10.05.08
Posted in technology at 6:04 pm by rachel
iPhone applications are really starting to piss me off. I’m not talking about the good ones, that are actual client applications for their webservice counterparts (Facebook’s app is a good example) - those are great. I’m talking about the ones that are glorified shortcuts to mobile-formatted websites. (Yes, Bank of America, I am calling you out. What the hell is that about?) A lot of the iPhone apps that big companies have been launching quite frankly suck.
So when I heard about the “Obama ‘08″ application, my expectations were very low. I was expecting a mobile version of the website, maybe a streamlined donation interface, and probably some “go vote! go vote now!” nagging.
But the Obama campaign actually used this app to introduce completely new, phone-specific features. The one that blew me away was that the Obama ‘08 app tells you who you already know in battleground states by scanning the area codes of the numbers in your contacts list. Then it offers one-touch shortcuts to call them or text them.
It also displays upcoming local events based on your GPS (or tower location) information, some of which are immediately actionable (example: sign waiving today, 1 mile from here!), local campaign contacts, and provides quick access to talking points on major issues. Oh, and the UI is shiny and very consistent with the iPhone UX.
Apparently, it was developed very quickly by a self-organized group of volunteers.
In short, they did it right. Get this app on your phone, see where your disproportionately important friends are, then talk to them about Obama (and make sure they’re registered!)
Check it out: Obama ‘08 App for iPhone
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10.04.08
Posted in internet subcultures at 11:14 pm by rachel
I’m from the internet: from USENET, and from some early web BBs, but mostly I’m from LiveJournal.
For the past 7 years, I’ve written on LJ more-or-less under my real identity, and it has involved carefully adjusting what kind of content is viewable to readers on a per-person basis. That fine-grained control was great for me as a (nerdy, awkward) teenager. I could control how much to let each friend into my inner world. I could seek advice on high school drama only from friends outside the state. Because of this feature, LJ was a social diary: a means of recording my life as well as getting support and staying in touch.
I’ve experimented with other modes of blogging, too. For a few years I maintained a very personal blog with all content public – but it was under an identity that was very difficult to trace back to me. That blog quickly took on the character of postsecret or confess.cc - interesting and honest, but very dramatic. Eventually I abandoned it.
I also used to write for a group blog. All content was public and I publically associated myself with the blog, but most people didn’t know which of the pseudonymous bloggers I was. The content I posted was fairly personal, but I found myself writing more forcefully (angrily?) than I did on LJ or on my anonymous blog. On the group blog, everything felt mischievous and daring, but at the end of the day I didn’t really believe that what I wrote could come back to haunt me.
In each of these three blog experiences, my blogging behavior was shaped by the amount of anonymity (and the amount of control over privacy) I had. On this blog, though, it was all new territory. And once again, the amount of anonymity I had shaped my blogging behavior.
Unfortunately, my skittishness about having ZERO anonymity resulted in, well, zero posts for 5 months. I don’t know what I can do about that skittishness besides power through, though, so powering through I am. I think a post a day ought to do it.
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10.03.08
Posted in administrivia at 4:07 pm by rachel
Every time i think of this blog, I feel a little guilty. I had such big plans for it - it was not going to be my first blog, not by a long shot, but it was going to be the first time that I was really publishing content under my own name. I was going to get my ideas out there into the void. I was going to “join the conversation” as myself. I was going to push those more unfortunate google results for my name down to the second page.
So I registered this domain, threw some Wordpress on it, did some posting… and then stopped.
The thing is, I didn’t stop because I ran out of things to write about. Quite the opposite - since I created this venue for myself, I’ve had so many ideas about posts to write and discussions to start that I’ve gotten overwhelmed. I maintain a text file with one-line summaries of posts I mean to write “when I have more time”, and it’s impossibly long. Ironically, I think I stiffled myself with my own idea-capture system. I wonder how many others have fallen into this trap?
So I’m starting over - no more text file. Furthermore, I am publically commiting to post at least one entry per day for the rest of 2008. A big goal, but nothing unachievable. Not all the posts will be treatises on internet social power, nerd emotional communication protocols, or the like - though I do hope to cover these topics in some depth and get discussion going. There will probably be some link-blogging and cause-promoting. But I’m going to get my momentum going again.
Watch this space.
This post is brought to you in part by Elisa Camahort Page of BlogHer, whose talk at GHC08 lit a fire under my ass to get back to blogging.
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