A Post Secret

Sometimes I’ve almost slipped. Facebook and Twitter and Skype and all sorts of other networking status update tools have started feeling so natural.  I started wondering about social niceties and unspoken rules.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I did slip.  If I spoke some real truth, as opposed to the selected truth we use to build up our online and offline identities.  Even casually.

How would the world take it should an acquaintance type up (in 140 characters or less, of course): “Spent a couple hours masturbating this AM before heading to scrummy brunch. Mimosas and crisp bacon really completed my day ” OR “Off my meds, ate a whole pizza, can’t get out of bed, afraid I’m going over the edge” OR “I am so horny for my boss I am this far away from jumping him in the copy room” OR “XXX should just die!  Just jump off a cliff or have a good samaritain pull the trigger once and for all!” OR “Oh God I think I’m a lesbian!” OR “F*uck you world! Just f*ck you up the ass and around the corner and out your nose!”

Etc.  Not that these are in any way my confessions.

A Post Secret

Good grief, right?

Maybe not.  I have friends who are far more frank than I dare to be.  Not necessarily in very personal confessions, but rather in provocative links, daring allusions, vulgar or eye-opening or disgusting photos. Or even in their use of profanity, which I use rarely.

And the world certainly does have a need.  Ever heard of Post Secret? My sister is a new addict.  What started as an interesting contemporary art project (people sending in anonymous post cards spilling their secrets, compiled now into books), is something of an internet sensation. She reads posts on facebook, on the website, and even on twitter.  I think she’s even submitted.

By the light of the Hanukah Menorah my sister regaled me and a friend with tales of the anonymous who just had to reveal their sordid secrets to someone.  A woman was told her fiance was killed in Iraq only to find out later that he had married someone else.  Someone claiming to be a good person, not a racist in any way, finds Hitler irresistably sexy.  A woman admits to putting boogers in her husband’s food when she’s pissed off at him.  And it goes on and on.

Should we be more open and honest? Could this all really harm our online identities, or rather, our real identities? Some secrets protect. Some things may be best left unsaid. But what if you really feel like saying them? We have such a real need to be heard, especially about the things we find the most difficult to discuss.

Image from the Post Secret book

I’m just saying. They say the truth can set you free. Maybe it provides some relief.  But in this world, unless you have a stone facade, are totally confident with your situation, and are perhaps even independently wealthy, the truth seems to be a luxury.  I wish it were the case that the world would come together more, that friends would be more compassionate to each other, that we would push to become our better selves, in light of all this honesty.  We are all human – fallible, petty, hurt horny vindictive bastards.

But no.

Who would hire a bitchy bipolar bisexual Baptist? Any takers? Didn’t think so.  But that’s totally not me.  I’m Jewish, after all…

by Anna Otieno

WHAT’S HAPPENING

• Detergent brand Wisk has figured out a way to get rid of pesky stains of the online variety. It recently introduced Wisk-It, a Facebook application that aims to remove offensive or unwanted pictures from Facebook profiles.
• Wisk-It allows Facebook users to aggregate friends’ photos, identify offending pics, and send their friends a request to remove the photos in question. The catch? The recipient of the request must also use the Wisk-It application.
• While there’s no guarantee the photos will be removed, the application at least helps Facebook users notify their friends when they’re feeling overexposed.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

• As the saying goes, what happens in Vegas ends up on Facebook. Hence, the need for Wisk-It. Online social networks make it difficult for consumers to tightly control their digital identities. Applications that support user preferences and expectations are breaking through as more consumers are searching for privacy and control online.

RESOURCES

• Wisk-It Facebook page

In my previous post, I discussed how Rhyme & Reason Design was taking the social media world by storm – ok, ok storm may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.  However, as an avid reader you know that I only spoke of our Twitter and blog accounts, conveniently leaving out the crowning jewel of social media – Facebook.

Facebook being the premier vehicle driving the social media revolution required a greater undertaking – in both design and blog posts.  A facebook profile focal point tends to be the picture in the corner, however we wanted to showcase the creativity and smarts of our business. Rhyme & Reason entered the Facebook arena originally as a simple profile page, where we affixed a few pictures of our pearly whites, wrote a few quirky lines and then forced all of our friends to “friend” us.  We’ve matured since then.  Therefore, those pictures of our pearly whites have been removed, our quirky lines are now polished copy about our capabilities and now we are politely asking our friends to “fan” us.

Our Fan page allows us to showcase our professional acumen within an environment that thrives off of updates, pictures and information.  If you decide to “fan” us, which I think you should (I’m not above bribing you to do so) you will notice that we have created a site within a site, utilizing Facebooks’ interactive platform to create a design-heavy welcome page, interactive discussion forum and informative service page that easily links to sample work, plus a few other bells and whistles that you can check out on your own time.

As marketers, we see the advantage of social media in developing a dynamic conversation with current and potential customers.  Between Twitter, blogging and Facebook, we are able to increase the awareness of our company throughout the global marketplace, create a dialogue with a variety of people and businesses and showcase our work in the forum where we thrive.

MIT Personas is a recent MIT project which searches the internet in order to create a characterization of a person’s online identity. To get started, you simply input your name into the Personas website, hit enter, and watch the program begin crunching the data it finds about you online. Below, I inserted a video about characterizing Bob Dylan’s online identity.

As of last month, the ladies of Rhyme & Reason Design and the gentlemen of The Gameday Guru joined forces to develop the next great American football/tailgating company.  The guys came to us with a great idea of creating a brand that makes every college football fan eager with anticipation for Gameday.  From start to finish, we will be working together to create a logo, website, micro site and online identity for The Gameday Guru.   The main site will kick off just in time for 2010s multitude of Spring Scrimmages, followed closely by micro sites for individual colleges and universities beginning in the SEC conference.

For all the college football fans that can’t wait that long, we ask that you wet your appetite with a peek at The Gameday Guru’s new logo and if that’s not enough check out thegamedayguru.com for contact information on how to befriend your new tailgating connoisseurs.

Web 2.0 is often championed, and derided, for its power to reinvent or repackage yourself into a more appealing persona online. Our Facebook profiles, Twitter feeds, and video game avatars are carefully managed collections of our real world identities. We post information all the time, but usually only the things that project the personal image and experiences we want the world to see.

But what if the age of “always-on” Internet took this trend of semi-fictional identities back in the other direction? What if it actively prevented the act of inflating our real selves, or put a halt to the time-honored tradition of spinning dull memories into lively stories?

This would be the result if the ever-growing trend of lifecasting reaches it’s logical conclusion — cameras documenting and storing every moment of your life.

As we learned in class today, this possibility is not far off with regards to technology. It will soon be affordable to own enough data storage space to house every conservation in a lifetime. Wearable devices with tiny cameras should also be available to the general public within the next few years, making it possible to record and then archive every single moment.

Imagine how this would fundamentally warp the concept of memory. Last week my class visited a living museum to find physical symbols linking to our abstract memories. This week a different class teaches us that this whole process could be obsolete. Instead of unlocking past experiences in the deep corners of our minds, we just type in a time and date and watch the recorded footage word-for-word.

An informal poll of the class indicated a strong aversion for this method. Why would we want to dull our personal history by recording it in all its mundane detail? Why would we want to ever rewatch those experiences?

But already people record and share every bit of info they can on their children. When talking about our own youth, we often share a longing to relive a wonderful memory of a special moment, or go back and appreciate something we took for granted the first time around.

Recording an entire life holds that potential, and it will be interesting to see how popular this option becomes once the technology makes it possible. With those recordings comes the security that no part of life will ever fade or be forgotten. But the interpretive quality of memory that makes it so romantic a concept in the first place would be unequivocably lost in the process

September 28, 2009.  12:21 am

As I sit down to my computer screen to make this entry I can’t help but feel something similar to deja vu.  I just returned from seeing the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates.  It’s a show set in a not to distant future where people are capable of living their lives through surrogate bodies.  All interactions, all ‘real world’ activities are done through their surrogates while they, controlling them, relax in the comfort of their residence.  Their natural bodies plagued with the regular ailments of age while their surrogates gleam with the youthful vigor of days gone by.

An interesting idea, and somewhat relevant when you consider the fact that many people seem to have ‘computer’ lives that are separate from their own.  Perhaps computer identities might be a better description.  It made me think of my POF trials lately (that I’ve happily left off this blog) where I encountered a few people who admittedly use the site for entertainment and have no real desire to meet face to face.  It also made me think of the fashion industry and its effects on image and self perception, as well as the notable disassociation of people from what’s often perceived as our ’seemingly-boring’ natural environment.

It’s pure hollywood sci-fi of course, but still ties in neatly with modern trends in computer, online and machine technology.  At times over the top …but at other times sadly close to home.

3 highly over-priced popcorns out of 5.

Image from IMDb.

]]> http://joelyrighteous.com/2009/06/24/guest-post-online-identities-clashing-with-job-prospects/ Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:29:12 +0000 joelyrighteous http://joelyrighteous.com/2009/06/24/guest-post-online-identities-clashing-with-job-prospects/

The following is a guest post care of Rose Leonard, of I live with crazy people fame (okay, so she might not be famous… yet, but she will be.)

Recently, I was offered a position in the public service. I will be working closely with a high ranking member of this particular organisation, and as such I will be expected to act in a professional and discreet manner. I expected this, and in the interest of full disclosure, I mentioned in the job interview that I use many social media websites, and that I have a relatively strong online identity. My future boss looked confused by a) social media and b) online identities. He admitted to having no knowledge of the internet.

A few hours after my interview, I received a call. I had been Googled, and my boss was freaking out. I seemed to be broadcasting my entire life to the world via some ‘Twitter’ nonsense. I also had a ‘blog’ that detailed illegal behaviour committed by people I know! (Not by me.) I was quickly informed that if I wanted the position, this would all have to go. The organisation I work for has received considerable negative press in the past 10 years, thanks to Howard, and apparently they just can’t risk a senior official being linked to this sort of thing. I agreed and offered to shut it all down.

However, I feel that they’ve missed the point of my online behaviour. It is an outlet, and has little to do with how I behave in a professional environment. I made no mention of who they were when I discussed the interview on Twitter. I am pretty clear on my blog that the actions committed by the people around me are not also committed by myself.

I can’t help but wonder if this is all fair. How can a man who admitted to having no knowledge of these websites declare them to be unsafe? More importantly, if he openly admits to having a bad public image attached to himself and the organisation, why not welcome a new way to reach people and change? Their website is outdated and confusing. They have no youtube or twitter presence. Instead of looking at a new employee with a strong understanding of this as untrustworthy, why not implement my understanding? He’s demonising something he has no comprehension of, simply because I’m younger than him and therefore less intelligent. (Apparently.)

Premise: A student online creates an identity, AND that is our concern as instructors BECAUSE that identity influences learning.

From the book, Education for a Digital World: “Current discussions about online learning reveal that learners may have a sense of disorientation, isolation, and disembodiment when they first begin an online course.”

OK, I’ll agree that can be a problem for us as teachers of that online course.

“Research also indicates that a sense of anonymity can create a safe place for learner discourse.”

“Shy learners experience the thrill of being validated by their peers.”

That’s a good thing, right?

“Learners feel more inclined to challenge instructors and, as a result, become more empowered in their learning. The role of a teacher shifts from lecturer to motivator.”

(And the role of teacher also shifts to three-ring circus director as the entire class questions everything the teacher says every minute, but I digress. See earlier blog!)

“But … attrition rates in online courses are significantly high, which suggests it is because students are not motivated.”

The book suggests to change this, we as instructors must learn who are students are, at least in this persona, to determine what they need.

Is this true? A few blogs back, I explored the idea “should we be concerned with our student’s backgrounds?” In my FTF trainings, I always try to get an idea of ‘why’ a student is in my class. What is it they do, or what are they ‘looking’ for. It helps me connect to the student, and it helps me funnel information to them.

Earlier readings also talked of ‘pre-course assessments’ to see if the student was taking the right course, and if their level of knowledge fit the course they were taking.

However, we have a course to teach. How much can you deviate from the course you prepped for?

In trainings, I am trying to make certain the student will be able to use the tool they signed up to learn about. In my case, it is generally a specific software function, but other times I am training someone to do certain processes or procedures: better sales, achieving excellence in customer service, learning how work better with your advisory board.

Can I really move that far from the course to worry about what an individual needs?

Light Bulb Moment
Ah, wait a minute – we do this all the time in FTF classes, don’t we? We ask about their background or their job, or why they are taking the class. I am interested, but I am really asking so I can show them how what I am teaching them will be of value to them.

But the book is now going further, and suggesting that since a course is online, people often intrinsically create a ‘new’ personality, which is freed from how they look or how they sound. The experts are saying we need to learn about the persona of the online student, so we can recognize their needs to help them stay involved and interested.

And now, since we can’t gain any clues by their style of dress, or their physical body language, what can we do to address this? How can we learn about the person?

Perhaps, more specifically, do you agree with the premise at all? Should we be concerned with the student’s ‘online’ persona? Your thoughts, please!

We all go by many names.  Some of our names are given to us and some of them are earned.  I have a brother in law who is fond of saying the following when he is asked to be the master of ceremonies and is introducing himself:

“For those who don’t know me, my friends call me [his name] and my enemies can call me what ever they want.”

I love that.  it says so much and when you apply that to your growing persona or online identity it just speaks to the notion of having a name, online and off.  With the recent update of the Playstation Underground that allows us gamers to link our PSU and our PSN Accounts, we are becoming aware of of the fact that some of us have different names in different places.

I however have the same name for my PSU and PSN accounts.  E_Dragon.  It might be a name you recognize (hi guys!) or it might not be.  I find it interesting to note that while I can stand behind the notion that we need to be able to distinguish ourselves any way that we want, I can also see the benefits of having a universal log in name.

When I was playing racing games I was E_Racer and that led into playing first person shooter games where I tweaked my name to be E_Raser.  How I got to E_Dragon from there is another blog for another day and since I have talked about it before, I will probably leave it for another day.

Are many names more who you are or are you still that one gamer underneath it all?

Two incidences in one day and both online – gotta be careful with those ids.  I was browsing a friend’s flickr site and one of her contacts is someone who used to work here so I had a look (I thought) at her page of, I have to say, wonderful pictures.  I even sent a comment saying how much I was enjoying her latest upload.  She appeared to have been on a recent visit to New York and the photos were great.  Some of her others were a bit weird.  I was then about to write to my friend and ask when and why the contact had gone to New York when I came across another photo in Queens which said it was her home turf.  I was baffled – she was American?  I then went back to my friend’s flickr page and lo and behold there were two contacts with the same name – almost.  Oops.  Wrong person.  Sigh.

Later that evening I logged into Yahoo Messenger, something I rarely do these days, and there was an old chat friend online so we had a brief chat and he mentioned he had a Myspace page and told me his ID.  I went to the page, added him as a friend, and then looked with some puzzlement at the age and location.  I asked my friend if he put a different age to his real age or moved.  He was confused.  I then asked for his proper URL which was different.  His ID was unusual so I assumed the ID was part of the URL, but no – I had just asked to be friends with a complete stranger.  Sigh, again.

Finding those photos of New York didn’t help my current state of mind.  It came on top of watching “Grand Theft Auto 4″ and hearing the music on its radio stations.  (The graphics on that game are incredible – so realistic.)  The location of the game is based on New York and on one of the radio stations I recognised a song sung by a friend of you-know-who (if you followed my blog at Blogigo).  Sure enough there are three bands on that same station, LCHC, some band members of which he is close friends with.  F***.

Then I started missing him all over again.  My last email to him met with no response (as usual).  And yet he says he wants me to write to him.

Ah well, anyway, I won’t start going on about him again, don’t worry.  It would have been far easier if he’d lived in an obscure town…

This story was in one of our newspapers last week:

AUSTRALIANS now have so many online identities that we risk a kind of multiple virtual personality disorder, a leading clinical psychologist says. The average Australian has up to 10 virtual identities and more than 40 per cent of us lie about some our personal details, a nationwide survey has found. “We often think about the dangers of going online and interacting with other people, but there’s also a risk of altering your own relationship with yourself,” University of Melbourne’s Andrew Fuller said.

I post this for two reasons:

1. It’s probably not just Aussies who are having this crisis – so beware!
2. All of my details on Facebook are absolutely TRUE!!!!

Read more (using whichever identity you like ))