Lost and Found goes digital

Article found at: http://www.nwi.com/articles/2008/06/01/features/lifestyles/doc8c6f496be43088a4862574580068eba5.txt

A relatively new site, www.ifoundyourcamera.net, lets users reconnect with their lost cameras. Those who find lost cameras are encouraged to post a few pictures from the device, along with where they found it. The article states that has been about 700,000 hits on the site along with eight reunions of lost cameras with their owners.

While this sounds pretty neat, there's also the argument of privacy. Some people may not want their pictures posted online for the world to see. The article states "would you feel happy, or somehow that your privacy was invaded, if that stranger put some of your images on the Web to track you down?"

I would most likely be happy. I'd be devastated if I lost my camera. It has hundreds of pictures that cannot be replaced. I suppose I should transfer these pictures to print or onto a CD so if I do lose my camera, I won't be too disappointed.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Would you be upset if someone posted pictures of you online in hopes of returning your camera?

Am I not living my life?

In Chapter 5 of The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold, he states: "Our attempts to analyze the second-level impactsof phenomena like MUDs on our real-life relationships and communities lead to fundamental questions about social values in an age when so many human relationships are mediated by communications technology." He continues by explaining many react with questions such as "what is the matter with these people?" and "don't they have lives?"

Wait, what's the matter with me? Don't I have a life? I admit that I am addicted to MySpace and Facebook. I have to go on them everyday. I wonder if this is hindering my real-life relationships. Should I be interacting with people in real-life rather than on these social sites?

Are we not living our lives like we did pre-social networking? Is living this way the new norm? I'm going to test myself. No MySpace for a week (I have to go on Facebook because of school... I'll try my best to only use it for school purposes). I'll observe if I interact with others more. I'll keep you posted.

Why I love publication design

I am currently taking a publication design class. We're using a somewhat new program, Adobe Indesign. Before the class began, I had no experience with the program. Although I've only been in the class for a little over a month, I absolutely love it.

I've always been relatively creative. In high school I loved art and was an active member in the National Art Honor Society. I've even won a couple of awards. The art I did previously was all material and didn't involve computers. Now that I'm learning more and more about publication design, I wish I began sooner.

Adobe Indesign has what seems like a million different features. I'm learning how to add color effects to almost everything, how things should look on a page to be the most visually appealing. It's really very interesting. Have you heard of serif and sans serif typefaces? Turns out one type is easier to read than the other, and there are many reasons why!

I'm excited to learn more about publication design and maybe even take classes to further my knowledge of design.

Has anyone else used Indesign? If so, what are your impressions?

Library of Congress photos

Did anyone else take the time to browse through the Library of Congress' photos on Flickr?

"Wow" pretty much sums up my impression. It's like taking a walk through history. The photos are beautiful and it's amazing that Congress entrusted a Flickr to present them on the Web.

The photo of President Wilson addressing Congress caught my eye. It almost looks unreal. It's such a rarity to have the opportunity to look at photos such as this one, it it's original form, while sitting at my laptop.

I don't recognize many of the names in the photos of individual people. I may take the time to Google a few of their names to find out why they're featured and what contributions they made to our country.

Thoughts?

Folksonomies

I've never thought too much of the "tagging" feature on Facebook until reading articles on Folksonomies. It's actually pretty interesting.

I've added numerous alblums to my Facebook profile, and "tag" my friends. I also like that they can tag me.

It's also nice that you can go to a friend's profile and see all the pictures that others have tagged of them. It's creative, and you don't have to be friends with the origonal person who posted the photos.

MySpace recently added the tagging feature, although it's not as popular as Facebook's, at least that's my impression.

Register to vote!!

Do you plan on voting? What's your reason?