Where was I?

Oh yeah, I was talking about the dynamics of what happens on the web with social media, and how that's changing the nexus of ideas. If you think it's boring, then you need to realize that this isn't about some highbrow professor speaking gobbledygook about something that will never affect you. It's ultimately about how many acquire truth.

So in that interest I've embedded a playlist below of David Weinberger where he broadens the discussion. I hope you will watch. His comments raise very interesting questions, and the most fascinating is how man is changing his frame of reference. Suffice to say that I have lots of thoughts on this, but I'm still thinking about it in terms of scripture, in terms of what I believe to be truth. Thoughts in a later post.



I will make two comments about his comments. First, I agree we're in a renaissance and I embrace it heartily. Second, I could care less about his political views -- at least with regard to this subject.

If it's Cool, You Win?

The video below is of a young man who will explain in three to four minutes how social media really works on the web. So why do you care? Well, he's explaining the shift in the nexus of ideas. The nexus or core is no longer rooted as much in places like the university classroom but moving towards the web with its quick transmission of memes (pieces of cultural information or thoughts). The often fast and furious transmission brings a kind of high that is not necessarily bad because it can be inspirational. That many ideas floating around bouncing into each other is bound to encourage something significant.

But there is a shallowness to it. The medium may have changed and now facilitates some ideas that possibly never would have occurred in our lifetimes. But the impetus of people hasn't changed one whit. They are not necessarily driven by what's best but sometimes by what's cool. For me the real question is whether or not the volume of their exchange inspires more depth. I have thoughts on that as well, but I'll save it for another post.

Hope you take a look at the video.



In case the intro blipped by too fast or you didn't see the ending, "TedTalks" which he refers to is a series of videos designed to spread great ideas. These are fascinating, and I highly recommend taking a look at them if you're interested in what you and others, and probably especially your kids, are going to be seeing and hearing and influenced by.

As for reddit, it's also fascinating, and "fast and furious" is sometimes not sufficient to describe what goes on there. At times I think of it like the trading pit at the NYSE.

Your Momma's in a Cloud

and she's probably not coming down.

Lots of mommas around my age (fifty) give or take 30 years or so, are discovering at a head spinning rate the joys of being online -- a lot. They get to talk to each other and share pictures and videos and find all sorts of nifty articles about the best way to make banana bread not to mention that great write-up on how to apply for college grants.

Okay, forget those other mommas. This momma is really enjoying the ease of use of services to manipulate my mail, to manipulate my music, to manipulate my pictures, but not, unfortunately, to manipulate my husband. He DOES NOT like the internet although he loves that expensive word processor (laptop) he's got.

If I could just get him in the cloud with me, then we might be a little closer to heaven. Seriously, I would love it if he would learn to utilize some of the wonderful features available to him on the web. It would be so much easier and take less time for him to communicate via a social media site or even to e-mail more often. But hey, I do appreciate that he calls people and actually writes letters -- on paper. He will never stop doing that and part of me is glad. But some things are better left to e-mail.

He's starting to use Photobucket, so I shouldn't complain.

What was I thinking?

So a couple of months ago I put up my Facebook page to help my friends who are intimidated by tech stuff and in particular the internet. What I failed to consider is that it wasn't the internet that scared them but the computer's 'on' button.

I have received more questions since I put up that blasted page than I did before, yet when I have asked my friends, "How 'bout asking me a question on my page?" the response is, "But I don't really get on the computer much. I really want to but I don't know a whole lot, and I'm not sure that I even know how to post things on Facebook -- even though my daughter [or insert some other relative] says it's easy. Can you just come over sometime and show me?"

Well, if I had lots of spare time, I would since I do love people and love solving problems -- at least of the computer kind. But I was sort of hoping I could answer some of those questions at 4am in the morning when it's quiet around my house.

Okay, so I'm not sure the page was a good idea for promoting help, but I had fun making it and will post there anyway. Maybe I have more spare time than I thought. :D

Got Stupid Questions?

Okay, so there are things you've always wanted to know about the web, but you feel stupid asking. Or you fear an explanation that might wear you out. If you keep up that attitude, you will miss out on a lot of really cool things, and in fact, you're already missing out. So get over it and ask, and I've got the place for you to do it.

So I've set up a page on Facebook (see bZirkopedia) where you can direct your questions. I started this because I have lots of friends and neighbors who are always asking me questions, so I thought it would be helpful to have a place online. Some examples of questions people are often too intimidated (or maybe irritated) to ask:

What's a url?

What's a browser?

What the heck is an ip address and how does that affect me?

What are cookies?

What does a firewall do exactly?

How can I use my bookmarks on any computer?

What are some good websites for housing my pictures?

Are they safe?

Or housing some of my documents so that I'll still have the stuff if my computer bites the dust?

My examples may even be too sophisticated, so please don't let my examples set the tone. Or maybe they're too simple. Whatever the case, just ask me what you want to know. If I don't know it, I'll try to find out the answer, and I will try to keep the explanation simple enough but not so simple that you get your backside in a sling. We'll see how that works out. LOL!