Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Web video storytelling, Web 2.0 storytelling

Another instance of Web 2.0 storytelling: the lonelygirl15 saga.  This is a series of webcam-based short films, published to YouTube, chronically the relationship between two teens who are friends on the verge of becoming something else.  They argue, she talks about it, he broods.  The latest installment concerns a hiking/swimming date.  Mix in YouTube's social software affordances, like commenting, tagging, and so on, and there's Web 2.0 storytelling.  And it's very cute.

And yet... Brian Lamb points us to this argument that the whole thing is a fake.  The video becomes increasingly professional, and reaches limits of filming credibility (who's shooting her in the car, when he's driving?).  With the detective work and discussion, we're heading towards ARG-like territory.

I do like the Crowley line, though, which suggests something far sneakier, or at least stranger, than a teen romance.

History of Facebook

A history of Facebook has appeared from Mashable.  A useful thing for users, for people interested in social networking, and as an episode in the larger history of the internet.

(via Chronicle's Wired Campus)

Ponzi in space, with avatars

Gaming, economics, and crime: a player runs a Ponzi scheme on a MMOG, walking off with tons of local currency.  The game's EVE Online*, and one question concerns out of game implications.  Gamers with Jobs suggests a tax fine.  ArsTechnica thinks this is a business matter, turning on the EULA and the company behind EVE.

*I really wanted to play EVE.  But the installer, then the client, were far too crashy.

(thanks to Arnaud Leene)

Smacking the bloghouse from USA Today

A USA Today opinion piece smacks the blogosphere today, linking Snakes on a Plane to the Lieberman primary defeat.  Outside the Beltway offers a nice demolition of the argument.

Is USA Today taking aim at Web 2.0?  It was that newspaper's Siegenthaler who famously raked up a Wikipedia ruckus, which hasn't fully died.  Will we see more such articles?

(via Memeorandum)

Does the internet stimulate suicide?

More fear of the internet causing offline horror: some American academics are investigating the possibility that internet suicide fora encourage people to kill themselves.

There's a policy angle lurking in this approach, at least in that UPI article's discussion of it:

Ilene Berson, an associate professor at the university's Florida Mental Health Institute, said the Internet does not have the kind of censoring newspapers and broadcasters do, where news stories about suicides are sometimes played down for fear of inspiring copycats.

 

The cyberspace-suicide meme turns out to be a durable one.  We've noted it since 2004, starting with Japan, then moving on to Britain, Israel, and America.  But John Varley may have gotten to it first, with the underappreciated short story "Press Enter []" (1984).

(thanks, librarybob)

Criminalizing violent pornography

The British government decided to criminalize the possession of images depicting sexual violence, according to the BBC.  The main target is digital imagery, shared through the internet.

The argument relies on casuality, traditionally.  According to the leading campaigner, whose daughter was murder by a man who also stored violent porn on his computer, the problem in question concerns

"these horrific internet sites, which can have such a corrupting influence and glorify extreme sexual violence."

As an MP explains,

"sickening internet images... can so easily send vulnerable people over the edge."

Note that this extends a current British policy:

It is already a crime to make or publish such images but proposed legislation will outlaw possession of images

The evil internet, the scary network of dubious casuality: these fears become policy, once again.

EDITED TO ADD: BoingBoing posts a corrective email, noting that Parliament isn't in session, so can't pass a law to this effect.  Excellent!

  The point about discourse remains.

Thinking metaphors for a century

Mind as metaphor is a database containing hundreds of eighteenth-century expressions describing mental states.  A trove to explore - an eye to open - a vista, unrolling before the light of history -

(via the amazing Oook)

NYT looks at online pedophilia 2.0

The New York Times recently returned to the cyberpedophile beat with an anthropological study of pedophiles' online discourse.  The article discusses various behaviors, codes, and arguments, complete with characters (who may or may not exist) and cautionary observations from outside authorities.

The back and forth between pseudonym and police officer does fit the journalistic practice of telling both sides, although it's clear where the article falls.   But federal laws and statements don't get the same balance, appearing only as concerned actions:

In recent months, new concerns have emerged about whether the ubiquitous nature of broadband technology, instant message communications and digital imagery is presenting new and poorly understood risks to children. Already, there have been many Congressional hearings on the topic, as well as efforts to write comprehensive legislation to address the issue.

There's also the usual trope that this online nastiness is increasing:

it is no longer just chatter in the ether. What started online almost two decades ago as a means of swapping child pornography has transformed in recent years into a more complex and diversified community that uses the virtual world to advance its interests in the real one.

I'd love to see articles about the decline of scary web sites, a decrease in the number of corrupting chat rooms, or a drop in bad things happening in games. 

Interestingly, the fears the article instills in its readers are not aimed at the internet, since Eichenwald takes pains to emphasize the hidden, furtive, and elusive nature of cyberpedophilic activity.  Instead, the article makes us think of pedophiles "advance [their] interests in the real [world]", noting plots to get near kids by becoming schoolteachers, camp counselors, and interesting people in boring social situations.

Who remixes the watchmen?

Mixing up a mashup someone else could have done: the great graphic novel Watchmen, as reimagined by Stan Lee.  Uneven, but fun, and occasionally inspired.  It reminds me of another contrafactual about science fiction, Paul Di Filippo's brilliant, underread Lost Pages,

All right, I'll go read my fresh copy of the Jenkins book.

(via MetaFilter)

Before GPS: the story of rooftop town markers

"Before GPS" explains how rooftop town names came about in the US.  Many nice details in a short podcast, including the volunteer basis, the involvement of a group of women aerialists, and the role of WWII.

Markers keep you safe from harm,
Tell of towns and ports nearby,
Tell the mileage you must fly,
Give your longitude and latitude,
Give you everything but altitude.

Another fine Engines of Our Ingenuity podcast.  I keep enjoying them, like this one.  I like the way they have a transcript of each show, too.