mortempo

The development of the social Internet has personally given me a richer social, creative and intellectual life. Here’s some examples:

1. Running competitions with friends living other places using Nikeplus+iPod.
2. Realizing I was standing next to a close friend in a big crowd through pictures and videos at Flickr.
3. Discovering new music from friends and friends’ friends on Last.fm.
4. Peeking into old friend’s life on the other side of the globe through Flickr/Facebook.
5. Getting pictures published in Hungarian coffee table books on tea through Flickr.
6. Receiving pictures from a fellow traveller last summer thanks to mail.
7. Keeping track of people’s birthdays on Facebook.
8. Discussing pedagogical matter with teachers in Vietnam and Norway using Twitter.
9. Follow a friend’s arrival using GPS data and a mobile phone.
10. Walk around Madrid with a map in my palm using Google Maps and my mobile phone.

Kristin Lowe and NRKbeta have recently discussed Douglas Adams’ prediction in The Restoration that we would take the interactivity back after decades of passive cultural and intellectual consumption. One could say a lot of the bad effects of this, interactivity gives birth to the lesser positive sides of human nature as seen in hatred expressed in tabloid newspapers online editions’ comment fields or a variety of blogs and discussion forums.

Nonetheless, I would share Adams’ prediction that we have taken interactivity back – and in my daily life applications like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Delicious and Nikeplus helps me create a brilliant blend of physical and virtual connections in a social web stretching around the globe. It’s quite a beautiful thing – and naturally also frustrating as I’m falling behind in the running challenge this spring…

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