From Natural Disaster to Digital Divide

If you have young kid, s/he may get the wrong impression that natural disaster is becoming a norm ... take a look at the historic earthquake, typhoon, flooding.

Techonolgy has advanced to the stage of carrying our society beyond space and time, but we are still trapped when natural disaster strikes. Our communication fails and transportation halts. Weather bureau could only allow us enough time to go home or for shelter. It ironically brings everybody from both sides of digital divide to level playing field, where we could only wait to be rescued.

One may argue that the super-rich could still flee out in-advance, just like those able to get in Titanic's lifeboats.

I'm getting sidetrack ...

Digital society to me should also be safe place for living. Thus under current climax, the adoption of technology in weather forecast and disaster relieve must be factor-in.

Interacting with Idol

Our world has lost a few popular figures recently. One is an icon in pop music, with a few flaws, but nevertheless a hugely popular idol.

Idol seeking has always been within us. "The human heart is a factory of idols" (John Calvin).

Before TV and internet, fans could only be as close as what the print media and radio (audio) provides. Interaction is very indirect but yet provocative, much to do with the element of hidden mystery. I could still remember all those wall posters in my bedroom.

With cable TV and MTV, we could get much closer in real-time and 24/7. The veil of mystery is next to non-existence. The raw and nostalgic feel of excitment is often shortlive, quickly trashed by rumour and private life leaked by someone else who tries to boost their viewer-rating and advertising goal.

With the aid of digital media, fans are now driven by addiction of sort. It is becoming part of life.

Not to worry. With the current capacity of production in film, music and sports (not to mention those American 'heroes' appearing in spike), there won't be any shortage of idol supply.

Performer vs Entertainer

After Paul Potts, we now embrace Susan Boyle with nostalgic feel.
Make no mistake. The stage is for raw talent (not youth idol) be recognised, yet all the audience and panel judges, who are supposed to have neutral stance, simply presume that she could not sing.

Collette Douglas writing in Herald put it best when she said: "Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect."

The fact of our culture's value system exalting beauty elevates it as a prerequisite for anyone to perform.

During the recent Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, the best actress in giving her speech reminds us, that acting (or singing) is a service performing for the audience.

I hope such nostalgia would still apply nowaday.

Susan Boyle is now a celebrity in her home town, but doubt remains if any of the local youngster cheering her wants to be like her.

From Financial Model to Digital Media

WIRED has just published a very nice article, about the mechanism that causes the current financial crisis. It is also available through this link.

If readers find the financial concept boring, see if you like the following version better.

Financial model is kind of like digital visuals, in producing meaning from the underlying landscape for us to interpret. Within the process of interpretation, each individual make 'sense' through our lens of history and cultural (economic) stance. In visual media, our interpretation is all personal as everyone sees thing differently. I think it is also applied in financial modelling. There aren't necessarily a 'correct' view, only collective stance.

As we have witnessed, the collective view doesn't represent the "true" picture. In the case of financial world, it is the massive default of mortgage pool. Collective view merely represents a group of think-alike (not necessary believers) in describing their understanding of picture, with degree of comfort and probability-reasoning (a.k.a. correlation).

What's next. They want power control over the rest of community (of how picture should be viewed and interpreted), and they want to make money out of it. So they starts formalising their interpretation into de facto standard, kind of like the proprietary format for digital visuals. By now readers should be able to tell what's followed (read more).

As for the rest of the community, some have joined the proprietary club and others (mostly the poor and the realist) don't. But ultimately none of us is intact after the fall, as everyone is connected to the digital world.

Financial Impact of Digital Embodiment

One night while watching TV (pressing and switching channels to be more precise), the '6 billion Others' clip shows up. In case you have not heard of it before, here is the web link.

A close-up of a black woman (not sure her origin) has said the following: "I don't pay much attention to the technology and its benefit because I don't get to enjoy them anyway. But I am interested in the person who is using the technology turns into".

Her opinion sounds to me more like a critique. She points out, on one hand, the irony of inventing technology and the digital disparity against the poor. And for those of us who gets to use the technology (work or personal), are we utilise it in such a way to make things better for everyone.

Make no mistake. I'm pro technology. It extends our body and mind, while lowering the barriers of time, space and communication. On a personal standpoint, it is just fascinating to see how different culture adopt technology in their context (perhaps in later blog).

The impact of technology could be equally damaging, if we use it for self-driven motive. For evidence look no further than the current financial crisis. When we empower to after individual (corporate) gain ahead of our community, greed will eventually take over and (with technology) causing financial damage beyond physical time and space allowed.

A quiz. Who are the 'winners' from this financial tsunami?

The irony emerges when the poor who do not have access to technology nor any money to invest are better off, at least initially.

Cutting Back ... the Digital Way

Tough time is ahead of us, in what is considered to be one of the worst economic downturn in history. No matter if one still has a job or already queuing up for dole, everyone are cutting back in spending.

A number of reports from United States give ideas of how people practice cost saving.

One news story reports that average citizen opt to cutback daily items like food, petrol and internet connection. But at least one expense is untouchable, that is cinema/movie entertainment on weekly basis. It is a kind of getaway from reality for them. Statistics prove that cinema/movie business is particularly strong during economic downturn.

Another research has found an interesting trend. Mobile-phone users, who earn less than median household income, have cutting back from multiple digital gadgets and services. They instead opt for the "Swiss-army knife" type of smartphone, combining digital entertainment, communication and mobile browsing. Even though price-tag of such smartphone plus its monthly phone service (starting from US$70) is extravagant at their standard, the formula proves to work.

What is your formula?

Survive thru Digital Obsolescence

Apple has just announced another new product, alone with the exclusion of Firewire.

While I am educated with information of whether Firewire requirement is replaceable, but as their customer, it is disappointed for being arbitrary neglected.

Living through digital obsolesence becomes much harder these days, as product upgrade cycle is getting quicker and shorter. It is not just dealing with the CPU speed (productivity) and backward-compatibility of peripheral and software, but more like surviving. Fortunately I could still afford the upgrade if really needed.

Consumers in the digital age have to accept their electronics NOT to last. The stuff that we are buying will either live much shorter than our grandparents, or be replaced eventually.

My nine-years old G4 PowerMac has long been living under the shadow of the OS X upgrade, managed to be included in the Tiger requirement but not the latest Leopard. It manages to access wifi-G with a 2nd-handed Motorola PCI card which I have bought from eBay, with certain limitation (incompatible with my other wifi device). It also supports Firewire 400 which I rely on for data-transfer and backup, and USB1.0.

Over the past year my source of technical support does not come from Apple, but through a tribe of users who have shared online their similiar experience and finding. We together are being neglected gradually and perhaps be extincted eventually ... reminding me of those natives from an old film 'The Mission'.