Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

Old School Blues

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After making the switch from paper books to an ereader I’m still not totally sold on the electronic version.  Despite the convenience of an ereader, some things are still easier and better in paper.

FOOTNOTES

I like to read footnotes and this is often really difficult on my ereader.  On my ereader the footnote is indicated with a small * or symbol embedded in the text.  If I tap the symbol with my finger it’s supposed to take me to the appropriate footnote.  The problem is the ereader often confuses my tapping the footnote symbol with either the tap used to turn pages or the tap used to bring up menu options.  *sigh*  It’s maddening.  I often give up on reading footnotes because it’s too time consuming and annoying to “flip pages” in the ereader to reach them.

On an ereader the tap location sometimes indicates the action.  For example, tapping on the right side of the screen means “next page”.  Whereas tapping on the left means “previous page”.  This is a non-issue in a paper book where the reader is free to flip pages in any direction at any time.

 

MAPS

Reading maps is easier and better in print, especially if it’s a two-page spread.  The image is never big enough on the ereader.  I also refer to the maps periodically while reading.  Similar to the footnotes, this is fast and easy in paper, but time consuming with an ereader.

 

SEARCHING

With print I am often able to locate the passage I’m thinking of by remembering where it was physically located on a page, or maybe even as part of a particular section.  I find it difficult to use these strategies when searching on an ereader.

In the ereader, however, I search for keywords which has proven to be faster than flipping through pages.

 

PORTABILITY

Almost no contest here.  The ereader is easier to carry and read in crowded places, such as my morning subway commute.  It’s wonderful to take multiple books with me on vacation, unless I plan on reading near the ocean.  Salt + waves = potential ereader disaster

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Ultimately I prefer the ereader, but I maintain a healthy respect and appreciation for paper books.  I would be sad if all the paper books disappeared in favor of their digital replicas.  Every once in a while I go “old school” and relish the experience of reading print.

Ecuador, Galapagos

Departure & Transformation

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We departed early on the last day for our many-legged journey to Quito. First we boarded the pangas and arrived on Santa Cruz Island where we boarded a bus to drive us across the island to another boat. The bus departed from one of the towns and I enjoyed watching the signs of civilization flash by. After clearing the town, we continued to ascend to an elevation of about 400-500 meters. I was amazed at how dramatically the landscape changed in such a short period of time. The air was misty and humid. Tall trees grew along the edge of the road covered in large patches of moss and epiphytes.

As the elevation increased, the scenery changed from arid to lush.

As the elevation increased, the scenery changed from arid to lush.

We ended up in an ecosystem, unique to the island of Santa Cruz, called the Scalesia Forest.

Scalesia Tree with moss growing on it.

Scalesia Tree with moss growing on it.

The time here was short, but it was amazing to be an area so lush and damp compared with the other terrains we had experienced, most of which had been dry, dusty and covered in hardened, black lava.

A basin in the Scalesia Forest.

A basin in the Scalesia Forest.

We returned to the bus and descended to the other side of the island where a boat was waiting to take us to the airport. My mind buzzed trying to process how many new things we had seen, experienced, and discovered in this magical archipelago. The variety and diversity and uniqueness of each island, or even each area on one island, were a constant source of fascination for me.

I knew our time was coming to an end, but even on the 10 minute boat ride to Baltra Island we saw skipjack tuna, pelicans, diving Blue-footed Boobies, and even a few white-tipped reef sharks cruising past us. I wanted to soak up as much as I could in our remaining moments. Too soon we arrived at the airport and got our first flash of reality as we raced through the terminal for 30 minutes of retail therapy to buy souvenirs before leaving.

We arrived in Quito that afternoon for our final night in Ecuador and prepared ourselves for one last day of adventures.

 

 

Digital Dilemma, Facebook, Social Media

The Dying Art of Friendship

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Earlier this year I stumbled across an article from 2012 entitled “Friends of a Certain Age: Why is it Hard to Make Friends Over 30?“.  As I get older I find that my definition of friendship has been adjusted to explain what seems to be the “new norm” for maintaining friendships these days.  I’ve made plenty of new friends after hitting 30, but I find communication is often fleeting and shallow, a few hurried text messages or email threads.  My expectations for face-to-face time are greatly reduced.  People are busy!

In order to generate and maintain friendships, the author contends three things must be in place: proximity, chances for repeated, unplanned interactions, and an atmosphere where people feel comfortable to confide in each other.  What isn’t mentioned is the time required to develop and maintain a friendship.  I often find the biggest challenges are finding time to meet in person, and then competing with the allure of the smartphone when we do manage to find a time.

Proximity is also an interesting idea because it hasn’t been adapted for the digital environment where so many friendships are born and thrive.  I know people that maintain close friendships with others they met online (e.g. through game playing or forums), even if they haven’t met in person. Can there be such a thing as digital proximity?  Can you maintain a close friendship through electronic means even if there are no in person interactions?

As if it’s not enough to compete with differing life priorities, diverging interests, and time constraints as we get older, the term “friend” has been cheapened with the advent of social media.  I often hear from people who use Facebook a lot that they feel constrained or inhibited to post what they really want to because of certain Facebook “friends” they’ve accepted.  Are those really friends?  I’ve also read accounts of other people with hundreds of friends and followers on various social media channels yet are unable to rely on any of them.

So while friendship can be entirely created and/or maintained through digital means, does it mean the same thing?  Do we just have to adjust our meaning and interpretation of friendship for online vs. offline friends?  I certainly hope not, but navigating friendship and what it means through all the new communication channels can be challenging.

 

Digital Dilemma, Social Media

Just Say Something!

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Last year a friend of mine remarked in frustration how everybody “likes” (or “favorites”) something on social media.  She would prefer if people said something once in a while through comments.  I noted down her thoughts in a draft posting for the future.  I’m not sure why it interested me so much, but I kept thinking about how people are so willing to give a “like”,  a “thumbs up” or a “star” on a posting, but rarely take the time to write a substantive comment.

I figured it had something to do with the rapid deterioration of communication between humans.  Non-verbal cues account for over 70% of communication, yet we willing dismiss this in favor of more frequent, vapid exchanges through emoji and polling buttons, an easier, faster way to say “I’m here and I care.”  With so little time invested in face-to-face communication it’s no wonder we have nothing substantive to say that couldn’t be summed up with a smiley face or star rating.  Now when we do use words to communicate, we need the emoji to make sure the message is interpreted properly.

A few weeks ago I was reading Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection by Jacob Silverman.  All of a sudden I had a renewed interest in our pre-packaged communication methods.  Turns out companies prefer when we use symbols, emoji, and polling buttons to express how we feel because it makes our moods and thoughts machine readable.  This means it is easier for companies to analyze us through algorithms and big data analysis.  We’ve willingly provided them with the data they need in a format they can use instantly.

Natural language is more difficult to analyze because it’s nuanced and often requires context to interpret correctly.  In fact, the book discussed a service provided called “Amazon Mechanical Turks” which hires humans to interpret natural language for analysis, among other things.  The tagline is “Artificial Artificial Intelligence.”  Despite everything we read about the power of computers and analysis, some tasks still remain which humans are better at such as facial recognition.  Humans are still more accurate in identifying a match between faces than computers. However, as long as we use symbols and emoji, and name tag all our photos, we make big data analysis of ourselves easier.

 

Digital Dilemma

Nothing to Hide

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It seems that every time I use a new app, or engage with technology, my privacy is being infringed upon in some way.  Turns out, after reading dozens of articles and books about it, it is!  Whenever I discuss this with other people a common response is “So what? I’ve got nothing to hide.”  But is this really how we should be reacting to such ubiquitous data collection about our personal lives?

It’s not about whether or not I’ve got something to hide.  That would imply I was doing something sinister or criminal for which there could be personal or legal repercussions.  For me it’s about whether or not I want somebody (or some company) to know that much about me.  Companies are constantly collecting, analyzing, tracking, and monitoring dozens of data points about all of us, most of which is easily gathered through using apps and smartphones.  Most of the time, despite my personal research efforts, I have no idea what is actually being collected or how it will be used in the present or in the future.  Something that may seem rather innocent now could be used to incriminate or target me at a later point in time.

For example, it’s common for companies to collect data about our buying habits.  This data is then used to send us targeted advertisements, or in some cases, offer different prices on websites based on buying histories, salary information, and proximity to competitor stores.  While I don’t feel like I have anything to hide about what I’m purchasing, I don’t want retailers to know so many details about my habits which enables them to target (and bombard) me with ads, coupons, promotionals, etc. all when they know I’m most likely to make an impulse buy.

As it becomes more common for these types of activities to go unchallenged, we become accustomed to them.  The infringement on our privacy has been gradual and not without benefits, making it easy to accept.  Over time we become complacent and stop thinking about the intrusions as something worrisome or problematic.

You may flippantly dismiss sneaky external data collection with a shrug of the shoulders thinking, I’ve got nothing to hide.  While this may be true, it’s also true that you have something to protect.

Ecuador, Galapagos

Sharks & Tortoises

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The next morning we visited Las Tintoreras, Spanish for a white-tipped reef shark. I had already seen these sharks when snorkeling at Santiago’s black sand beach. We walked around being careful to stay on the trail. The area was loaded with marine iguana nesting sites and walking over them could crush the buried eggs. Consequently lots of cute juvenile marine iguanas skittered around. Aa (pronounced “ah-ah”) lava covered this particular part of the island. Not many animals, including humans, can successfully walk across this type of lava because it’s sharp, pointy, and painful.

A few skittish juvenile marine iguanas hanging out near the trail.

A few skittish juvenile marine iguanas hanging out near the trail.

After the walk we went for one final snorkel. Slate-colored rays nosed around in the sand for food and lots of huge, beautiful multi-colored fish swam by. I had seen many of the species before, but they all seemed a bit larger here.

A ray glided by.

A ray glided by.

At one point four sea lions were right in front of me! It was intimidating at first, but they wanted to play and I couldn’t resist. My guide had told me that sea lions go crazy for bubbles so I started diving and blowing bubbles. The sea lions swirled around, twirling gracefully in the water. They came within inches of us before pivoting away at the last second.

Snorkeling with Sea Lions. Wow!

Snorkeling with Sea Lions. Wow!

My brother took some terrific videos. Initially I was upset he hadn’t gotten more video of me swimming with them. For a brief period of time, I actually felt as graceful and fluid as a sea lion, just by being around them. The video, however, shows a very different portrayal of me turning in awkward, chunky movements sporting a long-sleeve t-shirt, bike shorts, and bright yellow flippers while the sea lions dart and dance around me. I prefer my memory, rather than the harsh reality the video shows.

In the afternoon we went to a Darwin Research Centres to see the famous Galapagos Tortoises. Many tortoise species are endangered due to invasive species (e.g. rats, goats, etc.) and are now bred in captivity until they are mature enough to be released in the wild.

Naturally we saw (and heard) a pair of tortoises mating. It was pretty neat watching them walk on their sturdy legs that protrude at odd angles to their bodies, but yet are perfectly suited for getting them around.  The legs, combined with the domed carapaces, make them like tanks, equipped for trudging through terrain with scrubby, scratchy bushes.

A few juvenile Galapagos Tortoises in the rehabilitation center.

A few juvenile Galapagos Tortoises in the rehabilitation center.