Showing posts with label word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word. Show all posts

Saturday, December 20, 2008

"hello world" - the mobile web; and first 2008 blog

"hello world"

I sent a test message (using go@blogger.com) from my new mobile phone today - the HTC Google G1. It's an amazing phone, and I'm not here to give it some tech review, as there are million of those online, but rather how it is changing the way I think about interacting with the web in disconnected states and full mobility. This phone is almost a mini computer, complete with pull out keyboard and large touch screen. It is this mobility combined with continually increasing computer power in these miniaturized devices that allows thought and ideas to flow to the web. It is a state of more connectedness from any remote location, and it is this state that is forcing me to reevaluate my workflow. At first there was no web, then came the cable to plug the computer into the web, then wireless freed the user to roam around hot spots, and now the mobile computer with satelite technology allows connectedness from anywhere - as the entire world becomes a hot spot.

To me this means when I have a new idea, I can post it (public or private). When I want to email, SMS, IM anyone - I can, whereever I am. (the battery life on these units needs to catch up to the increasing computing power required to run them - but I digress). I've used SMS and email on a phone; but this phone puts it all at your finger tips. And the IM, is seemless. Going to a particular contact contains every possible way of contacting them - all on the same screen. It does make me think about what mode of communication is best for different applications. (eg. email for more delayed communication; voice for complex discussions; text for a quick question; IM for fragmented conversation throughout a particular amount of time). Each has their own benefits and drawbacks, and with all of these at my fingertips it makes me think about how to most effectively use each of them.

I do tend to get very excited over new devices and new technology. So excited, like most people, that I use it extensively in the beginning and then wonder what benefit it holds. For example, pertaining to this particular blog entry - is there a benefit to writing a blog? I tried it before, but I always had to BE CONNECTED and take time to write something. But in a mobile word, as a thought enters my head, I can write a quick something about it. I will ask myself what this blog will be about, because I can't deal with public blogs that act as journals of personal events. Nobody, including myself, really cares if I went to the store today, or who I talked to, and what some friend said about some other friend, etc. However, just like anything; if this new mobile state is what I think, and my inspiration is unencumbered by the ease of transmission from head to screen, I am anxious to see how it evolves

Sunday, May 21, 2006

blog futures: the linear format

A blog... what is it? Well, we all know the simple answer as our brains engulf the ubiquitous concept that has defined a weblog - a linear flow from the brain onto the web. Media gives us the notation and buzz while new-industry gives us the tools for an overwhelmingly simple ability to post thoughts via the web. The simplicity of this publishing medium is exemplified by the fact that all I had to do to create this "article" was take 2 minutes to sign up, click a few self-guided buttons... and presto - an idea/concept/story "published" online with the potential to reach any web viewer.

The issue I am grappling with the blog-state currently, is its linear format. If you want to get to a particular article or idea, one must scroll through the entire log to find what one seeks. Sure, you can "search", but really how effective is that? At least in a magazine (still linear of form), editorials and articles are organized by the type of magazine in which they reside. However, in blog-town-USA, it seems to me a countless array of people posting an unending flow of text with no order; just ever-flowing thoughts.

How do we as people, already overloaded with information, digest these blogs? Perhaps this digestion is exactly as it implies; read the blog, digest it, and forget it. but as the blog and the publisher evolve, I would imagine there should be a better way to organize this information.

Perhaps, the advent of this new publishing methodology is driven as a means to create capital from either corporate buy out, or IPO. But if the system is grown successfully, it can effectively match the easy task of giving people a voice, with the much more difficult task of matching a voice to an ear.