Podcasts

Late to the party, I am only just getting into podcasts...

But now I'm hooked - NPR, BBC, CBC, and of course independant podcasters make up 90% of my media consumption now. My TV is becoming dusty and unused- the DVD and cd players cough up dustbunnies when opened, but the computer is happy- warm and humming away...

I like the idea that anyone can be a broadcaster from the comfort of their own living room. I especially like the fact the NPR broadcasts in Second Life - a stroke of brilliance that blurs the boundaries between virtual and "real life" experience. I wonder if this is beyond what early Internet theorists like Sherry Turkle dreamed: a public media broadcasting on and offline with listeners choosing their preferred way of engagement. Responding to a phone-in radio show can be made in one of three ways, the traditional phone, the ubiquitous email, or now, via the Second Life home of NPR - and while you're at it, pick up an NPR T-shirt for your avatar!

Land based radio may be on the outs, internet radio royalties are unfortunately sky high- a move that favors the large media conglomerates that own most of the land based stations, and a move that threatens public and democratic media. But I for one, hope that podcasts in "real life" and in platforms like Second life remain (and they can, with a little help from the creative commons). It is technologies like these that fuel the workings of the elusive global citizen, and will shift the balance of power in the culture industry.

Customer Service

After waiting patiently in a big box store for at least 30 minutes without seeing hide nor hair of a service person... After being told repeatedly by people that obviously worked in the store "sorry, but this isn't my department, someone will be along to help you"... After finally being helped by a bored and seemingly humourless customer service rep, who seemed to do the absolute minimum required to help, I am left wondering, oh customer service, where have you gone?

I can see it dwindling in the place I work too, where coworkers go out of their way to say "I'm not on client service today, I can't help people" "It's not my day" or "it's not my job". I see the frustrated look on the client's face - they only came here to ask for what we said we would provide. They're not asking us to go out of our way to help them - and in fact, we're getting paid TO help them, so why do we act like it's such an inconvenience???

I'm not sure if this is a symptom of an individualistic world, where we can tune others out using our technologies, or whether this is a symptom of the commodification of everything, or whether it's merely apathy, but I do think that if we fail to service our customers, we will lose them. They will find what they want elsewhere for a better price (probably the Internet, because if they're not getting service ANYWAY, they might as well shop where there isn't any) and we stand to lose our reason d'etre. And so customer service apathy is a dangerous trap to fall into.

It sounds cheesy, but if we simply CARE for other people in small ways on a day to day basis, then customer service isn't even an issue. I challenge everyone to care a little more today - at work or elsewhere, and see what comes of it.

Does the Internet Facilitate Democracy?

Well... In my humble opinion yes, and no.

All the buzz in the blogosphere of late about unfair funding practices for elections shows that technology helps people do 2 things: 1. access previously unaccessible information and 2. talk about it with each other. Since access to information and dialog are essential for a working democracy, technology does make a difference, does help citizens create a more democratic society.

but on the other hand, who owns the technological infrastructure anyway? Large corporate interests. And technology is only as good as the coding behind it. In the book CODE, Lawrence Lessig reminds us that if corporate and government interests want to code Internet software for commercial gain, then they will. And coding for commercial gain is often at odds with coding for the citizenry to engage in democratic dialog. Besides, judging by the results of the last US election, fear is a much more powerful motivator than rational dialog and access to information when it comes to making an important decision like who to nominate King for four years.

So technology has the potential to aid democracy, but only people can live up to the potential. Back to square one?

Holy Patriarchy Batman!

Ok... you just have to laugh. I came across this link via BoingBoing and it was an interesting exploration of the Male Gaze.

The women who are subjects of the photography are treated almost as children. The weaker, even lesser sex who must be spoiled, handled with kid gloves, and definitely not taken seriously. This is not a photographers how-to guide but a magazine by men, for men, about such topics as how to take pictures of a woman in a phone book without her noticing; how to pick up beautiful female hitch-hikers, and my favorite, how to deal with a "honey bear" without getting your cigarettes (or pants) stolen.

The photos themselves are great, and in their own way revealing as well.

As a smart woman, who also poses for the occasional pinup pic, I for one am glad to not be pigeon-holed into the soft porn "glamour" persona of yesteryear. As much as I understand that we still have a long way to go in fighting for women's rights, sometimes it's also good to remember how far we've come.

Welcome Politicians to the 21st Century

According to the BBC, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has posted a video on YouTube asking people not to join in violent protests during the Apec summit in Sydney.

The BBC article describes Prime Minister Howard as a politician from the black and white television age. Well it seems he just entered the 21st Century with a bang.

What do I think? Well aside from the whether or not people should be able to freely protest the Apec summit, I think this is an interesting case study of social networks and the Internet.

John Howard is either a very smart leader, or (possibly more likely) he has hired the right advisors. He knows that many of the protesters will be organizing and promoting their causes using the Internet as a tool, so he is using the same tool to try to appeal to them. Whether or not his appeal is successful, I think he is right to use the Internet, maybe this means he is trying to understand the people he helps govern.

The Six Million Dollar Blog

It seems we've lost all our readers, and I understand why. Heck, I've even lost Nigel (haha) and since we've been so negligent at updating I get the moving on thing.

So now here comes the long uphill battle of building a blog again.

Reminder: post every day, write about what you are passionate about, keep posting, build links...

keep posting, write what you are passionate about, build links...

If you build it they will come?

Seth Godin reminds us to keep things short and thought provoking. Too long and you'll just lose people.

What am I passionate about? Arts, Performance, Activism and Communication.
So for my part, I'll try to focus on those, and tag posts accordingly. Why rebuild it unless you can rebuild it (we have the technology: faster, better, the six million dollar blog)