspicuous consumption. As for celebrating our togetherness, the hubby and I do that on our wedding anniversary. I do have one weakness when it comes to Valentine season - candy hearts - the ones with sayings. Mmm, mmm! I break down and buy some of these every year for the family. I've noticed that the candy heart makers don't seem to be able to keep up with technological change any better than I do. There are still hearts that say "Fax me," but none (that I could find) that say "IM me." My husband, aside from enjoying a little Valentine chocolate, has a different seasonal weakness: The Westminster Kennel Club's big dog show, generally held at Madison Square Garden. Puppies and hearts, puppies and hearts. It's love.
Labels: candy hearts, dog show, dogs, family, holidays, husband, marketing, technology, valentine's day, wedding
Monday, January 15, 2007
My Craziness Backed by Scott Ian
Boy, it's nice to have confirmation of my feelings on an issue. I've been going on and on about how technology has changed the music industry, some of it for the better, some of it for the worse, the worst part of it for me being a potential loss of album art and printed lyrics. So, a couple of nights ago, the hubby and I were watching a show on the history of heavy metal on VH1, and Scott Ian of Anthrax said something that was music to my ears. They were discussing the group Iron Maiden and, specifically, a character called Eddy who shows up on the cover of all the group's albums and made appearances at their concerts. Eddy is a ghoulish thing, all shrunken skin, evil eyes and wicked teeth. Scott Ian said that Eddy really gave Iron Maiden a particular image, along with saying that album art is very important. Hah! Vindication!
P.S. I'd post a picture of Eddy here, but don't want to get into trouble violating someone's copyright, so check out this link. Also, I didn't really want the first picture I attempt to post to be something ghoulish. Sorry, I'm a wimp.
P.S. I'd post a picture of Eddy here, but don't want to get into trouble violating someone's copyright, so check out this link. Also, I didn't really want the first picture I attempt to post to be something ghoulish. Sorry, I'm a wimp.
Labels: album art, anthrax, copyright, eddy, iron maiden, lyrics, music, scott ian, technology, vh1
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Album Art & Lyrics Cards
Until a solution is presented, I'm going keep coming back to this. Now that music is going digital, what's going to happen to album art and printed lyrics? We're so quick to jump ship toward something new that we forget to look for sharks in the water. We're so quick to embrace the newest in technology that we forget to examine what we might be giving up. When it comes to album art, some think, "Good riddance to bad rubbish. No tears here if there is no album art. " On MPR's The Current music blog, Hans Eisenbeis posted "Album art! Does it matter anymore?" The title says it all, but there are several wonky album covers pictured in the post. If we want to have a discussion about album art, why don't we pick the cream of the crop, rather that the crap? I, of course, think that album art is important. I am an artist and album art is a great way to bring fine art to the masses. Album art gives fans a physical representation of musicians and bands. It allows us to connect with musicians along another dimension. Album art helps to brand musicians. It is also one avenue of employment for visual artists. If pictures of the musician or band members are included, we get to know what people look like. Another important part of album art is the printed lyrics. How often have we misinterpreted a song because the singer or our hearing wasn't as clear as desired?
I asked my daughter, who did not grow up with 12-inch albums, if she liked CD booklets with their album art. She answered in the affirmative. She especially liked being able to read the lyrics. Daughter has an iPod, and she said, "Mom, the album art comes with the downloads." I asked her to show me this album art. There it was, in postage stamp form on her iPod screen. If that's what album art has come to, why bother?
Of course, with music becoming available solely through the digital realm, album art can't remain the way it has. For one, most people download singles, rather than entire albums. We're not going to want an entire CD booklet for one song. You can find lyrics for most any song online, but I, for one, don't want to be intravenously connected to a computer 24/7. I listen to music away from the computer and want to be able to have quick access to those lyrics.
I've been pondering this problem of dying album art & lack of lyrics for a while and have a possible solution: Lyrics Cards. For each song a band creates, there could be a card produced that has lyrics on one side & art on the other. Think of playing cards, no . . . that's not quite right . . . think of Tarot cards. Lyrics cards would have to be bigger than playing cards so the lyrics would fit. I suggest cards about the size of current CD booklets, if only because most of us have CD holders we could fit them into. They'd also be big enough to show some decent artwork and allow the lyrics to be seen without a magnifying glass. I imagine Lyrics Cards to be like trading cards. We can mix-and-match with friends. We can arrange our own playlists with them. When someone downloads a song, if they desire, they could have a Lyrics Card mailed to them. Bands could use them as promotional items.
So, there you have it. My crazy idea for saving album art: Lyrics Cards. Will it work? I have no idea. Maybe I'm just an old codger at the tender age of 39. Maybe I'm not with it and the majority of people want to see album art and printed lyrics leave in a whimpering fizzle. I, however, am not ready to give up without a fight.
I asked my daughter, who did not grow up with 12-inch albums, if she liked CD booklets with their album art. She answered in the affirmative. She especially liked being able to read the lyrics. Daughter has an iPod, and she said, "Mom, the album art comes with the downloads." I asked her to show me this album art. There it was, in postage stamp form on her iPod screen. If that's what album art has come to, why bother?
Of course, with music becoming available solely through the digital realm, album art can't remain the way it has. For one, most people download singles, rather than entire albums. We're not going to want an entire CD booklet for one song. You can find lyrics for most any song online, but I, for one, don't want to be intravenously connected to a computer 24/7. I listen to music away from the computer and want to be able to have quick access to those lyrics.
I've been pondering this problem of dying album art & lack of lyrics for a while and have a possible solution: Lyrics Cards. For each song a band creates, there could be a card produced that has lyrics on one side & art on the other. Think of playing cards, no . . . that's not quite right . . . think of Tarot cards. Lyrics cards would have to be bigger than playing cards so the lyrics would fit. I suggest cards about the size of current CD booklets, if only because most of us have CD holders we could fit them into. They'd also be big enough to show some decent artwork and allow the lyrics to be seen without a magnifying glass. I imagine Lyrics Cards to be like trading cards. We can mix-and-match with friends. We can arrange our own playlists with them. When someone downloads a song, if they desire, they could have a Lyrics Card mailed to them. Bands could use them as promotional items.
So, there you have it. My crazy idea for saving album art: Lyrics Cards. Will it work? I have no idea. Maybe I'm just an old codger at the tender age of 39. Maybe I'm not with it and the majority of people want to see album art and printed lyrics leave in a whimpering fizzle. I, however, am not ready to give up without a fight.
Labels: album art, art, daughter, lyrics, lyrics cards, mpr, music, tarot cards, technology
Saturday, January 06, 2007
More on Music Trends
Here are a few posts from other sites about the trend toward digital music and away from the purchase of CDs.
From The Long Tail - Music sales from the past year
From Wired Magazine's Listening Post - The Ropeadope record label decides to go 100% digital for all of its releases.
From the Dangerous Intersection blog - We can't even sing anymore
I'm still wondering how people without digital toys are going to get access to music. Doesn't matter if we have unlimited choice if we don't have access.
From The Long Tail - Music sales from the past year
From Wired Magazine's Listening Post - The Ropeadope record label decides to go 100% digital for all of its releases.
From the Dangerous Intersection blog - We can't even sing anymore
I'm still wondering how people without digital toys are going to get access to music. Doesn't matter if we have unlimited choice if we don't have access.
Labels: access, music, technology, the long tail, wired
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Forecasting Access Issues
Continuing on with my rant about the lack of physical music stores and the dwindling physicality of music . . . . My husband had the most mind-blowing thought while we were discussing this issue. Actually, he had a couple of them. When we purchase music in a physical format (records, tapes, CDs), if we get tired of an album, we can sell it or hand it off to a friend. We can't legally do this with digital music. Normally, the license for a download allows for the music file to sit on one computer and on a personal digital music player. There's no reselling of that digital file if we no longer want it. (Of course, the music industry is perfectly fine with this.)
Okay, second hubby thought: How are libraries going to allow people to check out music if it all goes digital? Think about that for a minute. Libraries have allowed all of us, the poor included, to have access to all sorts of cultural materials. If music goes completely digital, and it certainly looks like that's what's happening, only those who can afford a computer and an internet connection are going to get access. Unless something is restructured at the library (dedicated computer, maybe?), I can't see libraries allowing people to download songs onto public computers so they can download them to personal digital music players. Even if library technology was restructured to allow for this, the music industry would have a royal fit and put the legal kabosh on the whole thing.
If you are completely wrapped up in the digital world and can't possibly imagine that there are still people in the real world without a computer and an internet connection, let me tell you that my mom is one of those people. She is a die-hard Johnny Mathis fan and wanted no more than to stroll into Wal-Mart and find a Johnny Mathis disk. Nothing doing. This system isn't working for her.
Okay, second hubby thought: How are libraries going to allow people to check out music if it all goes digital? Think about that for a minute. Libraries have allowed all of us, the poor included, to have access to all sorts of cultural materials. If music goes completely digital, and it certainly looks like that's what's happening, only those who can afford a computer and an internet connection are going to get access. Unless something is restructured at the library (dedicated computer, maybe?), I can't see libraries allowing people to download songs onto public computers so they can download them to personal digital music players. Even if library technology was restructured to allow for this, the music industry would have a royal fit and put the legal kabosh on the whole thing.
If you are completely wrapped up in the digital world and can't possibly imagine that there are still people in the real world without a computer and an internet connection, let me tell you that my mom is one of those people. She is a die-hard Johnny Mathis fan and wanted no more than to stroll into Wal-Mart and find a Johnny Mathis disk. Nothing doing. This system isn't working for her.
Labels: access, husband, johnny mathis, library, mom, music, physical, technology
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The Demise of Music Stores
This is old news that hit home yesterday when we were shopping. We headed to the nearest metro-ish area, thirty miles from home, hoping to find some music cds. Before we left home, we mentally tried to come up with a list of stores where we could shop for music. We wanted someplace with a broad selection, including the quirkier stuff, like Rammstein. As we went through what used to be a short list of appropriate places, we realized that the list had gotten even shorter. Media Play went out of business last year; the Electric Fetus has gotten all gift-y, and their music selection, which used to be great, now stinks. The mall music store is gone. That leaves us with whatever they've got at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, and Barnes & Noble. B&N has a more avant guarde selection than the other three, but the price tags are all about two dollars higher per disk than the other places.
While I realize that the music biz has shifted to the digital age, and I don't mind buying some of my music online, I miss not being able to walk into a music store on a whim and look through the offerings. There's something immensely satisfying in seeing the array lovingly arranged by knowledgeable employees and in finding something unexpected. Now that Tower Records has fallen, I'm not sure we'll ever see a music store of the traditional kind again. What we need is a hybrid. A place we can go to browse, with that helpful music-smart staff, that helps us with our downloads. I'm still holding out hope that the literature that accompanies music will not die, but will transform in some way to match the digital age.
While I realize that the music biz has shifted to the digital age, and I don't mind buying some of my music online, I miss not being able to walk into a music store on a whim and look through the offerings. There's something immensely satisfying in seeing the array lovingly arranged by knowledgeable employees and in finding something unexpected. Now that Tower Records has fallen, I'm not sure we'll ever see a music store of the traditional kind again. What we need is a hybrid. A place we can go to browse, with that helpful music-smart staff, that helps us with our downloads. I'm still holding out hope that the literature that accompanies music will not die, but will transform in some way to match the digital age.
Labels: idea, music, rammstein, shopping, technology, tower records
Friday, December 29, 2006
Social Computing
For quite some time now, using a computer has been a solo experience. Sort of a personal productivity machine - one screen, one keyboard. As more interactive programs and websites have popped up and taken over, it is not uncommon to find several people huddled in front of a computer screen. While watching House Hunters on HGTV the other day, I saw a family of four sitting at a table, each with a laptop, looking for properties. My daughter joked that they were probably IMing each other. People have been predicting the demise of social activities because of computer technology and the Internet, but it's not happening. It may have been happening for a while, but human beings simply can't live without other human beings, so the pendulum is swinging back.
In a related story, there was a discussion on MPR today about the changes in media and news broadcasting brought about by the shift to digital media. The prediction was that people would only seek out the stuff they were interested in if there weren't newspapers or broader TV programs that gave people a well-rounded bunch of stories. While I could argue that much of what is presented as news today isn't particularly well-rounded, what strikes me about this is the lack of faith in the ability of humans to search for stuff outside their direct interests. People get bored really quickly, so once something gets old, it gets old, and we start looking for new stuff. Also, as mentioned above, we are social creatures. If I don't happen to hear a particular news story, there's a sure bet that my husband, my children, or my friends have heard it and will pass it along. We're talking the Internet, here, folks. We are not living in fully separated cardboard boxes with blinders on and earplugs in. The news will get through.
In a related story, there was a discussion on MPR today about the changes in media and news broadcasting brought about by the shift to digital media. The prediction was that people would only seek out the stuff they were interested in if there weren't newspapers or broader TV programs that gave people a well-rounded bunch of stories. While I could argue that much of what is presented as news today isn't particularly well-rounded, what strikes me about this is the lack of faith in the ability of humans to search for stuff outside their direct interests. People get bored really quickly, so once something gets old, it gets old, and we start looking for new stuff. Also, as mentioned above, we are social creatures. If I don't happen to hear a particular news story, there's a sure bet that my husband, my children, or my friends have heard it and will pass it along. We're talking the Internet, here, folks. We are not living in fully separated cardboard boxes with blinders on and earplugs in. The news will get through.
Labels: computer, daughter, family, house hunters, husband, media, mpr, news, technology
Friday, November 24, 2006
Techie Share-fest
Now that I'm bloated from Chicken-Ham-Stuffing-Cheesecake Day, followed by another day of non-stop eating (mmm, pumpkin pie!), I'm feeling mighty lazy about blogging. I do have something to be eternally thankful for - my family of brilliant conversationalists. We keep up a running conversation that bounces from religion to politics to creative ventures to education to economics to the workings of the mind and back again. Rarely is there a lull in our discussion - maybe just long enough to grab more food.
We did venture into new topic territory this time around. We exchanged our experiences with technology. I showed a few family members my blog. One asked whether everyone on the internet could access it - Yes! - and then pondered how detrimental a blog could be for employment purposes, thinking that a blogger could reveal too much personal information. That is definitely a danger, but I consider myself a writer and I have to watch pretty much everything I say that I intend for public consumption. I treat my blog this way, too. It goes with the territory.
One family member is revamping a website and we exchanged ideas about that. There was also discussion about hooking up the internet to a big screen, something I blogged about here. In general, we had a techie share-fest, passing along information that each of us has learned, but that the others hadn't yet heard about. A few of us even took a fieldtrip to Radio Shack and had a good look around. I found a nifty password protection device, plus we oohed and aahed over all the other gadgets we found. It's enough to make a head spin, which is why none of us knows everything we need to know about technology and why the share-fest was so important.
We did venture into new topic territory this time around. We exchanged our experiences with technology. I showed a few family members my blog. One asked whether everyone on the internet could access it - Yes! - and then pondered how detrimental a blog could be for employment purposes, thinking that a blogger could reveal too much personal information. That is definitely a danger, but I consider myself a writer and I have to watch pretty much everything I say that I intend for public consumption. I treat my blog this way, too. It goes with the territory.
One family member is revamping a website and we exchanged ideas about that. There was also discussion about hooking up the internet to a big screen, something I blogged about here. In general, we had a techie share-fest, passing along information that each of us has learned, but that the others hadn't yet heard about. A few of us even took a fieldtrip to Radio Shack and had a good look around. I found a nifty password protection device, plus we oohed and aahed over all the other gadgets we found. It's enough to make a head spin, which is why none of us knows everything we need to know about technology and why the share-fest was so important.
Labels: blog, conversation, family, food, password key, technology, writing
Monday, November 20, 2006
FtTP - TV + The Internet
I'm still making my way through the latest Wired Magazine and read an article on YouTube last night, plus one on the creation of lonelygirl15.
As the internet grows more and more social, I'm thinking that maybe these little personal screens we sit in front of are not big enough. Here's what happens in my house: "Mom, come here. Look at this video on YouTube." ... "Mom, come see these cute iPod covers online." ... "Mom, check out this game I'm playing. I've wracked up X number of gold pieces. Now I can buy that cloaking device I want." ... "Honey, check out what I wrote for StoryChat. Here's where the thread starts." I've seen as many as five kids huddled around the fifteen-inch screen I'm currently sitting at.
Juxtapose this with the current trend in personal home theaters wherein the homeowner has a screen large enough to be viewed across a football field. And the techie pundits claim television is dying? I think it's on the verge of a rebirth, but its genetics will come from the internet, pulling directly from success stories such as YouTube and lonelygirl15.
My internet provider and cable company are one in the same. How big a leap would it be to broadcast the internet on TV? My brother used to have WebTV, so it's been done before. Why not have a switching device on the TV that allows it to broadcast either cable or the internet? Why not create easy-to-hold controlling devices - cheap enough for everyone in the family to have - so that watching the internet & selecting a variety of sites can become an even bigger social phenomenon? Imagine the group collaborations, or perhaps the shopping parties, people can have if we wed the internet to a bigger screen.
Someone somewhere is surely already working on this . . . .
As the internet grows more and more social, I'm thinking that maybe these little personal screens we sit in front of are not big enough. Here's what happens in my house: "Mom, come here. Look at this video on YouTube." ... "Mom, come see these cute iPod covers online." ... "Mom, check out this game I'm playing. I've wracked up X number of gold pieces. Now I can buy that cloaking device I want." ... "Honey, check out what I wrote for StoryChat. Here's where the thread starts." I've seen as many as five kids huddled around the fifteen-inch screen I'm currently sitting at.
Juxtapose this with the current trend in personal home theaters wherein the homeowner has a screen large enough to be viewed across a football field. And the techie pundits claim television is dying? I think it's on the verge of a rebirth, but its genetics will come from the internet, pulling directly from success stories such as YouTube and lonelygirl15.
My internet provider and cable company are one in the same. How big a leap would it be to broadcast the internet on TV? My brother used to have WebTV, so it's been done before. Why not have a switching device on the TV that allows it to broadcast either cable or the internet? Why not create easy-to-hold controlling devices - cheap enough for everyone in the family to have - so that watching the internet & selecting a variety of sites can become an even bigger social phenomenon? Imagine the group collaborations, or perhaps the shopping parties, people can have if we wed the internet to a bigger screen.
Someone somewhere is surely already working on this . . . .
Labels: FtTP, husband, internet, kids, technology, tv, wired, youtube
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Bruce Sterling
Got my new issue of Wired Magazine yesterday. As usual, I'm going from cover-to-cover. I skip some stuff, but not much. Bruce Sterling, who has been a regular writer of the Posts column, wrote his final column for the magazine. He'll still be blogging for Wired, though.
He talks about predicting the future of technology and how difficult this is - how we tend to predict the extremes (either it'll be the downfall of mankind, or the greatest thing since sliced bread) and how it's the middle road that wins out. In the course of his discussion he says:
"I know this is true because I've lived it. I'm a pre-Internet novelist who became moderately famous online, only to have my paperback writing slow down as I began to spend uncontrollable amounts of time surfing and blogging. This experience is both grand and problematic. It reflects not two extremes but the slider-bar that is my everyday life."
A couple of thoughts on this. Yes, online writing is different than offline writing (i.e. novels, short stories, etc.), but not that much different. Writing is writing is writing. I prefer shorter stuff online, as do most people, only because it's difficult on the eyes to concentrate unwaveringly on a glowing screen. If a story is not short online, I tend to scan more, which compounds the problem. Books and magazines, which I hope will never go away, are easier to look at, plus there's the physicality of the paper that I love (which I'm sure I've mentioned before).
The other thing I realized while reading Sterling's thoughts is that I get tons of ideas for stories from Wired. In this magazine alone there's an article on seeding clouds for snow, one on different scales of measure, one on nanny cams, one on geoengineering the atmosphere in order to quickly combat global warming, and one that presents a different view of what emotions are. Any one of these ideas could easily work its way into a story, either as a critical role, or as a minor player. (And I haven't even gotten to the meat of the magazine, yet.) If Sterling wants to return to novel writing, he need look no further than Wired.
He talks about predicting the future of technology and how difficult this is - how we tend to predict the extremes (either it'll be the downfall of mankind, or the greatest thing since sliced bread) and how it's the middle road that wins out. In the course of his discussion he says:
"I know this is true because I've lived it. I'm a pre-Internet novelist who became moderately famous online, only to have my paperback writing slow down as I began to spend uncontrollable amounts of time surfing and blogging. This experience is both grand and problematic. It reflects not two extremes but the slider-bar that is my everyday life."
A couple of thoughts on this. Yes, online writing is different than offline writing (i.e. novels, short stories, etc.), but not that much different. Writing is writing is writing. I prefer shorter stuff online, as do most people, only because it's difficult on the eyes to concentrate unwaveringly on a glowing screen. If a story is not short online, I tend to scan more, which compounds the problem. Books and magazines, which I hope will never go away, are easier to look at, plus there's the physicality of the paper that I love (which I'm sure I've mentioned before).
The other thing I realized while reading Sterling's thoughts is that I get tons of ideas for stories from Wired. In this magazine alone there's an article on seeding clouds for snow, one on different scales of measure, one on nanny cams, one on geoengineering the atmosphere in order to quickly combat global warming, and one that presents a different view of what emotions are. Any one of these ideas could easily work its way into a story, either as a critical role, or as a minor player. (And I haven't even gotten to the meat of the magazine, yet.) If Sterling wants to return to novel writing, he need look no further than Wired.
Labels: blog, bruce sterling, story, technology, wired, writing
