Category: thesis

07/03/06 02:25 - ID#32680

Mob-ility

I am sick today. I got a sore throat over the weekend and it hurt so much today that I have a pounding headache. I would honestly rather be at work programming instead of sitting here thinking I should be working on the written portion of my final thesis for grad school. I know this is a recurring story but it depresses me on so many levels. The worst of which is how I failed to arrive at my goal or how Buffalo failed me. The rest of this post is not so boring I swear.

I started reading some more of Howard Rheingold, "Smart mobs" in which he talks about mobile communities that have formed around the world and the effects they have on society. Lots of concentration is on mobile networks that help users share real time information. An example was a group of people in Scandanavia that all scammed the subway (I am not promoting this) by having a cell phone network that would alert the users where the train conductors were. When you saw one, you would send a message with the location of the conductor which would then be sent to the other users.

There are hundreds of examples in his book. One of the most famous mobile socialo networking groups is called upoc

- it lets you create a mobierl social network that works similar to the tarin conductor example above. One of their most famous is a celebrity stalker mobiel network in NYC which send all the user sthe locations of NYC celebrites when other movbile users send those lcoations to the list. Exmaple, you see julia roberts at a restaurent and send a message everyone else gets it and rushes to her. Freaky and scary - i think.

The one thing I have hated about living in Buffalo is the lack of public willing to accept mobile internet. I really don't understand it at all. I provides the benefits of instant information access with benefits of social networks. Something as simple as being able to look up a recipe at the grocery store, or to record an event as it is happening.

Being horrified that I was a super failure by not being able to create a mobile network I decided to check out upoc communities that were centered around buffalo. There were not very many and the ones that were had few users and even fewer messages. The largest group was of course one that sent messages about the bufflao bills.

Even crazier is that there was a mobile user group for upstate NY - yes - all of upstate - Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, etc. It had only 44 users across hundreds of miles and these were the messages:

Jun 05 10:11PM
Fr: cliffr39
dude chill out with the whorin 4 times in 3 hours is aggressive
Jun 05 10:05PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms here?
Jun 05 10:04PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms here?
Jun 05 7:49PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms under 30 here?
Jun 05 7:48PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute white single moms under 30 here?
Jun 04 4:05PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any cute single white moms under 30 here?
Jun 03 9:28PM
Fr: Supermanmax
Any single white mom here in her 20s?

So maybe Buffalo just isn't ready for something like this. But why? That is a question I really just cannot answer. I really wanted to build a mobile empire, a temporary reality layered on top of the city, in which people shared their lives and and radically changed each others perception of local community. Instead we have a journaling community which shares many of the same benefits in terms of building community but has gotten all of these people stuck at their computer screens.

Although, the average user of estrip.org has not reached the level of mobility/portability that I desire, it has laid the foundation for a community which continues to grow and adopt new technologies as they become available and afforable - ultimately helping to make these technologies socially acceptable in a mobile technology unsavy town.

Ironically, I made plans from my phone in the chat to meet (e:joshua) and (e:libertad) right after this. Maybe it does work, but I am th emobile link, lol.

theecarey writes at 12:10:26 07/04/06 - Comment #9479: (e:shawnr) made valid points on the perception of mobile technology and how the cellular suppliers are limiting the potential users more than any other factor; at this point.

As for your goal in getting people to use mobile technology, I think you answered yourself:
"Although, the average user of estrip.org has not reached the level of mobility/portability that I desire, **it has laid the foundation for a community which continues to grow and adopt new technologies as they become available and afforable** - ultimately helping to make these technologies socially acceptable in a mobile technology unsavy town"

It seems that more people are becoming aware of what they can do with their phones and (e:strip) combined. For many, this awarness is through your sharing, encouragment and knowledge. As more projects come to fruition, there will be an increase in useage and more choices. *Dont give up, but give it time*. Reaching critical mass takes time and strategy :)

twisted writes at 09:48:21 07/03/06 - Comment #9475: Someone I used to work with posted jobs for his startup :::link::: in the Boston area. Maybe you can be the Software Developer and I can be the Interactive Designer, haha. On second thought, their concept is probably too commercial for you. Too bad!

paul writes at 07:15:47 07/03/06 - Comment #9471: I never really thought about what shawn said, that people don not even know what to ask for if they wanted it. The phone companies do make it tough to understand what you are getting and how much it costs. It may be good information to add to a userguide someday when someone makes one.

metalpeter writes at 07:13:42 07/03/06 - Comment #9470: Yeah Buffalo is a little bit behind technolgy and econmicly. Some of the groups that all call each other or go on line and all show up someplace are verry scary. I'm not saying the technology is evil or good it is who and how it is used. Klansmen could use it for evil (they would think that killing or harsing blacks is good, but I say it is evil) or any group; or other groups could use it for good. If I had a cellphone with web acess I would love to go to a concert and send video to the site of one of there songs. Or if I was at the Taste of Buffalo Film my self eating and walking and at the end of the post say where I was at. Then anyone looking at the site would know where I was if they where at that same event. I think sometimes we in Buffalo are a little slower to use new stuff, but that is just me.

shawnr writes at 06:48:25 07/03/06 - Comment #9469: I'm going through the upgrade thing right now, too. I would like to get into a Windows Mobile phone because of Xbox Live Anywhere coming next January, but I don't know if that will happen. Fortunately, Xbox Live Anywhere (and estrip) will support much less awesome phones.

I have a Nokia 3220, the kids' "party phone," and you can get them for free with a contract renewal these days. I paid $50 for it last year. It's not bad and does photo/video/text to estrip. I think prices are right so that, like many users here say, people will be able to upgrade to capable handsets.

But the phone companies don't make it easy. They don't want estrip to provide those services; they want to provide them. They want to host your photos and give you IM. They want to charge you per kilobyte for internet usage. They charge you per message for text/media messages. It's all very hostile towards the average estrip.org.

And figuring out what you need -- I mean, I could actually tell the Sprint rep that I wanted to make sure I had unlimited access to their EVDO network, but I couldn't find on their site where it told me clearly that Internet access would cost X dollars. They don't even call it the Internet: It's PCS Power Vision or MEdia Ultimate Max or T-Zones or VCast blah whatever. The whole thing is set up to keep users ignorant of their choices and options, even when the actual usage restrictions and capabilities might be much more liberal for savvy users who know to look for those features.

libertad writes at 06:22:36 07/03/06 - Comment #9467: i dunno how much this new fangled technology costs...but maybe i would try it if it weren't any more expensive for the service than old school phones...haha normal cell phones are now old school. I'm always one step behind when it comes to technology.

chico writes at 04:31:37 07/03/06 - Comment #9466: What's funny about the otherwise horrendously pathetic messages is Supermanmax's changing standards...after his first msg he insists on "cute" moms, then after striking out for 30 hours, decides to drop his requirement that the cute SWmom be under 30. For the record, I'm glad I'm not a cute SWmom on mobile internet, I'd be SOOOOOO tempted to hook up with this stud. Haha

boxerboi writes at 02:50:42 07/03/06 - Comment #9465: I agree with mrmike. In March when my phone contract is up and I can get a new one, I am ditching my retarded phone for a smartphone. My dad was in Brussells and said there were a ton of people making their reservations for things via mobile phone. He said it made so much more sense.

I was thinking about the possibilities (endless):
1. dinner reservations with out ever having to take to someone
2. getting called for your table reservation without having to lug around one of those retarded pagers Fridays, etc loves to give you so you can sit outside their door with a thousand other people doing nothing
3. Ordering coffee and paying for it via text menu from Starbucks, Tim Hortons from your car as you pull up and being able to run inside grab it and go.
4. uploading a shopping list from wegmans to your phone or better yet, selecting a recipe from the Food Network and having it itemize the shopping list on your phone for you
5. Setting up car maintence appointments

Alright I'm just listing everything I hate to do that involves speaking to people. I hate the telephone, I hate talking on it and I hate listening to the phone ring. The more I can do with text messaging, email and mobile web surfing the better off I am.

mrmike writes at 02:37:18 07/03/06 - Comment #9464: I don't it's that Buffalo isn't ready. I think it is a side effect of economics here. As a community, we're pretty poor and as a result, slow to invest in new technologies. My next phone will have me estrip mobile. Right now, having it be a phone is a tall order.

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Category: thesis

07/19/05 01:36 - ID#32110

Writing the Thesis!

I was writing my thesis for a change when I looked up toot in the thesaurus. It turned out to not be the word I was looking for.

toot - 1. a bout of heavy drinking 2. to inhale an illegal drug, especially cocaine

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Category: thesis

07/12/05 04:59 - ID#32089

Heat Wave

Can anyone else work when it is 92 degrees out and you thought it was bad in DC (e:southernyankee)

I am supposed to be writing my thesis today but all I can think about is developing new web applications and moving the server. Unfortunately, moving the server is far more complicated than I thought and I am not so sure if I want to do it anymore. It means I would have to get rid of vonage, cancel adelphia, and order a verizon phone line. Then I could apply for DSL but they can't promise any speed until after I have a phone line, but I don't really want the phone line if the DSL isn't going to be fast enough. I really need a solution now I am tired of uploading.

I guess when I look back on this time period I am either going to be really happy about what I accomplished or really hate myself for letting it control my life. (e:shawnr) got me to look around the web some more at what is going on and I still feel like a country mouse developer in the land of the city mice with my stupid VPS.

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Category: thesis

07/12/05 08:51 - ID#32087

Silly Thesis Paul is for Programming

If programming and designing the site and developing the community was like eating a large delicious meal, then writing the thesis feels like the disgusting burp that leads to a little vomit after you eat too much. There is too much to talk about and not enough interest on my part about talking about it. I might need some of you to fill out a survey so that I have some more background information on why you use the site, etc.

I can't wait till this process is over. I have another 40 days to make it happen. I just have nothing to offer over what the sociologists have already said three million times. Maybe I will have some sort of inspiration. What really kills me is that I spent $70,000 to feel this crappy.