the importance of yesterday today and tomorrow
One of the most beautiful qualities of the social networking tools that are being built today is that they give us the ability to record nearly every moment of our lives. Whether we post it online or offline, each one of us are recording history as it happens, for future generations, social scientists, documentarians and our own family members to read and get a better picture of how each and every one of us lived.
Egad, with my sieve-like memory, I would like to know 5 - 10 - 15 years from now how I lived today. And even if no one else cares but me, that is enough impetus for me to want to record this.
I had a brilliant professor, Dr. Eli Silverman, tell me years ago that it is very important for women to record our own history, because history has been recorded by powerful men. This really struck a chord with me, but I think that the statement can be expanded to include 95% of the population. History, in actuality, has only been recorded by a handful of people. Yes, mostly men, but also mostly wealthy, white, powerful ones.
And surely, I know that the tools - the revolutionary tools - I refer to are hardly accessible to everyone, whether through cost or difficulty or general lack of promotion. But these new barriers are not insurmountable and we see the $100 laptops and free wifi initiatives springing up to achieve the tearing down of the first firewall. Education and grassroots initiatives are already well on their way to solving other issues.
Alongside the benefits of recording one's history, there are also social networking implications - what have been referred to as 'Web 2.0' tools are those that connect us now as well. We can use this social software to communicate with friends, family and make new connections as well. We can share photos, dreams, thoughts and interests through the read/write web envisioned so many years ago.
Perhaps the best way to demonstrate this is to list the social networks available right now that I use (and please, feel free to augment in the comments with your own). So, what are they? How can one use them to record their own history while we connect today?
Photography
Riya - Okay, so this is a shameless plug and it's not available to the public yet, but I believe what we are working on will be very powerful - finding digital photos you want to find online. Of people, moments, places and memes. Our aim is to pull from all online photos to help you find what you are looking for.
Flickr - What Stewart and Caterina built here is an amazingly powerful network of amateur photographers. Whether we post our photos, our work or our art, Flickr's groups, tagging and built-in networking tools are uber fantastic for keeping in touch with friends. Just ask Irina.
Events & Locations
Upcoming.org - Once again, the groups, tagging and built-in networking allows us to keep track of what everyone is up to. List a birthday party, a movie you want to see or a larger event or follow your personal network of friends to see where they are going. Afterwards, you can check back through your archives to see what you have attended.
Dodgeball - Going for coffee or drinks and want to alert all of your friends to see if anyone wants to join you? A simple text message will be automatically sent to everyone you have on your list to tell them where you'll be. They can choose to join you or give you an alternate location (where they are at). I also find this useful to see what people are generally up to. It sounds a bit 'stalking'ish, but combined with their Flickr photos the next day, you can really get a sense of what's up. As well, you can track where you've been online, as they keep track of your messages.
Plazes - This is one of my new favourite tools. I can map out where I've been and when simply. Certainly, this is more currently useful for those of us who never leave home without our laptops, but from what I hear, Felix and gang are adding a mobile component.
Interests
43 Things/Places/People - I'm just getting into this, but I'm loving it. The 43 networks give a deeper perspective of what I'm about. I put down 43 goals on 43 Things, which may or may not be shared with others around the world or within my personal network, people can comment, cheer or give me advice on how to approach those goals. 43 Places keeps track of where I want to go, whether I've gone, and shares other's experiences so I have a good idea of what to expect. 43 People can connect you instantly if that person you want to meet is online or connect you indirectly to others who admire that person's work.
Technorati - Technorati works in a couple of ways. #1, I can search tags for topics I'm interested in pursuing, finding other bloggers out there who I can subscribe to and share interests with. I can also find out who is listening/reading me through my 'vanity searches'. People I've never met from all over the world will turn up in my search results. Upon reading what they are writing, I may have found a new addition to my blogroll and/or aggregator.
Thoughts
Blogging - Wordpress/Blogger/Typepad, etc. - This is a network of personal voices, recording all of the above - our own personal homepages, rich and raw. The truth is, these are truly our very own spaces. Mine contains snippets of my life and lots of my rants. My family and friends read it to find out what I'm up to. My new friends (and my boss) look(ed) into my archives to find out more about me. I will be able to look back in years to come to see how I've grown (or regressed), what I was thinking at a particular point in time and what was happening to me.
Of course, there are many other tools that are essential to connecting me now and preserving snippets in time for me later, but these are my main ones...
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