Some Fantastic

Oh cool, good remembering! I wonder what she's doi...

2010-04-06T23:16:24.637-07:00

Oh cool, good remembering! I wonder what she's doing now...

Her name is Mary Lou. I thought of her, too, when ...

2010-04-06T02:19:05.862-07:00

Her name is Mary Lou. I thought of her, too, when I read that secret.

You are completely right. Not only is social media...

2009-12-16T05:36:09.958-08:00

You are completely right. Not only is social media, for the most part, pretty expensive to keep up with (so it is not free as in "free beer"), but the communications going on through most of the networks aren't free either (not free as in "free speech"). On both Facebook and MySpace we are served targeted ads and "suggestions" as to which friends we should communicate with.

E-mail, phone and IRC are for the most part free mediums of communication whereas social media is not.

Read that as "Penis Penis Penis." And then you got...

2009-10-20T13:00:43.148-07:00

Read that as "Penis Penis Penis."
And then you got to talking about "doodling" and "ball-points" and I'm all "WTF is she talking abou--OHHHH. Pens. Wellthen."

XD

I'm celebrating the puncture wound in each arm fro...

2009-09-04T14:04:31.033-07:00

I'm celebrating the puncture wound in each arm from having blood taken twice in two days. Because they stand for my taking responsibility for my health. I'm also celebrating how okay I am spending time alone, and how nice it feels to get out of bed at 8am because that's when you want to get up.

I love that pic!

2009-09-01T15:45:01.078-07:00

I love that pic!

Glad you are posting again. I really like your wri...

2009-04-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Glad you are posting again. I really like your writing. It is introspective and insightful,yet light enough you don't go away frowning.

I hope somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I not...

2009-03-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I hope somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I notice that many of these well-knowns in social media fall into one of two places. Some have well-paying jobs and yet have the time and energy to do social media. Others got a lucky break in the beginning and now have sponsors that give them discounts or freebies/review models. Also, there are some that make their living off doing the social media route, but they're probably an offshoot of the second example.

You're definitely right in your observation, though. Even having the second latest and greatest for your system is still a tall order when you have other needs and bills and such. I have a iMac G5 that's still doing great, but now that the Intel Macs have been in full swing, I'm almost hesitant on getting the new iLife suite because of the system requirements! And the computer's not really that old! (I love making vids, and I want the new iMovie:( )

Yes, it would be great if everyone and their mother had a written blog or a video blog or even their own domain and server space. Inaequitas is right; it's coming soon where everyone will be able to do the stuff that's being shown today. Maybe a few years from now. But by then, social media 3.0 will be the elitist benchmark. :/

I whole-heartily agree with you! It's very hard to...

2009-02-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

I whole-heartily agree with you! It's very hard to be apart of social media when you can't afford a lot of things.

The more and more I'm on twitter the more I want to take pictures and publish videos but I don't have cash for many of the things I need. It's upsetting because I'm in such a terrible bind right now but eventually I'm hoping that I can break through!

Good Luck on your quest, love! :)

A long time ago, when I used to be a "design celeb...

2009-02-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, when I used to be a "design celebrity" in the "girl domain scene" before my birthday would come I would post my address and phone number on my website for all to see so they could send me presents and cards.

well i received a lot of presents, cards and letters and mostly written in the cards and letters were: omg, you are so crazy. one of your fans are going to end up on your doorstep and possibly kill you.

which never happened. the internet was just made out to be big and scary because it was something that was still unknown. now everyone is on here and everyone knows what its about.

not going to lie, i was a bit shocked when you twittered your number because you have a lot of followers. lol

I agree with you. We all know that blogging isn't ...

2009-02-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

I agree with you. We all know that blogging isn't free, but when we attend these conferences and so forth, that whole idea tends to be forgotten.

It's not so much that I'd like to see even MY social class better represented at these events, I guess I'd just like a little more acknowledgment that bloggers like me are out there, and even that there are plenty of individuals with stories and ideas that simply don't have the means to blog.

We all tend to have this sort of attitude that social media is so great because everyone can share and participate. Well, not really. I think it's important to think about that.

Er, this was an un-conference after all. Maybe I should have scheduled my own talk. Perhaps next year. :)

Thanks for the comment!

I think many of these conferences have a tendency ...

2009-02-21T03:18:00.000-08:00

I think many of these conferences have a tendency to focus on the needs of commercial entities that are looking to establish/expand their presence online, or individuals for whom blogging and 'social media' are a tool for establishing some kind of personal brand (and, let's be honest, making money in the process)

Which is far from what we're praising blogging for. You are right, it's definitely not free by any stretch of the imagination, but stories are told about people blogging from homeless shelters, public libraries or school computers. But the exceptions, the saying goes, only serve to strengthen the rule (or something).

Compared to some years back, blogging and online presence is far cheaper, though, both financially and in terms of the knowledge you need to posses to get something going. Not free, yet, but getting there.

And then we can go and think about this at a global level. We, the ones with a computer, a cellphone, health insurance and time to attend conferences, part of the privileged 10% (probably less) of the world—we get it. But the rest? Some of those people are probably more deserving of a voice than some of us, yet for them this whole thing is far, far away.

Thanks for the comment!I think I was in a good pos...

2009-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comment!

I think I was in a good position to be able to do this. I really don't get that many calls/texts in a day, nor do I have thousands of followers that could have resulted in hundreds of texts.

I mean yeah, I totally understand not wanting to share your number publicly, and DM-ing people is usually the way to go. But my problem with that is, I need a REASON to give out/request numbers.

Conversely, when I text people, I rarely have a reason. I just want to to talk!

Anyways, just some additional thoughts.

Thanks again for the comment!

I'm not a big phone person at all, and I already g...

2009-02-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big phone person at all, and I already get too many phone calls at home. I'd rather not invite calls to my cell phone unless I have to. What you did was certainly a bold experiment. My number is on facebook for all friends to see, so if there's a Twitterer I'd like to contact, I'd invite them to befriend me there (or I'll just DM my number to them).

Why thank you miss shenae! And good luck on starti...

2009-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Why thank you miss shenae!

And good luck on starting up your own weblog! They can be finicky buggers.

<3

It's way awesome that people are donating money to...

2009-02-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

It's way awesome that people are donating money to you for your iphone, but you're even more awesome for pointing out to your readers that there are "better" causes out there.

<3 mwah

Darn it, now my secret is out. All the other spac...

2009-02-06T04:14:00.000-08:00

Darn it, now my secret is out. All the other space aliens will be soooo mad!

People are afraid to break rules. They're afraid o...

2009-01-10T00:40:00.000-08:00

People are afraid to break rules. They're afraid of doing what they're not supposed to, because of some nebulous consequence if they're bad. The signs are effective in that they play on that instinct.

Part of the reason of putting the signs up too is self-importance. It's generally understood that washrooms are for customers only. I'm not going to walk into the Blue Water Cafe just to use the washroom, but I won't even do it for Subway (though really, I avoid using their washrooms anyway). Most people are the same, and the inconsiderate ones don't care anyway. Still, people say 'I'm going to put up a sign, and then EVERYONE will know how I run my restaurant.

Still, it's mostly the rules thing. Watch how many people, on a Sunday night, will wait for the light to cross an empty street (I did this until I lived in Montréal), or how many people try to squeeze by on the sidewalk on Robson behind the museum, when the streets are completely bare. No one does it because they're not 'supposed to', and they're afraid someone will call them on it.

Of course, even if they do, people will get defensive and rationalize it, even if they knew it was wrong ('It doesn't say customers only!') – so prevention is the best medicine.

Not using forks, eh? I've not heard of that before...

2009-01-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

Not using forks, eh? I've not heard of that before. Sounds to challenging for me. Good luck!

Also, congrats on joining the ranks of the veggies! We shall assimilate the world to our cause.

That last sentence made sense by the way.

I have two. One is more serious than the other, an...

2008-12-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

I have two. One is more serious than the other, and the same one is the one that I am more likely to go through with.

The first is to reduce my "carbon footprint" (ugh I hate that term) by not eating meat (including fish) for the entire year.

The second is to not use forks. (It's like "always use chopsticks" but easier, because if I don't feel like it I can just use a spoon)

i like found rants on boxes - nice find!re: wordpr...

2008-12-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

i like found rants on boxes - nice find!

re: wordpress vs blogger, i haven't used blogger at all but am very happy so far with wordpress. it's very easy to use and there's lots of support (from google) when i need to figure something out.

Woohoo! ALL comments are loved.The problem with ev...

2008-12-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! ALL comments are loved.

The problem with evangelism is that with all forms of evangelism, people will get caught up in the "greatness" of a product and do stupid things.

I'd have to say that getting a logo of any sort is probably a bad idea. The one she got probably isn't as bad as getting a nike swoosh, but both I think are regrettable.

I find it exciting when others are excited about brands, but I don't necessarily think it is always a good thing.

Maybe this isn't what you're looking for, but I th...

2008-12-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

Maybe this isn't what you're looking for, but I think that anything that gets people excited or gets their attention is a good thing.

It's a good thing for the people whose brains are being stimulated, and it's a good thing for the brand, itself.

I think that traditional marketing techniques them...

2008-11-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

I think that traditional marketing techniques themselves are working still, and perhaps better; but there is generally more competition and less spending power, plus problems with distribution and feature accentuation.

Distribution.... "putting up a website" doesn't mean you automatically have global distribution; sometimes websites actually reduce distribution because people run screaming from a bad website to competitors or a brick and mortar store which is more expensive (at least in terms of time) but more accessible.

Features... I didn't know until recently that Levi jeans were actually custom-fit, normally. Like, you could have a tailor measure you and they'd custom-fit a pair of jeans to your particular shape. I thought they were just over-priced jeans with a nice logo and tasteful TV ads. I guess people who know fashion would know that they're custom, but then, wouldn't people who know fashion already know the brand as well?

Bombarding people with thinks keeps it in the forefront of their mind... so that mark in their heads automagically leads to money leaving their hands. "Mastery is mastering the basics." (my chi kung instructor said I could quote him on that), and Coca Cola (and Pepsi) would have long stopped blatant ads if they weren't necessary... in this world of constant distractions, it's a mass market necessity to remind people to buy a particular brand. Or else, the generic stuff that just happen to look better on the shelf will get the sale, instead.

btw, this is Dhyvd from LJ, but openID doesn't seem to like me right now so I chose anonymous.

I still haven't made those... I probably should. B...

2008-11-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

I still haven't made those... I probably should. But it takes 14 CDs or 2 DVDs.

PS your photojournal kind of killed me. We should go on an epic walk while I'm home.