Iphone

So I did it - I went and signed on the dotted line and come home with my very own iphone... after resisting the ipod touch and ipods of all varieties for so long (although I did buy one for my wife) I am now the proud owner of some apple hardware and a 3G phone to boot.

Up until recently I have been sold on the N96 as my next phone, with a great camera, GPS and all the rest of it, it sounded like the N95 (which I also coveted for some time).  However after reading a few reviews on Engadget I decided that the N96 was not really for me, the main attraction was the camera, and that was something I decided to I could live without in a phone.. well that many megapixels anyway.

The Iphone does have a camera, and a GPS and that lovely touch screen - and what seems like an endless supply of applications, some free and some not - applications that allow you to have fun with the GPS and camera and all the rest of it.  Another bonus that I had not counted on was the kids - they love it, with a screen they can touch - nae - are meant to touch and buttons, that actually look like the things they do... the camera especially - they are able to pick the thing up and take pictures, with minimal instruction (they are 3 and 5) not that I let them get too far with it :-) 

So now that I have it - would I make the same decision again? definitely - the full touch keyboard and large screen make it an excellent tool for social apps like twitter.friendfeed and facebook - and lets face it that where I spend 99% of my time these days.  I am betting it is only going to enhance my hyper-connectivity, which can only be a good thing right?

technology populism

I love this recent post from RWW - talking about the recent Gartner research report and emerging trends for CIO's - in particular the first point that is raised is something call technology populism; here is the excerpt from the post....

Technology Populism: Web 2.0 and social networking in the enterprise. Workers are provisioning their own tools, especially when IT can't provide. IT had best look towards integrating Enterprise 2.0 into their organization - if they don't, the end users will simply go find their own apps to use. The risks of ignoring this trend include compromised security, comprised privacy, and poor control of intellectual property. (We discussed this concept in more detail here).

........ and I now realise that this is essentially my attitude to CIO tools in my work area - if they are not available easily from internal IT why not just use the tools on the web.  I have never really had a name for it before, but once you are exposed to things like google doc's, google reader, delicious, twitter, yahoo pipes and the list goes on why would you even bother to try and recreate such things inside the firewall.  I just don't understand the reticence, well I do - everyone is worried about security etc, but for most things the security offered by web services is more then sufficient, and sometimes superior to what can be provided by internal ICT that there is no argument.

The other point I will make about this is that there is not widespread adoption of the web2.0 ethic about sharing everything with everyone - well not quite that free, but a lot more transparent then is currently the case inside govt firewalls...some of my colleagues call me a digital hippy, which I did not really understand until the free love reference was made clear to me, and in some ways that what web2.0 is about... in some ways.  Technology populist - I can live with that!

Hugh Mackay Web2.0 and democracy

it has been a thought of mine recently that if we could only get everyone connected to the internet and engaged in the decision making of the country that we would have a better system then the current westminster parliment... however reading "Advance Australia Where?" has given me pause for thought - thought for pause. Hugh basically says that if everyone is involved then we end up with chaos and that we need leaders - people who can consider the facts and make informed and sometimes popular decisions. I agree... however I feel that my recent thinkings about the involvment of everyone in the process has been a lack of voice within the decision making process - a government, now deposed that was making decisions that I did not agree with - bad decisions - decisions that got them unelected.... during those times however I wanted more engagement and web2.0 seemed like a natural way to go. Now that we have someone in govt that is more to my way of thinking.. I don't feel so angry about a lack of engagement.

all that being said we still need transparency in govt and better consultation and engagement with the populace and web 2.0 has a great many tools and ideas that can further that cause.

hhmmmmm...

is anybody out there

Despite all the neat tools and all the neat communications channels and all the neat photostreams and all the neat neatness... sometimes it still feels kinda lonely out there - despite all the tweets and the never ending streams of status updates - all these people, all the time but still it feels somewhat empty.

19112007(001)

school fete

So today was my first time helping out at our schools annual fete. Lots of things going on, lots of stalls staffed by volunteers - all selling donated goods/services to raise money for the school. I participated - helping out at the icecream stall... which predictably was very busy with all the kids around. It got me thinking though - on the one hand it felt good to contribute to the school, but helping out at the stall, and doing some of the pack down work afterwads, but in terms of the social networking that was acheived how does it stack up (not that this was the purpose of the fete mind you) against time invested online, in virtual social networks? virtual communities... how effective is that kind of activity in creating the social bonds so very important to us - how much of the interaction, with the selective memories most of us possess will be remembered? How co-hesive a group was formed from the day and what did most people take away from it. My experience while I was with the kids, was that I was somewhat isolated, because they have specific needs, and want to do things that I wouldn't necessarily want - things that sometimes stop meaning social connection. Perhaps the organising committee was able to establish much better working relationships - but for those on the periphery who were helping people who were primary organisers of a stall etc - what of our connection to the group... not everyone can be in that inner group - is my effort worth less social connection then the primary organiser?

That being said would the addition of online communication between the people/parents involved including those at the periphery have necessarily improved social connections - or would be just better informed? How does the knowing of status/progress/events enhance our social connection with a group? is it the same as being there?

enough questions for now

social information network - info revolution

I love this video for so many reasons - but most of all it highlights the power of us!