Hello world, goodby privacy?

The other day I googled my eighteen month old son’s name to see how often it would occur and whether one of these hits would really link to him. He did show up, not unexpected, but to my surprise not at an URL I had once created myself. Long ago I posted a few videos for his grandparents living abroad. I guess I forgot to check the ‘private’ box, since they now popped up on a different site amongst advertisements and “cute girls from Amsterdam”.

Apart from the anger that my content was somehow stolen, or “leeched” as they call it on this specific website, I wondered whether one can control one’s own online history. This example probably shows one cannot.

That’s a rather serious issue. Once you realize that everything you do on the internet will eventually lead a life of its own, you’ll think twice. Especially on all these web 2.0 websites and communities made to join, share and exchange.

Maybe it’s too early to tell what all the consequences will be, but imagine this 16 year old kid sharing, blogging and uploading all kind of ‘cool’ stuff with his friends. By the time he graduates from university and applies for a serious job, all of a sudden he’s confronted with his “cool” period. Sounds like the equivalent of a very visible tattoo you can’t hide. It might have been really trendy once upon a time, but now that it’s starting to wrinkle (along with your skin), it's rather embarrassing. Okay, so nowadays you can have the tattoo remove by laser, but to get rid of your internet history is a lot harder.

The question is whether we can oversee what will happen to everything we share out there. How will it affect us in the future; will it work for, or against us. I consider this to be a question we should give some serious thought, before blurting out whatever crosses our mind. realise everything I do will add up to my online profile.

Sure, the answer could be to have yourself represented by an avatar or to just stay anonymous. But that’s like going to a masquerade ball. It’s really hard to get to know anybody, if we all wear these masks. So if you'd like to share more than just superficial comments, it’s natural to let yourself be known.

I guess my son won’t be harmed. He’s cute, very appealing and just over 1 1/2 years old. I couldn’t think of a better promotion when going for a job interview!

Exhibitionist’s playground?

We all dream about our 15 minutes of fame, but I guess only a few of us will get a real taste of it in the end. It takes hard work or a special talent, the right contacts or good looks, a bit of luck or a good idea. Just the dream itself won't get you there.

But does this also apply to the internet and to people posting, blogging, commenting, replying and sharing? Looking at a random community or forum, you’d get the idea we all have something important and unique to say or share. But is this really sharing, do we really have that much interesting stuff to talk about? Isn't it just our way of seeking fame?

Sure, some people have something to say, and yes, the internet is a great stage. But how about millions and millions of hollow comments and ten thousands of images and videos that probably only matter to their owner? I know it's a bold statement, but hasn't the internet become an exhibitionist’s playground? Having said so, I wonder who's really watching. Is there really someone out there, or have we become so isolated and self-centered that we don't mind anymore? Did we become so arrogant to think we don't have to reflect and think things over, but that we can bring up whatever we want, whenever we want to?

The funny thing about the internet is that it seems an everlasting archive. So for those of you who seek fame: go on, expose yourselves! Maybe it will bring you the desired fame, and if so, it’s going to last a lot longer than 15 minutes.

Flickr and leefjedoel: both addictive

My beloved Flickr has turned 4 years old 10 days ago. I find it amazing how addictive Flickr really is, there are times that I can’t be bothered to check or upload a photo but I’ll always come back. I can look at the Explore page forever without becoming bored. It really gives inspiration to look at some of the photos posted on Flickr.



Another thing that I find inspiring are the goals on our leefjedoel.nl . Every time when I take a peek at the new goals on the site I ‘m thinking: “hmm this is something I want to achieve”. I can easily get addicted by looking at the new goals that people come up with. That’s probably the reason that I’ve got over 80 goals.

My goals

We recently soft-launched our new web 2.0 initiative: leefjedoel.nl (translated live your goals). This community website helps you to list the goals in your life, work on them and most important: share your progress with others. When you get connected to people who have the same goals as you, it gets easier to stay motivated.

It's quite a big project, fully developed in Ruby on Rails. But we’re not through yet! The beta version of leefjedoel.nl has just been released and we’re squashing the last few bugs as we speak.

Being part of the team who created this site, I already have over 30 goals . I take pride in the list that I’ve created over the last few weeks. The list of my goals really tells something about me, I’m in to sports and cooking. I’m moving to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks, so there are some goals involving that event as well on the list. The number one goal for me is making this site a complete success, what is yours?

Online communities

Mooie video over online communities

Sinds kort werken we hier met een team aan een grote ambitieuze community-site voor een van onze klanten. Binnen dit project werken we via de Agile aanpak waardoor ons team de eigenschappen heeft van een goed draaiende community-site. We kunnen snel schakelen, communiceren en iedere dag staat er wel een nieuw stukje functionaliteit online. Werken in dit project is als lid zijn van een community; het is verslavend.

Wilfen niet altijd een nadeel

Gisteren en vandaag kwamen diverse media (Daily Telegraph Nu.nl) met het bericht dat internetters steeds meer ‘Wilfen’. Wilfen staat voor ‘What was I looking for’ en is het verschijnsel dat internetters niet meer weten wat hun oorspronkelijke doel was.
De toon van de media was soms zuur te noemen, zo worden internetgebruikers geadviseerd om doelen en tijdslimieten in te stellen.
Wilfen is niet altijd even slecht te noemen, het spannende van het internet is naar mijn mening nog steeds dat je overal terecht kan komen.

Veel Web2.0 sites bieden juist mogelijkheden om eens lekker te wilfen. Een tagcloud brengt de bezoeker op pagina’s die hij anders nooit zou vinden.. Communitysites als Flickr of Youtube zijn perfecte locaties om eens uitgebreid rond te kijken en te vergeten waar je naar op zoek was. Ook webwinkels kunnen munt slaan uit vrij rondsurfende bezoekers. Iemand die de nieuwe DVD van James Bond zoekt, maakt kans om in de verleiding gebracht te worden om alle films van James Bond te kopen. Gerelateerde producten staan niet voor niets op de detailpagina’s van iedere zichzelf respecterende webwinkel!

Toch is het niet altijd fijn om te wilfen. Bij het gericht zoeken naar een handleiding voor mijn dvd recorder word ik liever niet afgeleid, hetzelfde wanneer ik online een reisverzekering wil afsluiten. Webontwikkelaars moeten zich goed afvragen welk doel een website heeft en misschien nog wel belangrijker: welk doel de bezoekers hebben.