davidjewlian

…all my friends are avatars.

I think Drew Barrymore may have said it best

And what she said was “now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.” Yes, did pay good money to see He’s Just Not That Into You. Now, I’m talking about rejection per se here, but just the fact that, nowadays, you can get information through an unnumbered amount of venues, and they all matter.

No, I am not going to post about “the Octamom“

But that article above about her pings something interesting in the world of these new forms of media. The journalist, while still using primary sources like a good newsman is supposed to, on multiple occassions references how this woman’s reputation has been tarnished and commented on via Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, and how this opinions lead to the true barometer of public opinion.

It’s no new news that journalism has become pedestrian. That many people get their information via blogs that are rife with op/ed tangents and very little traditionally unbiased news reports. The New York Times is still purchased, its site still frequented, but it no longer has the importance it once did in forming public opinion and informing the public. The difference between now and a few years ago is that the default is now pedestrian. The default is not the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, or even USA Today. Many people would rather go to The Huffington Post to read news stories, and in a modern development, some people don’t even go that far and receive their desseminated information via Twitter–such was the case in last week’s plane crash in Amsterdam, which broke first on Twitter.

The computer really is personal again

This increased importance of the digital channel, and its increased viability as a trustworthy news source have all contributed to involvement with the digital realm, and thus it becoming more of a personal space.

I remember when I was in junior high, the biggest deal were chatrooms and clip art avatars. Law & Order: SVU was littered with stories of pedophiles taking advantage of children because of the anonymity granted through the digital space. Not that the same anonymity isn’t easily accessible in today’s digital environment, but compared to the genuine and compared to “real” social interaction, that anonymity is becoming a smaller portion of the digital interaction pie.

We put more trust in these digital channels because these digital channels have become much more personable. No longer is the only option for identification of yourself a witty clip art avatar. We now have gravatars made with digital cameras, so the picture is actually us. We now have YouTube, where you can post real-life videos and truthfully expose yourself over the Internet. The latest development I’ve found (and come to love) is Dailybooth, where you can take instantaneous pictures and load them in a micro-blog format, to show interested parties what you’re doing at this very second. Seems a little silly, but the interactions built upon that idea are fascinating and fun.

Because of this increasingly human aspect, where your face is out there, your likes and dislikes are out there, and your personal experiences are sometimes rooted in digital interaction, it’s not creepy to have digital friends anymore. It’s not like you don’t know what they look like–sometimes you even know how they take their tea.

Networking vs. Social Networking

And this brings us to the key difference between the old school, business school “networking” and the new school, blurred line “social networking.”

In University, we were always taught the importance of networking, and that sentiment is still echoed deeply in my current entry-level life. But the buzzphrase in this world of new media is “social networking” and all of these social networking platforms and portals. By placing the word “social” in front of the classic business term, you eject it out of the commercial and into the personal. This reflects the new channels and indeed the blurred line between personal and professional, a growth of which I believe my generation is blamed for. I can be friends with my boss on Facebook, post this website on my online profile at work, have it link to my Twitter and my Dailybooth, so that my colleagues (who are also my friends) can interact with me on the same level as my college buddies (who, obviously, are my friends as well). There’s no reason to hide it, because it’s not a sick medium that populates Law & Order episodes. It’s a true form of interaction.

Which is why Drew Barrymore’s character Mary in He’s Just Not That Into You can get rejected by all her various “portals.” All of these portals are very relevant and very valid and very real portals of communication. If news can break on Twitter, than you bet it’s kosher to be dumped via MySpace. Sensitive? No. But valid.

DS

…is not just the name of a Weird Al song.

Time for me to geek out

It may come as a shock with the paltry offerings of this blog, but I work in the world of advertising. That’s right, I’m “the man” that we all try so hard to fight against. Believe me, I’m disgusted as well. But I find it intellectually stimulating, and at times simply exhausting, so it’s better than flipping burgers. No offense to all you burger-flippers. Especially you, Bobby Flay.

The first client I worked on, all the way back in July, was an information technology client, which is when I got interested in all these doohickies that entice people into sitting in front of an LCD (or, god forbid, a CRT) screen for hours upon hours upon hours. We talked about ERP and CRM, SaaS and cloud computing, database types and middleware technology. All in all, things I know nothing about.

And one of those terms brings me to the crash. Oh yes, “the crash.” I’m not talking stock markets, it depresses me far too much when the DOW is close to 7,000 points. I’m talking about the Gmail crash that’s been making the news rounds yesterday. Everyone’s a-twitter about it. And the term that it connects back to is “cloud computing.”

This Fox News article states it as such, “The outage exposed the underlying vulnerability of ‘cloud’ computing, in which applications and data are accessed by users on the Internet instead of their own hard drives.” And this article employed the headline: “Does Gmail’s Crash Forecast ‘Dark Cloud Computing’?”

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is exactly what the Fox News article defined it as: “applications and data accessed by users on the Internet instead of their own hard drives.” Think things like Google Docs, Windows Live, and of course, the hero of the hour, Gmail.

How do people feel about it?

It has had mixed reviews in the past. Some people herald it as the harbinger of a new digital age where hard drives become obsolete and you can access anything, anywhere, at any time. It speaks volumes that I can get my Gmail on my BlackBerry, at work, at home, and an Internet cafe. That I could conduct an entire business meeting using shared documents on PowerPoint with nobody being in the same room, or even the same time zone. And the fact that I can have any number of people simultaneously editing a document that is on none of their computer without emailing anything is simply fascinating.

However, other people, such as Larry Ellison, CEO of software giant Oracle, has been known to say it is “complete gibberish.” Perhaps he forgot  that he has made many millions of dollars in supporting its use.

My bias is probably evident, but I think it’s the complete opposite of “gibberish.” The fact that we can now do all that I referenced above is completely amazing. That I can get my email anywhere, edit my documents anywhere, and share them with anyone is what this new open-source society is about. Granted, it’s also a little “1984″ in that a handful of organizations head up these applications I use, but that’s a trust issue that seems to be more prevalent among those who were led through Nixonian times, rather than those who grew up in the dot.com bust and take these risks as a given of life.

Though, I think there’s also something to be said about locally storing information, especially when looked at in the light of my apartment’s sometimes faulty Internet. I don’t want to be restricted from working on some documents because I can’t access Google Docs in a world without Internet access. And there aren’t nearly enough cyber cafes in the city of New York to accomodate these infrequent inconveniences. Which is probably why I’m not a heavy Google Docs user, and why I’m sort of glad I have a BlackBerry to access my Gmail at all times.

Should we be worried about this Gmail fluke?

I’m thinking probably  not. It’s like saying a plane crashed so I’ll never fly again. That a boat crashed so now I’m afraid of water. That I stubbed my toe once on the piano so, heck, let’s just throw that piano out. Running from the problem doesn’t solve anything because, let’s face it, the other 364 days of the past year have been basically worry-free from Gmail. Why would your software solutions be any different?

DS