Taking a step back to get a step ahead

When I was car shopping earlier this year I noticed that any time I mentally decided on a car, I would start to see it everywhere. I would go through phases where I was committed to a VW GTI, a Scion tC, Honda Civic si, Mazda RX8, the list is endless really. I would research the cars on auto blogs, Consumer Reports, and YouTube. No sooner after the research begin, those cars would be everywhere on the road. I would park next to them at the grocery store, be stopped next to them at a red light, be cut off by one on the highway.

I am experiencing a similar thing right now with social media. There is a theme that is happening in the blogging sphere revolving around social media dependency. SocialMedia.biz refers to it as "digital media intimacy". I rather enjoy that title.

JD Lasica makes a good point about how status updates taken one by one can seem a bit trite and inane. When captured over a long period of time, these updates can give a significant insight into friends' lives. He notes how "little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends' and family member's lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting."

I suppose that relying on the "big picture" approach can seem a bit cliche, but it has a point. I am guilty of constantly living in a state that revolves around micro-updating, micro-analyzing, micro-digetizing. True clarity tends to be found only when one steps back from that "micro" default position. Switching between micro-blogging and actual blogging/journaling is a significant feat for me. I have to transition my mind from being compulsively stucatto and (attempt) to find a way to create a well-strucutred flow. Like I said before, discussions about social media can't be designated into "good" or "bad" catagories. Stepping back and taking a look at the "big picture" is important, but only if it includes the up-close smaller picture as well.

Twitter has done many a thing for me (besides hooking me). It has allowed me to learn things about 'strangers' that I would never thing to ask best friends. I have twotwitter friends who come to mind right off the bat. I met one of them here at Juniper. We hired a company to help us with our persona process (a topic for a future blog) and I gave her a ride up to SF after our two day session was through. We had the hour drive to talk and get to know eachother somewhat, but it was in no way an in-depth friendship. Twitter has allowed me to know how her days are going, how the weather in Seattle is, what technology she is interested in. I get to hear what comments were passed her way on transit to and from work, and see Flickr updates when she changes her haircut. Now, I feel like I know her well. I care as much about her as I do my friends I see at work every day.

Another twitter friend and I met at a conference in LA. Our love for music, cars and high-tech gadgetry was an instant bond. Twitter has allowed me to expand a significiant friendship from that point forward. It is doubtful I would have communicated with him through e-mail because it seems like a bit too much of a comitment to a person I dont technically know. I would never pick up the phone to call him. I hardly do that with friends I have known all my life. But I am still able to grasp the important parts of his life.

Since micro-blogging comes from what the individual finds most important, it provides a different form of insight. There is a particular quality behind the reasons for the post. The dialogue is so uncharacteristic of anything that would ever happen organically face to face. It would be like taking a walk with a friend where you never exchanged words with one another, you just commented about things that were relevant to you at that moment.

"Just tripped on uneven pavement, so glad no one was around to catch that."

"Looks like traffic is impossible again. Herds of soccer moms shuffling kids, I'm sure."

That style of dialogue doesnt exist outside of the blogging-sphere. It is because of this, that I have a fondness for it. Even though it isn't particulary natural, it shows a different angle of a person, which is exactly what I hunt for on the day-to-day.

My best friend and I talk every day. We IM, facebook message, text message enough to blow up the airways, and every so often call eachother when the other mediums just wont suffice. Even though I know nearly everything about her life and have up to the minute updates via text message, I still encourage her to join twitter or blog because her voice would come acrossed so differently. I would love to see how she chooses to convey herself in the micro (or macro) blogging sphere.

I'll keep my eyes posted for more material on this phenomenon. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Undistinguishable, but never unreachab

After writing my first post about all my social media accounts, I started wondering if it was a good thing how dependent I am on social media interaction.

These days everyone is connected at all times. I read somewhere (I wish I remember where) that when people were asked what they would not leave home without, more people said they would choose to take their cell phone over their wallet. My initial reaction was disbelief, but then I thought back to those times I was just meeting friends for a second down town, or if someone else was driving, or if I had to drop some things off at the post office. I never took my wallet. I always had my phone.

If you are a people watcher, like I am, you will notice that people can't stand to be alone anymore. If someone is waiting to meet a friend at a cafe or in front of a movie theatre, they are always texting or chatting on their phone. I am guilty of this as well. I get nervous with nothing to do and frantically start checking twitter or texting friends with updates about what I am doing.

Humans are technically pack-animals. We started off living in groups and gradually, as technology became more prominent, we broke apart and began living independently. Technology is amazing in the way that it allows us to communicate quickly and stay informed. But I wonder how often my friends need to know that I saw humorous graffiti in a concert venue bathroom or that I have a desire for Mexican food for lunch.

The answer is not black or white. There is no ability to say that relying on social media is bad or good. Sure, my tweets may be completely inane and irrelevant at times, but social media allows for the world to virtually exist in one place. When the tsunami hit in China, twitter was one of the first ways that people across the world heard it. Granted, the volume of tweets did shut down twitter for a bit, but the message was heard. Social media allows for instantaneous communication between people who would otherwise never come in contact with one another.

These statements are more than likely not news to you. Everyone understands the point to Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. We understand the novelty of Digg and Slashdot. Are there changes that you recognize in yourself that have manifested only after your dedication to social media?

A friend and I were chatting on IM the other day about how taking a business trip has changed since he was a kid. He reflected that when his father went on business trips his family had to call the main desk at the hotel to leave a message if they wanted to get in touch with him. Now, my friend has multiple ways of being contacted: e-mail, SMS text, IM, Twitter, Facebook updates. It is nearly impossible to shut off technology and literally be alone.

Having a cell battery die is commonly cause for a minor panic attack. I fear that the moment my battery dies, I will get into an alarmingly bad car accident and have no recollection of friends or family member's phone numbers. The cause for lack of memory, isn't head-trauma however, it's my incapacitating dependency on my phone's address book. I wonder if that sort of dependency is, perhaps, a tad unhealthy.

When I was in school, we were encouraged to use mental math instead of a calculator [why use your mind when a machine is so much more accurate though? :)] because "relying on technology makes the mind lazy." I see the relevance of that statement. Thank goodness my parents haven't changed phone numbers in my lifetime. If there does happen to be some emergency, I already programmed those numbers into my mind's address book prior to ever having a cell phone. Those numbers are with me for life.

What's you're take on all of this? Would you say you are one of those people who has to text in the moment of waiting, or do you still look up and watch life going on around you? Would you prefer to have a conversation over IM instead of on the phone? (ahem, I do too) Do you feel life was sweeter prior to your dependency to social media?

I feel as if I have set this up as some social media addicts anonymous space. Perhaps I have a compulsion for social media, but I am not quite ready to profess that it is a "problem".

First things first: let's get to know one another...

I have a long list of things to do, and on it was create a quasi-professional blog that is entirely public facing. I work at Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale for the web team. I do a series of videos/vlogs for J-Net, which is the forums/communities for Juniper. In them I get to announce new features happening on J-Net or interview interesting people in the tech industry as well as key users within the community.

In a meeting earlier today, a co-worker reitterated the fact that social media is typically generational. It got me to thinking about how I have basically tapped into every avenue of social media.

Social media sites I belong to: LiveJournal, Blogger, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Digg, Twitter(2 accounts), PhotoBucket, Flickr, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, Yelp... I used to be a member of friendster but that got to be a bit much. :)

I am always eager to learn new technology, and try to get others as hooked as I am. I'm not sure if that's because I love to spread the good word, or because I typically like other people to connect to. I think it's a bit of both but more of the latter.

My RSS feed and Twitter are two of my favorite online quick hits. I am hoping to eventually make myself a shirt that says "I twitter in bed" -- seemingly provocative but still true.

A bit of back story... [and possibly gloating]

I graduated from UC Berkeley where I wrote my own major. The long of it: "ISF (Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major) - Intercultural Studies of Visual Images and Representation". The short of it: I studied the way cultures receive media. Mass Comm and other such marketing majors seemed to have an approach to media that didn't sit right with me. Mass marketing has set formulas that ignore cultural and social cues. It's all so impersonal and impractical really. I mean, it works... it definitely works. But it ignores so much about people and their history and traditions. I have more to say on this topic, obviously, seeing as how I wrote a massive thesis about it. The point of this particular side-bar is to illuminate the fact that I decided to study individual cultures, and the history behind their particular reception of media and portrayal in media. The reason why this job is so perfect is that it constantly allows me the opportunity to get to know individuals. It also allows me to investigate the trends of "users" on our own site.

The best part about the interviews are the moments that happen off-camera. We have small chats about things that aren't business, they are charming insights into each person. They are the reasons why they love their job, tales about their families, places traveled, highlights as to what technology they find most interesting in their day-to-day life. I love hearing these bits because it shows what people are behind this industry.

Doubtful I would have told you that I was going to be in the tech industry post-college. I figured I would be a rock star, an acrobat in Cirque de Soleil, or perhaps a helicopter pilot for a logging company. Instead, I work for a fairly large company. I have a cubicle that is riddled with word of the day calendars and airplane toys. I go to "important" meetings. I take notes. I buy pencil skirts and listen in to conference calls.

Sometimes I feel like I'm conducting my own experiment. And perhaps I am. I am learning what it is like to experience corporate society. But I still feel like I have a different impulse when it comes to the day-to-day. I want to know why everyone shows up in the morning, what their experiences are, why they were initially so passionate about the industry--and if their passion has shifted. The technology is remarkable and innovative, but it is only as good as the minds behind it.

I expect to outline my own adventures in social media, the people using it, the trends that come of it, and the industry it surrounds.

I encourage any conversation you may want to add. Are you a J-Net member? Introduce yourself. Not a J-Net member? Still introduce yourself, and maybe afterwards puruse our forums anyway just to get a look at what I do and see what I am so passionate about.

Pleased to meet you, I look forward to what happens next.

Tales of Home

I went home to see my parents. My childhood never knew these overpasses.

We're surrounded by refineries. I have strong lungs.

Watch the sun cut through fog so forcefully it chipped the paint from the railings

I guess I have to come to terms that you will be sticking around.

I have a thing for numbers.

Outside Lands Music Festival, SF

We could all get a little bit to gain, we could all give it up the same.
He turned around to search for friends, and gave me one of my favorite pictures I've taken.
We had regal archways and dreams fit for kings.
Of these cut-throat busted sunsets, these cold and damp white mornings I've grown so weary.
If through my cracked and dusty dime store lips I spoke these words out loud would no one hear me?

Disneyland Magic!

We're standing at Innoventions, waiting for the day to cool down.

I sense a theme here.

A child was reaching.

Indulge.


When visiting Pasadena, we go to Twin Palms on Sunday for buffet brunch and unlimited mimosas. Also, I get to sing with The Colonels of Corn.

Dinner from scratch

Went to stay the night at a friend's house while her husband was out on an international business trip. We made our own marinated chicken. It was unbelievable.
Sitting out on the patio chatting and drinking wine.

In the morning, the day was washed in the prettiest light.

These are left over from last winter when it flooded their house. I think they're beautiful.

Day old eyeliner. Good morning Maylene.

Monterey in August

Monterey in August. I fell in love quickly. I was tangled up in tendrils of the day.

Lunch on the dock. The weather was gloomy heading in to Monterey. By the time the car was parked, the sun was out and the clouds had retreated.


Nemochek, he's not from around here.


This is Piper. He was going to a dance.

I see how you look at the strangers.

Capturing Childhood Moments

This is the door to the house I grew up in. It's had years of abuse.

I don't know why we have so many resin chairs. We don't have enough bums to fill them all.


My parents bought a new house. This is their light fixture.
We all ate sandwiches. This is my momma.
And this is my papa.
This is my favorite room in the house, the upstairs bathroom. The ceiling is slanted and everything is wood.
I accidentally set off the camera.

Adventures with Sand

A recent road-trip yielded me laughter, love, and photographs


Scope

Aversion Therapy

Lincoln

Slatter House

Gated Community