Video Chat Logs
For my exploration I want to explore online video chatting not limited to but via ichat in particular. Although the technology of online ‘video chatting’ has been available for over a decade now, recent innovations such as faster bandwidth, integration of the video camera on the computer body and advanced global accessibility has created a video chatting culture that seemed dismal in the past. When I was in the fourth grade I got my first computer, and reminiscing on it now, they were not my online glory days. I remember the dreadful days of 56k dial up, the AOL (pay by the minute) days and notably the video chatting days that back then looked more like a blob of pixels moving at a rate of about eternity. I hated video chatting, I was getting so impatient with the whole thing I concluded it was a waste of time for me. i swore it off and for almost 8 years never even had the slightest interest of video chatting- however, sparked by sudden interest and performance; i joined the Apple craze and I bought my first Mac- lo and behold these days I am video chatting more than ever.
Being a first generation American, I have a lot of family abroad, in particular Israel. I would often go to Israel and visit my cousins every year or so; today I am able to instantly video chat with them and feel connected more connected than ever. The emotional reactions that evolves from a computer screen and an internet connection is immensely surprising. In my next log I will go into depth of my video chatting process and how ‘feelings coupled with the idea of space and time get stirred all together in creating this new way of communicating. I know you requested for no mac products, however this tool does not just apply to a Macs.
television invades the internet
I thought that in light of the writers strike and its pending conclusion that it might be interesting to investigate which companies protect their television show’s copyright, which companies post their shows online, which shows do they choose to post online (all, none or a select few)? How soon are they posted online after their debut? Are there commericals, if so how many and for how long? Are they the same commercials for each commercial break? Can one skim the content and skip the commercials? Has the quality changed from tv to the internet?
I know that I just posed a lot of questions but I do watch most of my tv shows on my computer now unless I simply can not wait until they are posted (…like bans on google/youtube) or the company does not post them at all. Warning, almost all of the shows that I enjoy are incredibly trashy and poorly made. For example, Bravo does not post full episodes of Project Runway but does post partial episodes and “teasers” on its website. It is not very good about watching its copyrights. There are several youtube users who will post entire episodes of Project Runway without commercials within days and sometimes hours of its original showing. It is interesting to see what content was taken down by the company and/or youtube. Most of it is taken down because the company is vigilant about watching their productions but sometimes it is due to high web traffic due to a link leading to it from another site such as celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.
Identity (Verification) on the Web
Since a post has been written about the idea of OpenIDs, I thought I’d throw in some musings on the general concept of identity and identity verification. This is something that is always on the forefront of security issues, both on- and offline. We face this issue everyday, whether we are having our IDs checked when we buy alcohol or tobacco or we have our passports examined and fingerprints when we enter certain countries. Identity verification is a frustrating problem to overcome online. How do we know if someone is over 13/18/21? How can a bank ensure that the person logging into an account is indeed the account’s rightful owner? How do we know we can trust someone who is selling us something online? These questions at the moment are largely met with the answer “we can’t.” Furthermore, identity theft is becoming a growing issue.
A great resource of information on this issue is Kim Cameron’s IdentityBlog. Kim Cameron is Microsoft’s “Identity Architect” and all-around expert on the issue. Here are some basics I’ve learned from the time I’ve followed that blog (these are the ideas and opinions of Kim Cameron).
- A digital identity is “a set of claims made by one digital subject about itself or another digital subject” (e.g. I claim that I am Patricia Trattoria, my NYU ID # is N12345678, and I am at least 18 years old)
- The goal of an identity system is to be able to verify such claims when necessary, and only those claims. That is to say, if the system needs to know if I am over 18, it does not need to know whether I am 21 or 92, that my hometown is Athens, Georgia, or that I like puppies.
- It is important for the identity system to work in multiple ways and cover all digital subjects. A bank, for example, is a digital subject as long as it has a website or some sort of official representation on the web. When users visit a site that looks like (and by function, claims to be) their bank’s website, they need to be sure (have some sort of verification of claims) that it really is the official bank website before they provide their login details.
- The identity system must offer a plurality/diversity of options within a universal identity metasystem capable of dealing with all sorts of claims. As Nicole expresses in her post (linked above), there is a discomfort and concern with using the same ID to log-in to a bank website and your Facebook.
That’s all for now… probably a lot of gibberish to process already.
von Hayek and the Internet
In the documentary, ‘The Trap’ Freidrich von Hayek is discussed as being convinced that “the use of politics to plan society was far more dangerous than anything problems produced by capitalism because it inevitably lead to tyranny and the end of freedom”. He believed that the only way to avoid disaster was to look back into the past, a golden time period when individual’s cared for their own self-interest. He believed this type of society would become a self-directing automatic system which would lead to liberty and prosperity.
The image of the couples dancing about (Part 1: 06:17) reminded me of how the internet is one of the best examples of this self-directing automatic system. There is much debate about what will happen when regulation and politics increasing become involved with the internet. Will von Hayek’s theory come to play here - will control over the internet lead to tyranny and the end of freedom?
In modern society, the internet is one of the best outlets for individual to speak their mind, make use of their freedom of speech, learn new things, and exist in this world. It helps to create a dialogue with others which often is not physically possible. It leads to a different type of existence in this world that was not present before (i.e. “internet personality”).
In a sense, life on the internet is a seperate society from the physical world we live in. It’s kind of bizarre as you think about how people become celebrities from the internet, people create entirely new personas, and how people can “visit” new places (www.vLES.com, google satellite) etc etc. This world is a very different world from that of our parents - where we can exist in this world in a way we never could before or have that completely taken away from us.
