Jun

27

Explain please

Filed Under irregular, tout le fromage | 10 Comments

So if Amy Winehouse has an itch on the top of her head

Someone pass that girl a knitting needle.
how does she scratch it?

That would drive me nuts…

(See, I told you I’d be back to my pointless blogging… ;) )

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Jun

26

Some thoughts and then the next post will not be about Facebook. Promise.

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

Yesterday saw a flurry of Facebook related posts and comments around here and whilst I’ll still state that I don’t like Facebook and how it builds walls between members and ‘the rest of us’, (not to mention the mining, buying and selling of your private information), I’m wrapping some thoughts up here so I can start posting fun stuff again. :) Can’t promise I won’t have a new (or rehashed) reason to comment on it in the future, but after this post I’d like to get back to my regular, often pointless, blogging.

I’ll mention first, that Ian Forrester has commented that the London Geek Dinners is an “open group” on Facebook. See the comments on that post for more info.

The catch, as I see it, is that you still have to be a member of Facebook to view it. That is not what I would call open… it is open to members of Facebook only. That’s fine and fair and there is no reason to hold back from creating such a group, however, it absolutely divides the followers of London Geek Dinners (and London Girl Geek Dinners). You now have a group within Facebook and ‘the rest of us’. I deactivated my Facebook account and goodness knows I don’t expect any group to say, ‘Oh no! Jen isn’t happy with Facebook! Abandon ship Facebook!’ Don’t be silly… What I do hope is that the Facebook users do not become a sort of upper social tier (clique) based on their members-only social network affiliation. It could easily happen: in-jokes, comments made only on the Facebook pages and then discussed at meetups… we’re human and it will happen. I truly hope this natural and predictable interaction doesn’t segregate us. Dividing any group’s followers with unrelated third-party members-only networks splits the path and muddies the space. Why put a fork in what was a straight and direct road to a destination?

Making something very clear: this isn’t about London Geek Dinners, but the recent LGD Facebook group creation solidified a feeling I already had forming in my subconscious about Facebook dividing people. I posted about Facebook last week. I caved to social pressures and joined the service. I wish I hadn’t. I have only me to blame for that (well, and Facebook. Bastards. ;) ).
What I hope I’ve brought forward more than anything is that every time a link is posted to a page within Facebook to the world outside of Facebook, that link (and its poster) excludes people. The ‘welcome’ page non-members get is a stark, uninviting login screen with no other content— it’s the equivalent of a giant, muscly body guard outside an exclusive club’s door. You aren’t welcome to the content within the Facebook walls unless you give up something in return, and in this case, it’s your data. Forever. I have never felt so unwelcome on a site. Even without the information brought to light by the video I linked to in another post, I felt this way.

This is not the way to start or nurture relationships. It’s high-level data mining wearing a social network cloak and at the same time subtly creates social outcasts out of the ones who want nothing to do with it.

I joined it and now I can never truly leave. Sounds dramatic, but Rachel called Facebook a new Hotel California. She’s right you know… ;)

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Jun

25

Evidently, Facebook owns me

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 20 Comments

Once in Facebook, you can’t really get out of Facebook. Yes, perhaps I should have read the Terms and Conditions more closely, but not many people even skim those, let alone read them.

You can never really leave Facebook. They own your data.
I ‘deactivated’ my Facebook account. They do not offer a ‘delete account’ option. Click to enlarge the above picture to see what you’re faced with when trying to leave. If you haven’t already seen the video I linked to in the previous post, you should. I am not paranoid, but I am also not stupid*. There are very powerful people involved with Facebook. Something sinister is going on and I don’t like it. I linked to the video in my ‘Other’ reasons for leaving (deactivating) my account. I also requested that they delete my data from their database. I’m certain they won’t.

Fortunately, the profile information I had input was minimal. Nothing too revealing or specific, but I’m sure it’s valuable to the third-party information buyers and other end-users anyway.

It’s far too easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new network or web technology without looking under the hood to see what’s truly going on. I’m sure my data is all over the place anyway, but it doesn’t mean I’m particularly thrilled about it. It’s almost as if we’ve entered an era where we’ve all filled out so many online forms that there’s no point in worrying about what’s happening with that information. We will all nod and type away without questioning things anymore. Remember when you wouldn’t give up your birthday or even your last name unless the service was your bank or other (hopefully) highly secure service? Now, loads of Web 2.0 startups have your details right down to Mother’s maiden name and saved credit card details. We leave our virtual doors unlocked at night and don’t seem to notice the wolves on the lawn.

There is no such thing as privacy anymore and pretty much every company has the potential to do evil. I just cut my ties (as best as I could) with one of them.

*So why, oh why did I sign up in the first place?

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Jun

25

OK, maybe I do have something against Facebook

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 7 Comments

I’m sure bits of this are alarmist, but even the minor data mining is a little spooky.

Really considering deleting my account with Facebook now.

(Credit for finding this clip goes to GD.)

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Jun

25

A little complaint about Facebook

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 7 Comments

Through monitoring RSS and Twitter, I’ve noticed several groups shifting away from open information websites and moving social operations to within Facebook pages.

You will get no further with Facebook without being logged into Facebook. This is frustrating.

Let’s get one thing straight: Facebook is not social. It is an UNsocial network based on cliques. Not a single page of Facebook is visible to the ‘outsider’ without setting up a Facebook account. If adopted as the hub for ‘meatspace’ social meetup groups, this migration of communication will certainly hurt attendance. The simple act of stumbling onto information is lost if one must log in to a secure network to see it. Seems like a frightening revival of secret handshakes to me.

Ian Forrester announced via his Twitter account that he had set up a London Geek Dinners Facebook group. I did a search for it within Facebook— I could not find it. I broadened the search to just geek dinner. Nothing relevant. Not even the London Girl Geek Dinner Facebook group shows up with those search terms.* I certainly hope those events (and others like it) don’t drop their non-Facebook public announcements and site updates in favour of Facebook ‘friend’ interaction. After not finding the above groups using simple search terms, I fear that even active Facebook members will have difficulties in knowing what’s happening or available.

I’m not anti-Facebook — I’m sure it’s useful to someone out there — but I am concerned about the migration of groups adopting it for organising and/or discussing events as well as the closed-door casual interaction of the group’s supporters. My RSS is full of people moving this way and it seems as though if you don’t join the ‘hot-social-trend-of-the-moment’ herd, you’re left in the cold. I cannot see how this is social, inviting, or inclusive.

Note: I did set up a Facebook account a week or so ago but I’m actually considering deleting the profile because I find the clubhouse tactics are irritating me more than I should allow.

* I did find the Girl Geek group with the terms london geek, but still not London Geek Dinners. If it’s a matter of waiting for the indexing to occur, fair enough, but the basic problem of information accessibility remains.

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Jun

24

Still damaged after all these years

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

Neil’s Dad and step-mother were over last night for a late Father’s Day meal of Mexican food as well as to share with us their video footage showing their recent trip to the American west. (My! For being very new at the whole camcorder thing, he sure used it a lot!) Four hours later, we said our goodnights and although we really did enjoy the majority of his footage — including the ‘name that sound’ moments where he left it recording in the camera case — one simple truth remains:

I am forever damaged by Disney’s It’s a Small World pavilion.
I experienced the one in Florida twenty odd years ago and still found myself rocking side to side and singing along like a low-level drone zombie being called home by her zombie queen. The others in the room found this most amusing. I am a tiny bit horrified. Neil has never been to Disney. Oh, it’s now on the list of things to do, I assure you. Feel my pain, Welshman.

I need to listen to some very scary music to bury this psychological damage deep again…

* charges iPod for thought cleansing *

Luh la la la la la luh la la la…

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Jun

23

hanging out in his internets: Warren Ellis - The Friday Telescreen

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | Leave a Comment

He invited, and looks like hundreds probably turned up in his inbox.
Here’s the panel with me in it. Click the picture to enlarge.
The shot I chose seemed appropriate.

Meonwarrenellisinternets

Warren Ellis | The post my pic is in.* | Warren Ellis in Wikipedia

Thank you, Mr Ellis.

(*His blog doesn’t render well in Safari— you may want to use Camino or FireFox.)

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Jun

22

the balcony

Filed Under photos, tout le fromage | 8 Comments

reIMG_2913.jpg

The caption on flickr reads like this:

It’s a rainy morning, and if it weren’t for the grey sky in the distance, you’d never know it from this picture of our balcony.

This shows our recently purchased and treated IKEA table in one of our favourite spots of the whole flat. There are several plants on the close wall, including Neil’s bonsai trees, but all I could get was the tips of my Wellies in this shot. :)
It’s a lovely space.
I may have to do some reading out there today…

I feel certain I will.

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