The answers my friends- are blowin’in the wind….

Imagine a world where the thief who stole your purse is caught in a wave of head cams as he dashes down the streets of NYC- whose images are all being simultaneously loaded into a criminal database- while the police quickly close in- alerted by a signal sent from the robbery victim.  Conversely however, think of a world where lipstick on one’s collar is the least of an adulterer’s worries- as not only do they have to erase cell phone logs and cover up the foreign perfume smell, in this new world they would also have to somehow delete the recorded logs of everyone who saw them enter the hotel, in addition to trying to somehow file their own recording somewhere so deep that their partner could never discover it… Thus the pluses and minuses of living in a fully recordable, inter connected digital world.  Where memories would be accessible at the click of a button, but free will and personal choice would be limited by the fact that you know everyone is watching- everywhere. 

While Czerwinski’s article was written this year as a sort of hypothetical of the future it is certainly not that far fetched.  Despite its Sci-Fi feel I really think that the technology she examines will be here faster then Google can buy another web 2.0 company.  It is quite interesting to think about how out of date this article will be in 10 or even just 5 years from now, much like some of the older readings we have read for this class that discussed web topics that have already been surpassed by other technologies…   

While the information revolution is seemingly becoming eclipsed by the recordable revolution, we all need to stop and think about what implications this new era will bring.  This is thinking that has to happen right now, particularly when you consider that according to Czerwinski “many of the required components are commercially available today with more on the way.” 

The ability to record every aspect of one’s life, while appealing on the surface, carries many implications with it.  Conversations need to happen around how will this data be used, new protections need to be put into place so that I can’t self incriminate myself and general frameworks set up so as to avoid a sort of black market of “memories and experiences” which is sure to spring up.

This is particularly true where education is concerned.  The converging of the ability to record one’s life with the emerging popularity of online courses raises an interesting issue.  Hiltz says on page 62 “once most courses are available in digital formats as well as on campuses, geographic monopolies and barriers that have sustained thousands of different colleges and universities in the
U.S. and around the world will weaken.”  Taking this a step further however, won’t this also weaken the historic hold professors have had over ideas and discussions within the classroom?  Jumping ahead even another step – the capability to record one’s entire life experiences married with online classes could possibly eliminate the need for professors to teach intro courses year after year. In essence they could record themselves the first year and break down the memories into weekly modules to be completed by the student online. 

Leaping an even bigger step ahead and linking back to the black market of experiences I mentioned earlier Hiltz raises a second key point when she asks on page 63 “however, there are still fundamental questions as to whether higher education should be a right of the citizen as opposed to a privilege for those who can afford it, and what is in the best interest of society as a whole.”  I envision a day when students won’t be buying other people’s essays online, but will instead, purchase people’s entire college careers.  If the technology develops like Czerwinski predicts, higher education will be bartered and sold much like used cars are today… Those less fortunate won’t have to apply for financial aid anymore- because they’ll be able to purchase a Harvard degree second hand, and thus be spared the mountain of student loan debt that crushes my pay check every month. 

Before developers put together test groups and begin thinking about “user centered design” around this technology, questions and issues like the above must be analyzed and thought through.  While I would certainly enjoy the ability to rewind through a dinner party to remember the person’s name I was sitting next to – so that next time I saw them I won’t have to be embarrassed that I spent an entire evening feeling like they were my new best friend, but as soon as they left I forgot who they were…  At the same time the thought of it is extremely eerie.  I wonder if everyone will start acting like the stupid people on the real world who really aren’t famous, but think everyone should know who they are… Because truly everyone will be their own reality TV star now- on the flip side though maybe then the real world will go away- so ok I concede one concrete benefit to this new technology. 

Seriously though this week’s readings remind me of the movie Click, the basic premise of which was Adam Sandler finding a remote control that enabled him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life- however he runs into trouble when the remote starts acting up and taking over his life.  I view this movie as an ominous warning for the rest of us that all this technology is perhaps not such a good thing. 

As the You Tubes of the world get bought up by the Googles – there will always be a drive for the next big thing- and the person who can make the next popular web 2.0 or by that point web 3.0 life data recorder site will – I’m sure – be the next internet start up billionaire… I just hope that when that time comes we fully understand what it means to live in an age where nothing is disposable….