*** The Next Great Generation will come of age thinking that this is news ***
Archives for category: The CLOUD
I’m not an early adopter, I’m a wait and seer. So, in 2005 when I was talking to Doug Peckham (a friend and mentor) and he dropped the name of Urban Dictionary, I let it pass like I knew what it was, but I didn’t. I learned.
Urban Dictionary (as you know) is an infectious site. It was developed by Aaron Peckham, who is Doug’s son. Aaron is also a former student of mine from Sacramento High School, not that I taught him anything. He was well on his way to success because he is extremely intelligent, has rad parents and he is genuinely nice and acts compassionately toward the world.
So, that’s just full disclosure before I attempt this critique of how some people engage each other on-line:
I don’t like when people send me messages or post things that read like directives. Like this for example: “Go to urbandictionary.com, type in your first name, copy and paste this as your status and the first entry for your name under the comments” .
Now, this attempt to generate the next meme on facebook probably didn’t originate with Urban Dictionary or Aaron himself. Which makes it an even greater example of how modern culture works. And it’s rooted in positive behavior: people find something fun and useful and they want to share it with others. They want to be IN and they want to GET IN EARLY. This is just an accepted way that people interact on-line and I should just live with it or step off.
But, look at that statement, “Go to … type in …” It’s very prescriptive. It reads like an IKEA manual. It asks you to diminish your ability to make any decision that is not binary (yes/no). I ask you, is that anyway to talk to a friend? Where is the cordiality? Where is the romance? What are you offering to me or the world? Is the id steering the ship? Are we just here to harvest sex-type-feelings and/or ego strokes from tangential relationships in Anonymous Land?
1—> I ask myself How and Why and the answer is not because I can.
Ok, I’m done with my little old grampa rant. In truth, I am vicariously proud of a former student who created something ubiquitous, something that adds levity to daily life and is actually quite useful sometimes. And the larger question that looms for me personally is this: If I taught Aaron when he was in high school. Does that make me 1 ) a character on Lost who can go back in time to try to affect the present or 2) more than a little bit old?
Sorry, that’s a bit of a binary question. Anyway, the student surpasses the teacher, Hallelujah! Where would I be without them? I’d be without a band, without many friends doing rad things in the city and apparently without a place where I can easily go look up the meaning of “Lee Bob” which apparently has something to do with masturbation. Well, Life is a Miracle!
I don’t know about you but I have some anxiety about putting stuff up on the web on a regular basis for eyes and ears to behold. I just don’t want to add to the noise, you know what I’m saying? I don’t want to be a bad actor.
1 — >entertaining wholesome + FrenchI share things that I’m actively engaged in or have a great appreciation for. If I publish something it’s because I have some belief that a certain type of discourse will allow us to navigate a way forward in life.
2 — >stony calm + DanishWhat I want to do now is recognize an example of what I feel (so far) is not wrong with the internet: Thank You, Vimeo Staff Picks, for showing me things that I enjoy and probably by no other means would have found.
3 — >I wish I could do this kind of rad animation or knew someone who could.So, we’re all doing this media thing. Maybe this is the advent of a new form of massive engagement and democracy in action. Who really knows? I just wanted to say that I think we should seriously think about How and Why we do what we do. At the risk of sounding old fashioned, as usual.
