Postcards from the Id

Geek Updates

For all those interested in various issues related to Geekdom:

1) An effort is underway to honor the late Gary Gygax with a statue in his hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  If you have to ask, “Who is Gary Gygax?” you are probably wasting your time reading this post.  The truly pertinent question would be, “Will there be any features that allow for animation, and a potential destructive rampage?”

2) Star Wars versus Star Trek - Which one to choose on a desert isle?  Despite the fact that the poll question posed is not the same as the question many are answering (from a look at the comments), it is a fun debate that was portrayed rather humorously in Fan Boys.  My vote?  Star Wars, of course!

3) As recently noted, I pulled out an old microgame called Saga, and played it with my seven-year old last weekend.  He enjoyed the game, but it is a by-the-numbers game, very little imagination involved.  I’ve often wondered when my kids can start to tackle the more complex and/or more imaginative stuff.  Based on a review by Paul Tevis and reviews at RPG.com, I’ve decided to order Faery's Tale, a role-playing game for children.  From the sound of it, the game allows for a fair bit of imagination, the use of magic, and emphasizes problem-solving skills (instead of just hacking away at everything).  Looks good!  Once I’ve played it with the kids, I’ll post my impressions.

4) If you want to raise your daughters to be just as geeky as you and your sons, here is a helpful guide.

5) Lileks posts about all sorts of nostalgia, and he has a recurring post regarding “out-of context” advertisements.  This one is pretty funny.  Today’s newspaper carriers are tomorrow’s leaders!  I’m proof-positive that this is not necessarily the case...

6) Oops!  Looks like I ruined Facebook for the cool kids.

You Know Social Networking Has Arrived...

...when it starts popping up in all sorts of mainstream pop culture media.  Now, I'm not saying there haven't been references to Facebook, Myspace, etc. before (I remember recently seeing an episode of My Boys that revolved around Facebook), but to have a large-scale movie (in this case, Funny People) devote this amount of time (HT: TechCrunch) to these sites suggests social networking is sufficiently well-known to the general audience that the material will be broadly recognized, not merely an insider reference.  I suppose I knew this anyway, given personal observations: Two years ago, I was way too old for Facebook - now, parents and in-laws are sending me friend requests.  Indeed, Facebook has arrived!

I'm A 12th Level Warrior/Therapist, And I'm Here To Help

Within the overarching topic of whether Internet and gaming addictions are, in fact, addictions in the psychiatric sense of the word (which I don't know enough about to render a meaningful opinion), I saw this article.  According to the post, a psychiatrist in England is discussing the possibility of offering game addiction treatment to people who play World of Warcraft excessively.  His idea is to have mental health professionals available in the game setting, and potentially work with the peer supervisors to identify individuals who may need assistance.  Going into the game is a way of reaching the group who might not otherwise surface much into the real world, thereby slipping through the cracks.

I have no idea of how prevalent excessive game play is, whether players would even respond to any sort of outreach, etc.  I don't think it's ever a bad idea to have suggested guidelines or recommendations for any activity, and certainly if someone isn't paying bills or going to work because they are playing a game 15 hours a day, they need to get theri priorities in order.  I just think that the idea of mental health professionals roaming through multi-player game scenarios sounds funny, even if the effort is serious and legitimate.  In fact, my first thought was of the "Angel" in the movie Disclosure, the all-knowing Internet guide...

Impact of Tech on Custer’s last Stand

Over at Wired, a nice blog review of the impact technology might have played in Custer’s fall at Little Big Horn.  My only real knowledge of this event is from reading Ambrose’s Crazy Horse and Custer (which I enjoyed), so I like coming across posts like this.  Seems like the numeric advantage was overwhelming, so the rifle differences probably only hastened the eventual outcome.  On the other hand, if Custer had brought Gatlin guns, who knows?  Interesting stuff, worth a read.

Baby-Boomers and Online Social Networking Needs

Interesting article about online social networking, and how baby boomers have different expectations than younger people.  In particular, and not surprisingly, two areas of concern are privacy, and attention-seeking.  From the article:

According to a study to be published in HCI2009 conference 55-65 year-old Finns consider social network sites unsecure. In addition, they consider the behaviour at these sites often inappropriate. According to researchers Vilma Lehtinen, Jaana Näsänen and Risto Sarvas young people, for instance, usually find it natural to publish a personal pictures on the web, but many Finnish baby-boomers consider that inappropriate as self-assertion.

Another idea brought up in the article, related to the above, is that boomers were brought up in a less photo-intensive world, which contributes to the discomfort with the frequent visual images regularly displayed by younger networkers.  Given the importance of social networking in general, and the potential benefits of online sites in facilitating social contact, addressing these issues with respect to boomers would likely provide a number of benefits, whether it be educating older users on security issues, tweaking existing sites for older users, or developing boomer-friendly sites.  I know there are sites out there that market themselves as “40+ sites,” but I’m not sure whether they address the concerns noted in this article.

Interesting Issues Related to Social Networking

Two articles I've recently read discuss various aspects of online participation that I found interesting enough to link to.  First, Steven Levy wrote an article in January's Wired about the guilt of not posting on one's blog, Twitter, etc., and the off-setting experience or remorse when participating too much, due to concern about revealing too much to the online community. 

I've thought about both of these issues, related to both my blog and social networking presence.  Personally, I probably hold back a bit more than necessary, with respect to my personal life, opinions, etc.  Part of that was a conscious decision about the type of blog I want, and type of experiences I want on Facebook.  Part of it is a bit of "who I am," if that isn't too much of a cop-out.  A third part is my profession, and a belief, in that vein, that being a bit more conservative in what I post, even when it is more personal, is probably a smart thing.

Frankly, I've been a bit surprised by what some people will post online, regardless of format.  On blogs, anyone can access what you've written, and unless you've managed to post completely anonymously, what you've written will follow you as long as it remains online.  Legitimate opinions don't pose a problem to me, but other stuff could certainly bite someone if, say, a potential emploer digs around.  On social networking sites, I've just been surprised how much people will post about day to gripes, comments about other people their identified friends know, rumors and gossip, etc.  Even some of the pictures have surprised me!  Maybe I'm just part of the old guard, and a bit too stuffy for this brave new world, but I try to keep things to a point where I don't post anything I might later regret.  As a result, I don't worry about this issue nearly as much as the author of the article, but then again, I doubt I have his readership, either.

This article, on the other hand, discusses the issues related to one's online community when a person has dies.  No, not their online character, the actual person.  As online social networking, gaming, etc. take a more prominent place in many peoples' lives, the death of an individual will increasingly impact others in the online universe, but currently without an easy solution to notify those you have online relationships with.  Given security issues, passwords, usernames that don't provide much of a hint to one's actual identity, etc., a person may pass away, with their online friends and acquaintances being left to wonder what happened to their frequnet online companion.  Not sure what the technological ramifications of this will be (besides those mentioned in the article), but I'm sure this will be more of an issue as more and more people begin to form various types of relationships on the Internet. 

Internet Trolls at Yale Law School Prompt Lawsuits

Interesting article about a law school Internet forum where several anonymous trolls harassed a couple of female students by posting their names, along with some truly offensive content. Lawsuits abound, and the case demonstrates the current issues related to privacy, free speech, and the responsibility for moderators regarding the content of their site.

From a legal standpoint, I don’t know what to make of this. Free speech actually doesn’t seem to be applicable, in that this is not related to any sort of government censorship...but since I’m not a lawyer, I’ll shut up. From the perspective of the university, I cannot understand how they did not have some sort of rules/etiquette for the forum. Virtually all web sites that have any sort of community post rules about content. It would seem that would have solved the problem. However, is the forum moderator responsible for the content of the people who post messages? I suppose this is the point being made in the article, that the law hasn’t caught up to technology.

From the perspective of the anonymous trolls, besides sounding like idiots (and worse), I suppose the lesson ought to be that one should never presume anonymity. What’s the old saying about the definition of character? It’s what you do when no one is watching. Well, it seems someone is always watching nowadays. So, if you can’t be bothered to do the right thing, and behave like one would expect a law student to act, because you are not intrinsically motivated to do so, you may want to consider acting like a decent human being simply because, despite creating an ID name such as “AK-47,” your real identity may actually be uncovered.

Dealing with E-Mail

O. K., I admit it: I’m a little behind on my reading. As an example, I am linking to an article from last month’s Wired, a magazine I generally read cover-to-cover within its first week of arrival. The upside is, I’m a little behind because I’ve read a couple of books, which I will post reviews of over the next week or two.

Reading the July issue of Wired I came across this short article, which I thought I would link to. Clive Thompson wrote a piece about dealing with excessive e-mail. I thought he made a couple of interesting points, particularly with how the technology of e-mail facilitates ever-increasing time wasting activity. Without getting into details, he notes that while it may only take a few moments to generate an e-mail, it can be sent to enormous numbers of people with virtually no extra time required on the part of the sender. On the receiving end, you may have hundreds of people (or more) who then each spend time sorting through various messages, deciding when and whether to read them, etc. Good point.

On the other hand, I don’t have nearly the problem Mr. Thompson does in terms of e-mail overload, either at home or at work. I understand Mr. Thompson writes things that other people actually read (unlike myself), but come on - 12,802 messages in your box? Dude! I agree, though, it is important to stay on top of these things, especially at work. As Mr. Thompson notes in his article, I prefer to deal with an e-mail as soon as it arrives, and deleting it if at all possible. If I need to save it, or I think it might come in handy in the future, I will move it to one of 5 or 6 folders for safe keeping. In general, I try to keep my inbox at work to less than half a page of e-mails, around 15 or so. Anything more, and my tension level rises as I perceive a need to address issues, even if that is not the case. I particularly dislike having to scroll because I cannot see all of my e-mails on the screen at the same time. Obviously this will occasionally happen, such as when I go away on vacation, but then my first order of business is to reduce that list to a manageable level.

Dealing with e-mails as they arrive also allows me to manage my own behavior. Though I’m not nearly as bad as I used to be, I can still occasionally succumb to procrastination. Very often ancillary responsibilities and tasks are assigned to me via e-mail. If I deal with them immediately, or at least as soon as possible, I’m not procrastinating. If I am not procrastinating, than I'm generally managing my most significant work-related flaw in an effective manner. In other words, if my e-mail box has 15 or fewer e-mails in it, I’m getting my work done efficiently. A crude measure, to be sure, and only one of several measures I use to make sure I’m doing what I have to get done, but still effective. Woe is me on the day I need software to help me manage and prioritize my e-mail; it’s probably on the same day on looking for another job!

Breast-ricity!!!

"Harnessing the untapped power of breast motion." 

Technology in the Service of Personal Health and Fitness

On the heels of my post regarding the Wii Fit, this article discusses a few other ways in which technology is being used to improve people’s well being. The authors examine such items as cell phones that measure the number of steps people take, as well as glucose levels, e-mail reminders (with images) designed to increase exercise, and phone counseling designed to improve the fitness of pregnant women. Really cool applications, all!

What is really nice about much of this stuff is the immediacy of the feedback, as well as the tracking of progress. For example, I have a GPS device for runners that allows for instantaneous feedback on how fast I’m going, how far I’ve gone, and how long I’ve been running. It also has other bells and whistles for the more serious runners. Time was, one had to go out in their car and drive the running route in order to gauge a distance, and knowing your pace was an art, based on “feel.” The degree of information provided makes setting goals that much easier, as well as interesting. In addition, the device frees up my running from pre-set parameters; if I decide to go a different way, I’ll still know exactly how far I’ve gone. It makes the whole process of running easier and more interesting.

What will be interesting to witness is, with the continuing understanding that games make things more appealing (especially to kids), the increasingly creative ways tech folks will design games to increase the frequency and intensity of behaviors that are desired. As mentioned earlier, the Wii Fit is just one example. By quantifying fitness through scores, people will not only get a quick and dirty number regarding their current status, they will have a time-proven desire to want to improve that score. A child has a speech difficulty? A voice recognition program will make a game out of speech therapy. A veteran is learning to walk on artificial legs? Some smart, creative person will create a game that encourages learning to walk that way. The potential is limitless, and instead of computers leading to sloth and obesity, it may well lead to a quantum leap in the capacity to improve human functioning.