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METAFORIX MAIL
Volume 1, Issue
45 June 22, 2001
Sites and
insights for the Information Age
Happy Summer
and thanks for reading!
CONTENTS
AT A GLANCE:
ON
MY MIND: Boundaries
INFORMATICON: Hoaxes in Cyberspace
MEDIA: Human Billboards
METAFORIX MAIL ARCHIVES
WANTED: YOUR OPINIONS!
ON MY MIND
[From the Editor]
My
friend Ilise
Benun and I have been having an occasional online discussion about
technology. We started talking about cell
phones, and the next thing we knew, we were on to imagination, trust,
privacy, and boundaries.
From there, Ilise began thinking about the "impulsiveness associated with
talking on a cell phone," the danger of making what could be a significant
decision without giving it your full attention. As she points out, a cell
phone often rings while its owner is in the midst of doing something else.
A multitasking talker presented with an "urgent" request may decide in
haste and repent at leisure.
As you may recall, Ilise has so far resisted the pressure to join the
ranks of cell phone owners, while I've had several over a period of years
and don't leave home without one. But, unlike most cell phone users I
know, I very rarely leave my cell phone on unless I'm actually expecting
a call.
Maybe this habit stems from the old days, when airtime was so expensive
that no one wanted to risk paying for a junk call or a wrong number. Maybe
it's a vestige of that ancient time when people first began to have car
phones. (I remember telling someone then that having a phone in the car
seemed to me like having a phone in the shower, and I didn't think I wanted
one, thank you.) Maybe it's the flip side of my absolute compulsion to
answer the phone at home, a kind of illusion of inaccessibility on demand
on the road. I really don't want my cell phone to ring unless I have a
good idea who will be on the other end.
So I'm not quite sure how resonant I find the idea of impulsiveness. If
there's an "i word" here, I'd say it's "improvisation." For me, cell phone
behavior has a more theatrical quality about it, both in the sense of
performing for an audience and the psychological sense of "acting out."
Let's put aside what seems to be the natural tendency to adopt a telephone
voice that is louder and more distinct than the normal conversational
tone. Let's also recognize that a significant percentage of cell phone
calls are not genuinely necessary. I mean the calls that fall into the
category of "The-plane-just-landed-I'm-getting-off-I'll-phone-you-when-I-reach-the-baggage-claim-area-Bye."
I refer to these calls as "conspicuous communication." One of their primary
purposes, if not their only purpose, is to focus attention on certain
attributes of the speaker within your hearing range: How cool (usually)
his teeny tiny phone, how huge the deal he's about to close, how expensive
his summer house, how hard to get reservations at the restaurant he'll
be eating at tonight, how hot he is as a sexual partner. Like the most
loquacious visitor in an online chat room, the conspicuous cell phone
communicator virtually dares you not to pay attention to him.
Sort of like a gifted actor. Or a little kid having a tantrum.
I still think cell phones are cool toys. But I'm glad we've collectively
begun to establish to boundaries of the playground and the rules of the
game.
Cordially,
Lois C.
Ambash, Editor
editor@metaforix.com
INFORMATICON
[a provocative quote, statistic, or piece of data]
"Debating
Reality: An Online Hoax Is Not a Pox
Some quotes from an essay by Theresa M. Senft The New York Times,
6/14/01
"For
more than a year, thousands of people had been reading the Web diary of
Kaycee Nicole Swenson, a young woman from Kansas who was fighting leukemia.
Many of these people also had had online conversations with Kaycee, had
talked to her on the phone and had seen pictures of her posted on the Web.
Last month, Kaycee's mother announced that her daughter had unexpectedly
died of an aneurysm. . . .
"In the following days, however, it was determined that Kaycee's Web logs,
photos, phone calls to friends - all the things that had so absorbed a large
online community - were part of a two-year hoax. . . .
"It's understandable that some Web dwellers, once burned by the Kaycee hoax,
might [demand that Web users prove their identity]. But there is a problem
with this demand for verification, one that gets at the heart of how life
is lived on the Internet: for many people who cannot or do not wish to be
seen by others, the online world is a place to thrive in relative safety.
. . . Is it reasonable to ask people who are already suffering or at risk
to compromise their safety or privacy, merely because we are afraid of being
tricked?
"We may never be able to say for certain who or what is real on the Web
just as we can't in everyday life. It's important to remember that there
will always be those on the Web who are genuinely isolated, alone, forgotten
and trying to make contact. As part of our social contract, these people
need to be tended to - not interrogated - in spite of our fears of being
tricked again: their acceptance is more than worth the occasional hoax.
They are real and so are their predicaments, no matter how many frauds may
occur in the future."
MEDIA
[a recent news article, feature, or opinion piece]
"Chris
& Luke: The First Corporately Sponsored College Students!"
Last
fall, we published a column
about two enterprising high school students, Chris Barrett and Luke McCabe,
of Haddonfield High School in New Jersey. In August, at the start of their
senior year, the two launched a hokey, sophomoric web site, ChrisAndLuke.com!,
with the goal of obtaining corporate sponsorship for their college education.
Chris and Luke's offer to be the corporate "spokesguys" for any legitimate
product except tobacco or alcohol in exchange for full college tuition garnered
media coverage to die for over the entire school year. The site, definitely
cute but seriouly in need of editing, chronicled their college visits and
other adventures. By their count, Chris and Luke were seriously courted
by fifteen potential sponsors.
Last week, the big announcement: First USA Bank will sponsor Chris at Pepperdine
University and Luke at the University of Southern California. In First
USA's version of this "history-making deal," Chris and Luke are "student
ambassadors," rather than "spokesguys," and there isn't a single exclamation
point. And, as we pointed out last fall, there's not a parent or a teacher
in sight.
METAFORIX
MAIL ARCHIVES
Access previous
issues of Metaforix Mail by date by visiting our archives. Or use the
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to search by keywords.
WANTED: YOUR
OPINIONS!
Guest
Columnists and Interviewees Wanted!
Metaforix
Mail seeks your opinions on how information technologies are (or are not)
changing your world of work.
Guest columns are welcome. Contributions are subject to editing for length
and clarity.
If your column is accepted for publication, it will be permanently posted
on the Metaforix web site, along with a link to your e-mail address or
URL.
As a small token of appreciation, you will also receive a $10 gift certificate
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Alternatively, you may wish to participate in a telephone interview, which
will be written up for publication in a future issue of Metaforix Mail.
to be considered, please send a brief note indicating your professional
perspective and the topic you would like to address.
To submit a column for consideration or to be considered for an interview,
e-mail editor@metaforix.com.
Please
note that the links contained in Metaforix
Mail are current as of the time of publication. Some of them may no longer
be operative at the time you access past issues.
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Volume 1, Issue 44 June 13, 2001
To
Volume 1, Issue 46 July 5, 2001
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