Blog Reflections

I'm happy to report that I enjoyed blogging much more than I thought I would. At first I was a little intimidated because I wasn’t confident that my writing was good enough to put out there publicly, or that I had something interesting to say, especially on technology-related topics. Throughout the process I really felt like I found my voice and had some fun along the way. I stayed away from getting overly technical, since that isn't my strength. I tried to keep an open-mind and approach the blog as an explorer, although my hesitance and skepticism clearly came out at times.

My initial intent was to review new technology and tools to see how I can integrate them into my work and life. While I did stay somewhat true to that mission, I also brought in some relevant news items and a couple of funny, odd little discoveries to comment upon. I realized that it was too time-consuming, and quite challenging to review a new piece of technology or tool for every blog post (especially when I would've had to blog about 45 times in 7 weeks to get A on the project).

My goals for this blog were not overly ambitious. My hope was that the few people that read the blog would find it enjoyable and informative. A month ago I was nowhere to be found in the search results, now I am the second search result if you Google “worth my while” or “worth my while or not”. On Bing, I am the third search result for “worth my while” and the first search result for “worth my while or not”. Sweet!

I wish I could report detailed analytics for the life span of my blog; however, I made a mistake when setting up the analytics and didn't correct it until it couple of weeks ago. In about 12 days, I had a total of 113 visits, 245 page views, 41 unique visitors, 2.17 pages per visit, with an average of 3.09 minutes per visit.

Through looking at the Google Analytics map overlay feature to track the origin of my web traffic, I know that my sister in Washington only reviewed my blog twice (I am going to bust her for that), 15 visits came from California (thanks mom), and 90 from New York. I did have one visitor in Miami and one in Connecticut, which could be strangers since I don't think that I know people in these states, unless my friends are accessing my blog while on vacation.

Most of my blog traffic was from referring sites (all of my classmates linked to my blog from their blogs), which goes to show the power of “link love”, and also the power of Facebook. Posting links to my blog on my Facebook status updates definitely worked to drive traffic to my site.

If I had to do it all over again, I would've chosen a different name for my blog to make it more unique and search engine friendly, but I definitely would stick with the Blogger platform because I found it to be quite user-friendly and I like that it was integrated with my other Google accounts.

I struggled over whether or not I wanted to reveal my full identity on the blog because I didn't know whether I wanted it tied to me professionally. In retrospect, although I am proud of my work, I do feel that it is more personal musings, versus my professional opinion as a communicator, so I feel that I made the right decision to keep it anonymous (although clearly it's not anonymous to my friends and followers).

Overall, using this blog as a platform to further explore digital communications, both through first-hand experiences and following developments in the news and blogosphere, helped me to shape and express my opinions about this changing world of technology. If it weren't for this class, or for this project, I would not have challenged myself to explore this topic on my own, which I think is critical and relevant for communicators in all fields.

Although I have enjoyed blogging, I don't think I will keep this up, at least not in the short-term, because I have so many competing demands for my time (and I need some rest and relaxation, hello summer!). Now that I am more interested in keeping up with the world of digital communications, I am sure that as I stumble across new tools or articles I will immediately think “this would be a great blog post!” Maybe at that time, after a bit of a rest, I will feel compelled to pick it up again.

Hopefully my blog was worth someone’s while, but if not, at least I personally got a lot out of doing it. Enjoy the rest of the summer; I know that I will!

The Ultimate Mind Blower

I sit here writing (or rather dictating to my still quite annoying Dragon software) with a mixture of excitement and relief, and oddly, a bit of sadness. My digital communications course has come to an end, now I am just trying to eek out a few more blog posts to solidly get a B on the assignment. I walked out of class on Monday telling my professor that my last blog posts were going to blow his mind, then left thinking... "oh crap, I was only joking, what am I going to write about to wrap this thing up?"

So I decided to give you a list of a lot of cool things (online tools, websites, apps) that I learned from my classmates during our weekly knowledge share. I wanted to review many of these for blog posts, but didn't quite get to it. I can't vouch for whether these are worthwhile, because I've not tried them myself, but my classmates are pretty knowledgeable and trustworthy. There is a little something here for everyone, enjoy!

For the do-gooder:

If you still like to print paper, but feel guilty about it, GreenPrint allows you to print only the parts you want from any kind of document.

FirstGiving allows you to select a particular charity and fundraise on behalf of someone, without having to be linked to a particular event.

For the social media buff:

Tired of logging and different sites and see what your friends are up to? Meebo.com allows you to sign into all of your accounts at once and have the streams appear in one dashboard view.

For those Twitter lovers, Twiangulate compiles Twitter lists and lets the user triangulate the data which helps them to find and revise the list of people that they follow.

For the creative types:

Issuu is a digital platform for individuals, businesses, and publishers to create content with traditional print design features (i.e. turns pages like a magazine) but with greater interactivity.

Customink allows users to create their own designs on all sorts of merchandise: t-shirts, mugs, hats etc.

For the effective project manager:

LessProjects is a free application for managing collaborative projects.

Remember the Milk, is a free, Web-based to-do list manager (with a poor name) that allows for offline use so you don't always need to be connected to the Internet.

For the data nerds:

Many Eyes is a cool online data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive visualizations of their data (sounds kind of like Wordle, but more extensive).

Lynda.com is an extensive library of tutorials for software such as Flashbuilder, Excel, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Avid Media Composer, Encore, Illustrator, etc.

Minty Green

Today is the first day of better managing my money. I just set up my account on Mint.com. Thanks to my bro, Jeremy Pope, for introducing me to the site.

The service is free and easy to use--you simply link up all your bank and investment accounts, credit cards, student loans, etc. to begin using the service. I have to admit there were a couple of glitches in establishing my profile on the site, for instance, one of my accounts says that I entered the incorrect login and password, although I know this is not the case. This is a bit annoying and I still have not managed resolve the issue.

Theoretically, having access to all of my financial information in one place will allow me to keep tabs on what's going on with my finances much more easily. With Mint.com, you can set financial goals and budgets, and the program monitors your spending to keep you on track and offers you helpful tips and tools along the way to save you money.

Mint.com also has iPhone and Android applications, so if you are smart phone user, you can manage your money on the go.

In a short amount of time, Mint.com has already gotten to know me well. It is acting like the spouse that I do not have and keeps offering me unsolicited advice on how I can spend less money on food, entertainment, and shopping. Come on Mint, I already know that (I am a single girl in the city, what else am I going to spend my money on?), stop riding my back! Perhaps I should spend less time shopping online and more time on Mint.com (refer back to Distracted by Discounts)!

My boyfriend scared me a bit about giving all this information to a third party, but I am apparently very trusting, and am more concerned about someone sifting through my mail in the trash than I am about having my information hacked through this site. Millions of people use the Mint.com and it has received a lot of press and backing from reputable sources. Mint.com uses bank-level data security. Also, you are anonymous on the site; you don’t share your name, address, social security number or account numbers.

If you are looking for some help in the budgeting department, I think Mint.com is worthwhile, but of course it depends on how comfortable you are with their online security. I also think that the more you use the tool, the more you will get out of it. At this time, I haven't yet established my budget or goals, but I plan to ASAP. The first step was to establish an account, you've got to start somewhere, right?!

Social Petworking

For our weekly "knowledge share" in my digital communications class, my dear classmate and fellow blogger Helena told the class about two new social networks, Dogster and Catster. I'm still processing my feelings about this-- a mixture of amazement, joy, fright, and confusion. Might this be a sign that social networks have gone a little too far? Or maybe it's about time that we involve our faithful pets in the joys of social networking (a.k.a. petworking).

Navigating by Bike

My new, vintage three-speed Schwinn Collegiate has changed my city-dwelling life. I've lived in New York for seven years, and never thought that I wanted a bike because I was scared of city riding. I recently threw caution to the wind when I purchased my new wheels (and helmet).

Now I pretty much go everywhere on my bike, with a little help from my friend, Google bike maps, which I can rely upon to find the safest riding route.

This worked quite well for my trip from Clinton Hill to Williamsburg yesterday, but I realize I should have also noted the reverse directions since it's not quite as simple as reversing your route, especially with limited bike lanes, many one-way streets, and crappy road conditions that are pretty common throughout Brooklyn.

I wish that I could have Google bike directions sent to my phone via text. I didn't see this as an option, however if you have a smartphone you can e-mail the directions to yourself, which would've come in handy.

Happy cycling!

Fun With Word Clouds

Everyone loves word clouds, even if they don't know it. A couple of semesters ago my professor showed the class a cool tool, Wordle, to convert text into a visual, a.k.a. - a word cloud. All you have to do is copy text into the box, and poof, out comes this little picture that you can customize with various, fonts, colors, and shapes. To ilustrate, I copied my resume text to create the Worldle image in this post.

Wordle gives more prominence to words that are mentioned more frequently, so can help to illustrate trends. This little trick has proven useful for several projects. I created a Wordle using open-ended survey responses to visually display the results in a presentation. I also made a Valentine for my boyfriend and used our first few months of email corresponce, cut it into a heart shape, and pasted it onto red construction paper.

The possibilities are endless. Thumbs up for Wordle!

Just Another Dumb Phone

A couple of weeks ago I found my phone in the bottom of my kitchen trash in a pool of old pineapple and banana scraps. I solicited advice on Facebook on how to revive a phone after incurring water damage. The prevailing wisdom is to take it apart and let it sit in a bowl of uncooked rice to soak up the water. I let it soak in a bowl of dry quinoa (I didn't have any rice), and my phone did come back to life temporarily, with all this quinoa stuck in the nooks and crannies (I would recommend a larger grain, although quinoa is super delicious and healthy), but it eventually died about a week later.

I'm not the type of person who gets excited about buying a new phone. I wasn't ready to make the leap to a smart phone. I don't want the additional expense of having to add a data package onto my monthly bill. Also, I am accustomed to using my phone the old-fashioned way, to call people and text. I don't "need" all the bells and whistles, although I am sure if I had them I would probably like it.

My new phone is working just fine for me. I ended up going with T-Mobile's Samsung Gravity 3 phone. It has more features than I will probably ever use, and it is an upgrade for me since I didn't even have a keyboard on my last phone.

If I were to buy a smartphone, I would want the iPhone--it seems more fun and has more utility than a Blackberry, despite all the hoopla around the iPhone 4, which I have been following pretty closely because I recently wrote a paper about "antenna gate" for class. This video pretty much summarizes the iPhone 4 debacle in a genius song. I pretty much agree with this guy on all points. Check it out!
Maybe in the future I will step it up to the iPhone, but for now I am locked in for another two years with my T-Mobile contract.

Digital Doobies

I just stumbled across a report on Wired.com, "Teens Using Digital Drugs to Get High" and was naturally curious as to what this could be referring to. I read the story and watched the video clips in disbelief. Apparently i-dosing, or digital drugs, involves listening to specific music (largely a droning noise) through headphones.

Wait, I listen to loud, weird music through headphones all the time, is that why I am so out of it lately (no, I think that is actually because of too much work and not enough sleep, unfortunately)?

According to the report, this music uses binaural technology to alter your brain waves and mental functioning, mimicing the feeling of being high on drugs.



Of course, teens are going to have interest in trying this. I'm even mildly tempted, but decided I'm much too old to get hooked on drugs, even of the digital persuasion.

To pose the question that I pretty much do at the end of every blog post, is it worth my while? It depends on how you're looking at it. Digital drugs are free and legal, so what do you have to lose, besides your sanity. I can't imagine that there could be too many adverse effects, certainly not worse than actually doing drugs, but who knows? The digital age is so crazy. I'm not really willing to find out, but if someone else is, let me know how it goes.

Apparently, you can find i-dosing music and videos on YouTube, but I'm not going to link you right to it. I'm not a drug dealer, I'm a blogger!

Doodle This

Every job has at least one undesirable aspect to it. We all have to do unenjoyable, mundane tasks at times. For me one of those tasks is scheduling group meetings. While I don't do this often, when I do it's a total nightmare. It would be fairly easy if everyone within the institution that I work used the same e-mail system, for instance Microsoft Outlook, which has an easy calendar and meeting requests function. But this is not the case.

Up until recently, I would e-mail the parties involved with potential dates and times, and wait for a response on their availability. Then I would have to manually tally up all the responses. Often the process took so long that by the time everyone got back to me, those dates and times initially proposed had passed, or did not work anymore. It's was a really inefficient process.

Recently a colleague from a peer institution sent me a Doodle request when scheduling our next conference call. As their website accurately states, "Doodle takes the pain out of finding the right date and time for a group of people to meet and makes scheduling virtually effortless."

The basic service is free and requires neither registration nor software installation. It's kind of like the Surveymonkey of scheduling tools. All you have to do is set up a brief poll with potential dates and times. You e-mail the Doodle link to the recipient and they simply click the radio button indicating their availability. Doodle tallies the results for you and displays it in a very easy, clear manner.

If painful scheduling is part of your job, this tool is definitely worth your while. Check it out!

Love Letter to a Printer Icon

Dear Printer Icon,

I miss you. I used to be able to find an article online and click on you to easily print the page. I realize printing is not the "greenest" option, however sometimes I don't have time in the middle of my day to read an article in its entirety. I have an hour long commute on the subway, which is a perfect time to read what I cannot get to during the day.

Nowadays, when I find an article that I want to read online, generally my options are to share it on numerous social bookmarking and social networking sites. I don't want to share it, I just want to read it. Since you abandoned me, I have resorted to copying the text into a word document, blank e-mail, or text file. What a pain!

Did you disappear because you thought e-readers and smart phones have taken over? Think again my friend. Some of us old-fashioned types still prefer to read something on good ole paper. I get so excited when I see you, but it's few and far between. Come back to me, I appreciate you and still need you.

Love, Erin

Distracted By Discounts

Recently I've been enthralled by a slew of invitation-only, private sale, online shopping retailers like Gilt Groupe, ideeli, and Rue La La. I'm sure there are many more sites like these that exist, but I don't even want to know about them because I don't want the temptation.

These sites create demand for their products because of the exclusivity of the sales, the deep discounts, and the lure of the limited-time offering. For instance, on the wildly-successful Gilt Groupe, sales only last 36 hours. This time component increases the pressure to buy. If you snooze you lose (or maybe you save money).

Each day I receive an e-mail from these retailers announcing the special sales of the day. Hordes of women watch as the timer ticks down on the website to start shopping for their favorite designer brands when the sale goes live at noon. Items often sell out quickly so I won't be relying upon Dragon Speak to complete my purchases. ideeli even sells membership to "front row" seats to these sales, allowing you to shop an hour before the commoners.

There's definitely a viral component to the shopping sites. Participants are encouraged through various referral bonuses to drag their friends into the ring.

Although these sites initially focused on fashion, many are now selling a more broad, holistic, discounted luxury lifestyle (if there ever was a more oxymoronic concept). Now you can get 1000 count Egyptian cotton sheets or buy a complete vacation that comes with the sheets included on the Tempur-pedic mattress in your room.

Recently Gilt Groupe launched Jetsetter, their version of a limited-time travel discount site(fortunately you get 5 days instead of 5 minutes to decide your travel plans). I'm considering using Jetsetter for an upcoming vacation to Canada, the allure of a glamorous 4 star hotel at 2 star prices is too much to resist. The only caveat being, unlike other hotel booking sites that allow for cancellations there's no backing out once you click to commit to your new luxury accomodations.

I even bought a six month membership to a high-end gym on one of these websites for much less than I would have paid walking in off the street. I also skipped out on enrollment fees and unbreakable gym contracts. Not having to deal with the typical cheesy gym membership salespeople was an added bonus.

I like learning about new designers and brands through these sites, as well as shopping designers and brands that I normally can't afford. I think the sites are worth while for people who have money to burn (which does not describe me), because it's fun to browse and shop for the designer of the day. For those that don't have unlimited discretionary funds you might find yourself spending money on things you really don't need. If you're looking for something specific that they are offering, you could be in luck.

P.S. If anyone wants a subscription to one of these sites let me know. I'd be happy to get my referal bonus , just stay away from the size 7 pumps!

The Evil Dictator

It is not natural or healthy to be sitting at a desk in front of a computer day in and day out. Working full time and going to school has taken a toll on my body, and has caused a repetitive stress injury in my arms. To remedy this situation I have made some lifestyle changes, one of those being using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 speech recognition software. This is my first blog post through voice dictation, and I can tell you there is a steep learning curve.

To illustrate the challenges of using the software I thought it would be funny to leave all the errors on the blog post, but I didn't want to fail my course for poor writing skills. If the software is working properly, I should be able to do everything with voice commands that I normally do with a mouse. Unfortunately, I have not yet mastered these commands and am struggling with a hybrid method of typing whenever the software fails to recognize my commands, but of course it somehow understands all of the expletives I've spewed at it trying to get it to complete simple tasks like highlighting a word. I've read that smoother roads lie ahead, the more you work with it the better it gets to know you and your speech patterns but I might need an anger management course by then.

I've been feeling sorry for myself having to use this software, but feel even more sorry for my colleague who has to sit next to me and listen to my dictation at work on Monday (ha!) Wish me luck...

Worth my while-time, money, and energy? I sincerely hope so!

Neighborhoodly Love

This week's New York Magazine article, the New Collectivism, highlights the increasingly communal nature of New York City. Social networks are being taken off-line, so that like-minded people can meet in real life to swap and share information and resources, or to simply spend time together participating in common activities or interests. From cabs, child care co-ops, and community gardens, there is no limit to what can be shared and enjoyed in this new communally-focused society.

I'm sure this idea is not specific to New York, however it feels a little progressive for smaller towns, where your neighbors might not be on the other side of an inch of peeling drywall. New Yorkers often are dying for excuses to get out of their cramped apartments. The idea of getting together with fellow pickle lovers might not appeal as much to people have to drive 30 miles to Walmart to pick up a gallon of gherkins. Many of these shared networks start online, often through popular websites such as meet up.com that help to facilitate these type of connections.

Although I don't currently engage in this collective New York, it's comforting to know that these types of groups are emerging and are available to me if the desire or need arises--could definitely be worth my while. It seems like a great way to take social networking a step forward to make more meaningful connections. New York is a stressful place to live, with a little help from your community, it could make life a little easier, and enjoyable.

Does anyone have any personal experiences participating in these types of networking groups? I'd love to hear them. If you're single, this could be an alternative to a dating site and a great way to meet people in a somewhat organic way. Just an idea:) Enjoy!

The Tattooed Bookkeeper

Recently I turned to one of my oldest (not in years, look at her picture—she is a young hottie, but we have been friends for over 20 years) and dearest friends, Angel Quintana, for creative inspiration. Angel is a jack of all trades—blogger enthusiast, retired fashion designer, tastemaker in fashion and home design, and as the blog title references—a tattooed bookkeeper (a nickname given to her by her clients, as well as the title for a potential book/tv pilot/blog that she has been penning). This girl is not afraid to take risks. Her entrepreneurial spirit has led her down many paths, but for the last several years she is putting her creative energies into building her personal brand online, and hopefully making a few bucks while she is at it.

I would have preferred to have a face-to-face with Angel, but she lives on the West Coast. So, we had to schedule a phone call to chat about her recent endeavors, as well as our love lives and good bands, which we will keep offline (sorry, too juicy for this blog!).

Angel’s blog, Life According to Angel, essentially captures everything and anything that she is into. To extend the reach of the blog, she is also creating a YouTube channel, where she will feature reviews of her favorite books, films and music, product reviews, how-to's on cosmetics and fashion, and whatever else that is on her mind. First and foremost, her goal is to connect with an audience of like-minded people, or in her own words, "I want to be part of a community that gives a shit about the shit that I like."

Ideally, she wants to monetize her blog and drive traffic to her two online businesses, Bobo Bandits, a doggie accessory store inspired by her beloved schnauzer, and French Seams, An Ode to Vintage Living, her personal collection of vintage and vintage-inspired handmade goods. Both are works in progress, but will be available on Etsy.

Angel found inspiration for her blog through social networking sites such as Flickr, where she discovered a whole community of girls posting photos and blogging about their outfits. She then joined onto dedicated "what are you wearing" sites, such as Chictopia, which she plans to link up to her blog to consolidate her online presence, as well as her profile on Give it To Me Raw, which reflects her love of raw food and healthy living.

As a loyal follower of many lifestyle and fashion blogs, Angel sees how these bloggers are successful at building communities and earning money through advertising. Angel is a little late in the game, but she is catching up! She doesn't bother with Facebook much anymore because it's not a source of inspiration for her and it feels like a waste of time. She would rather put her thoughts out there in a different medium.

Whether engaging in online communities, or creating her own, Angel feels the most important thing to remember is to be yourself. People like you for you – be authentic, open, and put it out there. Someone will listen.

I'm listening, Angel! Good luck with your ventures.

Modern Nostalgia

As to be expected, the launch of the iPad created a whole new market for related accessories and applications. While browsing Mashable the other day, the article “USB Typewriter Will Make Your iPad Feel Ancient” caught my eye.

This new USB manual typewriter device for the iPad is not fast, but it has a certain esthetic, making it feel old and familiar, yet novel. iPads are intriguing to me—so cool, sleek, and modern—they are novel in their own right.



I find it a bit humorous and ironic that someone would want to pay $400-500 to make their cool, modern gadget mimic a slow, clunky typewriter of the past. Maybe it’s just nostalgia for simpler times that may make this appealing. What’s next, a rotary phone app for your iPhone?

Just like fashion, trends come and go. My mom never thought she would see me wearing bell bottoms and then a weird high school phase struck and I was asking her for her old 70’s garb. It will be interesting to see how this trend towards melding old and new technologies catches on and evolves.

Leapfroggers

Traditionally, marketers for tech gadgets ignore late adopters such as me. The standard practice is to lure the early adopters who in turn create buzz, eventually persuading the masses. The recent Wired article, Clive Thompson on Why Gadget Makers Should Target Late Adopters, makes a case for why marketers may want to rethink this strategy and show people like me a little love.

Marketing academic Jacob Goldenberg’s recent work suggests that laggards, which make up about 16% of the population, are a crucial high tech demographic for marketers because of their “leapfrogging” tendencies. Laggards may hold out on buying every new product on the market, but when they get around to buying they often skip several generations of products and end up leapfrogging ahead to the latest and greatest version.

According to Goldenberg, the economic impact of converting leapfrogging laggards is huge and can really drive profits. Also, word-of-mouth endorsements from these late adopters are especially powerful (i.e. “If Erin is using this thing, it must be easy and accessible”)!

Thinking about this potential shift in marketing strategy, I wonder what it may take for tech marketers to effectively reach me. They would have to meet me where I am, which until recently was not tech blogs. More mainstream avenues, perhaps my favorite New York or Lucky magazines, might be more effective. The message would have to be simple, emphasizing how the new product or service would add value to my life—I won’t be sold on cool, new features, because I likely won’t understand how I benefit from them. Speak my language.

Many late adopters like me have the motto, “if it ain’t broke…” and the lens “is this worth my while?”—show us that it is worthwhile, give us a fair price and you may win us over after all.

Striking a Balance

When talking to my computer science-studying, game-loving buddy, Jeremy Pope, I wanted to pick his brain on what websites, apps, and tools that he can’t live without. I got a few cool new ideas from him, but what also came through loud and clear in our conversation is how important it is to set boundaries.

I liked Jeremy’s perspective “The point of technology is to enable us to spend more time doing the things we love. When it goes beyond that it becomes a distraction.”

Being that Jeremy works and studies computers and technology, he has made a conscious effort to set boundaries and pull back, for instance when away from work, he purposely only checks his email a few times per day. He also makes the most of his time on a computer, aiming to be productive for a finite amount of time versus getting lost in the vortex.

On mobile: I asked Jeremy to sell me on a smart phone, and he kind of did (although I don’t have any immediate plans of going out and buying one I definitely see the value). Simply stated, with the iPhone he doesn’t worry about anything because anything he needs to do, he can do on the spot. Jeremy gave me many convincing examples of the iPhone’s utility, especially when traveling, but also spoke about the need to develop self-restraint. (For a review of cool iPhone apps, check out the app trail). Jeremy’s response to my complaint of how people are constantly glued to their phones is that it is just a symptom of the relative newness and novelty of the device and will hopefully fade over time.

On what he can’t live without: Definitely not the iPhone! Jeremy also loves his Google Toolbar for accessing his bookmarks (I wish I tried this before my Delicious.com experiment, it may be more up my alley). He touted the benefits of using Mint.com for money management (I will investigate Mint in a future blog post since I could definitely use help in the budgeting department). He also gave me a little demo of Google Voice (Google’s free voicemail service which miraculously allows you to make free domestic calls, unifies multiple phone lines to one common number, and sends you sms text versions of voicemails among many other benefits) which seems pretty awesome.

On social networks and geo-location social networking: Jeremy relies on Facebook for news and events updates from his friends, which is consistent with how all of my friends engage with Facebook. LinkedIn is the go-to for professionally networking. Most people, including myself, like to keep their professional and personal online worlds separate.

Jeremy toyed around with the geo-location networking application, Foursquare, more so when he was single and out on the town. He enjoyed the fact that it is super real-time, fun, and game-like; “a great example of technology helping you do what you want to do, be with your friends.” Since I don’t have a smart phone I am off the hook for trying geo-location networking apps, phew.

Although Jeremy has briefly tweeted, he now just uses Twitter for finding out about local events through following groups such as “Brooklyn Weekend events”. I may give that a try at some point, but for now I don’t have any trouble finding weekend fun, mainly through word-of-mouth, New York Magazine, and e-newsletters like Daily Candy and Going.

What goes around comes around: Jeremy and I agree that there is a bit of a pullback happening now. People want to get back to what’s real and authentic and are attempting to reconnect to local businesses and agriculture, seeking out the local, fresh, and handmade, to counterbalance the global disconnect from the organic in our fast-paced, technology-driven lives (Brooklyn Flea, anyone?).

“In a way I’m a minor part of this pullback from the digital age where I’ve been so engrossed I’m stepping back now” says Jeremy. For me, I am cautiously exploring, stepping forward, one toe in at a time to see what’s worth my while.

A Mind for Gaming

Jeremy Pope, is my go-to friend for all things digital. He's managed to turn his curiosity and passion for gaming and technology into a solid career with a promising future. Recently, over a couple of beers in our shared Brooklyn neighborhood, Jeremy and I talked tech.

As an early adopter of technology, Jeremy fondly recalls his first pre-Windows computer at age 12 (in contrast, I still had a Brother word processor throughout my undergrad). He's worked in the video game industry for 14 years, first at Acclaim and Rockstar Games, then he started his own company, Cashmere Productions. Jeremy is currently producing video games on a freelance basis and is pursuing a degree in computer science at Brooklyn College.

Video games often get a bad rap, especially from parents and health advocates that consider gaming as a contributor to childhood obesity (remember when kids used to like to play outside?).

Personally, I love games, particularly Ms. Pacman, Scrabble, backgammon, and anything on the Wii, especially Guitar Hero. I like how they occupy a certain part of my brain, forcing me to focus and be creative. Check out my mom and I rocking on Christmas! Gaming isn't always antisocial.

Speaking with Jeremy helped me to understand how and why gaming (in moderation) is appealing and beneficial. Basically, video games put achievable challenges in front of you and offer you small rewards, which get you into a happy “flow state”. Video game challenges build, driving you towards a larger goal, which leads to a greater sense of satisfaction once accomplished.

Currently, Jeremy is working on creating a game that hones in on meditative gestures, such as stillness and presence, to keep players in a flow state. Jeremy aims to take advantage of what video games have to offer--real time feedback--to create an experience with similar benefits to a yoga class.

According to Jeremy, "everything that you can do with TV and books, you can do with video games, and more...games get people thinking about big ideas and subjects that they wouldn’t be accustomed to." For example, Jeremy and his gaming colleagues are currently obsessed with a new Facebook game, Power Planets.

In Power Planets, you are given a planet for only 48 hours, then it’s handed off to someone else. Players (or rulers) have to balance earning points and/or money with more socially conscious efforts--you can be greedy or (ecologically) green, or try to balance these often conflicting qualities. In a nutshell reflecting how the real world works. You have the opportunity to craft a Utopian planet or if you get stuck with a planet lead by a slumlord of a planetary ruler, try to make the world a better place.

This game sounds compelling, but also time consuming. I barely have time to hang curtains I bought at Ikea 6 months ago let alone fix an entire planet.

Life is imitating the art of video games. As Jeremy notes, "the internet is becoming more game like, as is everyday life". Retailers are rewarding customers for their loyalty, like my local Duane Reade. Their Flex Rewards program attempts to keep consumers in a flow state issuing points for each purchase. Members receive even bigger discounts at the end of each month when certain point quotas are met. Now if only I could remember where my rewards card is when I get to the register.

Social Media Revolution

Wikipedia defines a fad as "any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period, generally as a result of the behavior's being perceived as novel in some way." Fads are pretty awesome, especially in retrospect, like Cabbage Patch Kids, the Atkins Diet, tight-rolling your jeans, ratting your bangs (in junior high I looked like this family), and Crocs (can that go away already?).

A trend is less fleeting than a fad and evolves into a relatively permanent change. Social media is definitely not a fad, it's a trend. One that is changing our lives in profound ways. We can largely credit those pesky millennials for this trend.

Check out this short, recently updated YouTube video, Social Media Revolution, based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman to see how this trend is evolving.

This video evoked a little fear and excitement in me, but no doubt reinforced why I need to get with the program!

Social Bookmarking: Can You Digg it?

Recently, I started to hear more about social bookmarking sites, however I didn't understand what these sites are, how they work, or why I would want to use one. Wikipedia defines social bookmarking as "a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources." According to Wikipedia, the concept of online bookmarking has been around since the mid-nineties, but it didn't really catch on at the time. In 2003, Delicious pioneered tagging and coined the term social bookmarking and it has been taking off like wildfire ever since.

Today, there are dozens of popular bookmarking sites and apparently many great uses for them.

How many of these icons do you recognize?

Use #1 - Marketing: When you submit your business, website, or blog onto a social benchmarking site, you increase the likelihood that search engines will find and index your site. Using bookmarking services is a great strategy for generating traffic and in some instances can work too well and crash your server.

Worth your while? Why not, what do you have to lose?! Social benchmarking sites are free, and fairly easy to use. The downside is that there are so many of them to choose from, and to my knowledge there is not a standard process for submission. You've got to do it the old fashioned way, one at a time.

I'm experimenting with posting my blog on a few directory sites (Yahoo, Bing, and Google blog listings, Blogpulse, Bloglines, and Technorati) to see what will happen. Maybe someone other than my mom, boyfriend, and professors may read it.

Use #2 - Being Social: I have never felt the urge to click a little icon to announce to the world what I've read and whether I dug it (Digg anyone?). I understand that some people enjoy this; we need these people, otherwise these sites wouldn't be worth visiting. Bookmarking and ratings inform us of what is newsworthy at the moment, according to the masses vs. "the man," hence social media. Verdict: Worthwhile for others to post. I will stick to being an occasional voyeur for now.

Use #3 - Organizing yourself: I have been using Internet Explorer for years (and am mildly embarrassed about it). I know there is something better or faster out there, perhaps Chrome or Firefox, so have recently been testing out different browsers. The jury's still out on which I prefer.

One of the reasons I've been reluctant to switch browsers is because I heavily rely on my bookmarks and didn't want to start from scratch with a new browser. I didn't know that I can use a social bookmarking site solely for personal organization. Storing my favorite links online will get me through this fickle phase and will mitigate the multiple computer issue (like Dropbox did for my school files).

Taking action: I just signed up for Delicious and imported all my bookmarks from Internet Explorer to start. This transition will take a fair amount of time up front to get organized, and of course time to get used to the change, but hopefully will be worth it.

I chose Delicious because it was one of of the original bookmarking sites and is still one of the most popular. Delicious is tied to my Yahoo account so it was easy to set up, and it seemed more geared towards personal use than some of the other that I checked out, like Digg and Stumbled Upon.

I am the type of person that doesn't like too many choices; more than three and I am overwhelmed. Just like the web browsers, I am sure there may be better ones out there than Internet Explorer, but it takes a fair amount of time and energy to test drive them all. Delicious will have to do. At least the name sounds kind of cool and sexy.

Your Brain (and Personality) on Computers

An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness, another article in the Your Brain on Computers series, explores the notion of how excessive use of personal technologies may slowly be reshaping our personalities, causing people to become more impatient, impulsive, and forgetful. Advancing age and living in New York has already brought out some of those qualities in me, now the computer too, no!

Dependence on technology detracts from our relationships. Having hundreds of Facebook friends doesn't necessarily translate to, nor is it a substitute for, healthy relationships in "real life". It drives me crazy when I am out on the town, look around and see everyone playing with their phones. Come on, is this awesome concert or party not enough entertainment for you?

My position in this blog isn't meant to be anti-technology, but this NYT series brings to light many of my concerns about over dependence on technology. For me, the most significant message is that people should strive for balance and be self-aware.

If you enjoy your online activities more than anything else, then you might want to check out the expert insights provided in the online discussion, First Steps to Digital Detox.

Your Brain (and Bodies) on Computers

The article More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence, included in the New York Times (NYT) series "Your Brain on Computers," highlights the results from a recent NYT/CBS news poll. According to the poll, most Americans feel that technology, such as smart phones and computers, have made their lives better and easier, but some indicate that these devises are intrusive and increase their levels of stress.

Younger people in particular report that these devises make it harder for them to focus, and people in general just can't shut off after work with almost 40% of respondents checking work email after hours and on vacation.

Come on people, there is more to life than work! Not only is this addiction to technology changing the way our brains are functioning, it's also contributing to the overall health decline of the American workforce. Clearly, living a sedentary lifestyle and being chronically glued to our computers is a huge contributing factor to the obesity epidemic and the cause of many musculoskeletal issues.

I'm an active and fit person, and also embarrassed to admit that I am suffering from tennis elbow due to my excessive computer use. I wish it was from tennis! Too much work and not enough play, maybe this is my body giving me a sign.

Your Brain on Computers

A few days ago, The New York Times featured an interesting article, Your Brain on Computers: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price, that highlights the Campbell family, especially Mr. Campbell, who is overly dependent on technology and is starting to notice some negative effects. Mrs. Campbell complains that her husband is often distracted, forgetful, and has a difficult time disconnecting and being in the moment.

This families reliance on technology seems somewhat extreme to me, but the scary thing is that it is the norm for many. If you are anything like the Campbell's, you may want to check out the warning signs of tech overload.

Researchers confirm that constant multi-tasking can be addictive, and is changing the way people think and behave, and not necessarily for the best. Multi-tasking used to be thought of as a great skill to have, but new research shows that multitaskers may actually have more trouble focusing and may experience more stress (test your focus and how well you can juggle between tasks with these cool, interactive quizzes).

Advances in technology that allow people to work anywhere and anytime, can be great for managing work and life, but not if you don't set boundaries for their use and unplug often. I know there are some great benefits to being connected, but living life in the moment is a real joy, and it would be sad to lose touch with that.

In the Cloud

Being a full-time employee and a student is a serious juggling act. I essentially pack a suitcase everyday before I leave the house, constantly toting dirty Tupperware and gym clothes around with me everywhere I go. This busy lifestyle requires a lot of planning and preparation, paired with a little heartiness and a good sense of humor.

Up until recently, I emailed my school assignments from my personal and work email accounts so that I could have access to them anytime. A classmate noticed the antiquated process I was using and recommended a life changing tool called Dropbox. Dropbox is a free service (although you can upgrade and pay for more space) that allows you to store, sync, and share your files online. This sure beats relying on email and dealing with version control.

I have heard a lot about cloud computing and didn't really understand what it meant, then it dawned on me the other day that I am in the cloud already with Dropbox, and the view from here is pretty sweet. Nothing to fear, or at least nothing that I know of yet, and definitely worth my while. Hello future.

Getting My Fix

Music is a big part of my life--I listen to it constantly and love going to shows, mainly indie rock. I was a little helpless in this department when my ex and I split since he was the one who kept me up-to-date with music news and downloads. I couldn't let my passion for rock die with the relationship so I dabbled in a number of blogs and tools to keep it alive.

I subscribed to emusic.com so I can download music legally, conveniently and at a good price. The promise of 75 free downloads with a subscription was just too good to pass up. emusic is less expensive than iTunes and more focused than Amazon.

They have the majority of the music that I want and cater to my musical preferences, which I like. I can easily get immersed in the site for *hours sampling and downloading music, reading reviews and interviews, viewing videos and pictures, etc. *That is if I had hours to spare, now I do it in minutes.

To keep up with what is happening with my favorite artists, I discovered the awesome iConcertCal, an iTunes plug-in. This genius little tool scans my music library and creates a personalized calendar of upcoming concerts and CD releases, with links directly to purchase tickets and/or music.

Lastly, I rely on Pitchfork, the indie rock go-to source, and Brooklyn Vegan, a NYC-centric music blog, to get the latest music news.

All of these, worth my while for sure--what would life be without a soundtrack?

Blogging on Blogging

My first tech learning adventure for this blog is this blog. Through reading blogs, I knew of a few free options– Blogger/Blogspot and Wordpress. Little did I know that Blogger and Blogspot are one in the same (Blogger blogs are hosted at Blogspot urls and are owned by Google).

I reviewed both programs and chose Blogger because it seemed less sophisticated than Wordpress and easier to use. I liked the simple homepage, step-by-step tutorial, and the fact that you can login through Gmail. I also looked into what my friends use for their personal blogs and Blogger was the winner. After the fact, I recalled Tumblr, but it was too late, I had already made my mark on the World Wide Web with Worth My While?.

Setting up the blog was easy, although I am not yet using many of the available features. Coming up with a fun and catchy title was the most time consuming aspect of the process. I quickly discovered that there are few original ideas left, or at least I wasn’t coming up with them (luckily my boyfriend had a few).

Although kind of witty, "Web 2.No" and "Web 2.Ouch" sounded anti-technology, which is not my position. “Hey me, wake up, its 2010!”, “To Tweet or not to Tweet” and “F my L! Do I really need social media?” were just too ridiculous, although they gave me a laugh.

"What the Tech?", "The Technovirgin", "Tech-shy", "Techcurious(ity)", and "The Late Adopter" were all claimed in some capacity—whether it be a band, blog, business, or Twitter moniker.

Time to research the rules on naming rights… If someone has an abandoned blog or twitter account, do they still have rights to that that name, or did they ever really have rights to it? For now, better to be safe than sorry.

Is this blog worth my while?

I am not oblivious to the rapidly changing world of technology around me, but I am cautious in embracing new technologies. I managed to avoid joining MySpace and Friendster when those sites were hot, only caving to Facebook last year. I am still holding out on Twitter, but not for long. I haven’t had cable TV since I lived with my parents 15 years ago (not like cable TV is new, but I have yet to experience Tivo or DVR) and I just purchased my first digital camera nine months ago. I actually use my phone to talk to people, and it is not of the smart variety.

If I have managed to live without “it” thus far (whatever “it” may be at the moment), I question whether it’s necessary. I fear that once I become accustomed to using new technologies that I won’t be able to live without them. Case in point, I recently misplaced my new IPod shuffle and couldn’t fathom running without it. I managed to exercise with my big clunky IPod attached to my arm for years before, with no issue.

More importantly, learning new technology can be intimidating and time consuming. How do people have time to learn and use all these new, cool gadgets and tools? I am a full-time worker, part-time student, and also would like to have a social life. I only want to embrace new technology if it will help me be more productive, advance my career, or enhance my social life. No time wasters!

Through this blog, I will explore new technologies through this lens—-hence the title “Worth My While?”. I am hoping other late adopters may find some humor in my musings and may learn some tips for integrating new technologies in their work and lives through my experiences.