Please, Silent Your Cell Phones

As I was driving from College Park to Baltimore tonight, I called a good friend and per usual, we had this incredible conversation about a slieu of ideas and topics. One, in particular, struck me as intriguing and curious because it was about the overuse of cell phones-- while, of course, I was on my cell phone.

Tom-- the friend-- and I were talking about how self-absorbed students (and professors) are on campus, perpetually and constantly checking voicemails, text messages, and emails. No matter the situation-- in the classroom, walking across the mall, going to the bathroom-- men and women have their cellphones or Blackberrys attached at the hip, in the even that something (something probably very insignificant) might happen. As if one could not go ten, twenty, or sixty minutes without knowing what some friend is up to.

Is it necessary to be so connected? Is it impossible in today's society to go an hour of one's time without the attention of others? Do people find it impossible to think inside their own heads for a period of time without the consulation or recognition of others?

Recent and trendy applications like Twitter and Facebook status updates would have you think otherwise. In fact, such applications can offer us a second-by-second update of our friends, and interestingly enough, those who aren't really our friends at all.

Of course, few text messages, Twitter tweets, or Facebook updates are thought-provoking or critically stimulating or, God forbid, significant: James _____ i am so tired of writing lit reviews in research....all nighter once again; Nicole _____ is super sleepy; Montse _____ is covered in paint. To name a few.

Really, who cares? Is there a point?

To me, these electronic messages and updates are white noise-- tolerable, largely unnoticed, but toxic to our society if we want to be perceived and understood by others as intelligent, considerate, and thoughtful.

If only to give the illusion that we are capable human beings that can do without the attention, albeit shortlived, of others, silence your phones. Turn off you Blackberrys. Stop checking Facebook three times an hour. Silence this deafening white noise.

The End of Text as We Know It?

Image via CrunchBase

With the movement of text from paper to online, it is only fitting that text will undergo some other transformation in the future.

Already, online text is being translated into video, in order to appeal to a visually-stimulated audience. The phenomenon that is Youtube has started an incredible trend in the news media: citizen-reporting. Just look at CNN's IReport: online news has taken a turn to include (perhaps primarily) a series of viewer-generated news videos.

Video blogging (aka vlogging or vidblogging) is just another example of how text has morphed. Whereas the traditional blog medium was text, this new outlet involves the blogger-turned-vlogger to make entries via webcam.

Even the New Yorker Magazine has adapted its website to include this latest trend. A feature of the website is "The Political Scene," in which a political topic is discussed, not written about. Here, text-turned-audio allows readers of the magazine to listen to new ideas, as opposed to reading them.

So is this the end of text as we know it? Unlikely.

Although it is obviously trendy to reject text for more visual or auditory agencies, written text is still the formal and most accepted way to transfer information, whether an English paper or a company memo. Still, the adaptation of text to other medias seems likely, and should provide for an all-inclusive way to receive information.

The Masterminds Behind Blogging

Penny Arcade On Blogging
By Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
From Forbes Magazine

Finding the Best of the Best

Image via CrunchBase

The common theme in all of my messages is my search for the best, which incidentally, seems to be the latest goal of the media industry: searching for the best. Or rather, the best (method of) searching.

Looking back on the transformation of search engines-- from Yahoo to Ask Jeeves to Google-- I think that the search agencies of the future will only be better. Our access to information and news, it seems, will be more intuitive and second-nature. Although I know nothing about the technology behind it, I anticipate a search agency that is more in tune with our thoughts than even we know.

Already, different media industries are capitalizing on the search engine. Companies like Google have branded their ability to out-search other engines by the virtue that they allow searchers to find information with the most ease, thanks to an involved matrix of keywords and popular hits.

Other media industries have followed suit. For instance, Amazon has involved the search engine in their website in order to encourage more purchases. After buying a German dictionary for class, Amazon kindly told me that people who bought my dictionary also bough X, Y, and Z. Of course, I then considered buying those books as well.

I think the latest trend (and the most profitable one) in searchability is the anticipation of what the consumer wants. What else would make the consumer happy? What else suits the needs of the consumer? Like Amazon, companies like TiVo and iTunes can offer suggestions about new television shows or albums that might suit the consumer, based on past recordings or purchases. Even Garmin, the GPS system, can make suggestions to the consumer based on location and pricerange and cuisine.

It almost seems scary that gadgets and electronics know more about us than we do. This makes me think that this phenomenon is less about the consumer's power, but rather the market's understanding of the consumer. A significant difference, and one that should not be disregarded. The market might be more focused on the consumer's needs, but that does not mean that it is a consumer's market.

As for the future of searching? I think it's going to be even more in-depth and more in-touch with the consumer than it is now. No, I don't think mind-reading is in all likelihood, but I'm sure that the next wave of search agencies will complement the ideas of John Battelle's Database of Intentions:

"The Database of Intentions is simply this: The aggregate results of every search ever entered, every result list ever tendered, and every path taken as a result. It lives in many places, but three or four places in particular hold a massive amount of this data (ie MSN, Google, and Yahoo). This information represents, in aggregate form, a place holder for the intentions of humankind - a massive database of desires, needs, wants, and likes that can be discovered, supoenaed, archived, tracked, and exploited to all sorts of ends. Such a beast has never before existed in the history of culture, but is almost guaranteed to grow exponentially from this day forward. This artifact can tell us extraordinary things about who we are and what we want as a culture. And it has the potential to be abused in equally extraordinary fashion."

A Change of Heart?

Image via CrunchBase

In my previous posting on Amazon's Kindle, I put the e-library to the wayside and decided that it was a cheap (not in regard to price) and unauthentic way to read a book.

As of lately, I have had a change of heart.

Don't get me wrong: I still consider the Kindle a bastardization of literary works. But, I have come to the conclusion that, in addition to its promotion of reading, it also provides readers with a convenience that 800 page books cannot offer.

I do not think that the Kindle should replace newspapers or books for the ten minute Metro or busride to work. Please, enjoy and appreciate the real thing while you still can.

But after having talked to a friend the other day, I recognize that the Kindle is an excellent way to bring a bookshelf's worth of books with you on your extended travels. Like this friend, I plan to travel to Europe after graduation to teach English. Of course, how does a girl pack for a twelve-month visit? Clothes are an obvious necessity, but for an English major like myself, I have to decide whether or not to bring that extra pair of heels or my collection of Ayn Rand novels. What's a girl to do?!

She is to buy a Kindle. Considering that it would be impossible to ship all of my books across the Atlantic (at a reasonable price, that is), the Kindle is the best alternative to the real thing. Although pricey (and it is pricey), the amount of money spent on the digital library is far less than what it would cost to bring tens of dozens of books with me.

I realize that I'm settling for convenience here instead of quality. And believe me, I still think that the electronic versions of literary texts are disappointing. But, I would rather have books on a screen than no books at all.

Of course, I'm not ready to spend the $400 some dollars on the Kindle myself. Perhaps this would make a good graduation gift for me...