Foursquare

Masturbating in Public

Submitted by ebiddl on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 12:44

Greetings. The topic for this first post on Metaviews has metastasized; every route feels like a new cancerous growth. What is happening?

Here’s an introduction in lieu of an expanding field of potential routes this blog may take. My only other experience in blog writing has been in the form of an auto-destructive web-text that was already written but open to the process of ‘automatic writing’ according to the mood of the moment: an experiment in techno-affectivity. Its content wasn’t identifiably reportage, polemic, or diaristic—common forms for noncommercial blogs. And it wasn’t quite art or blog, though I was aiming for a participatory hyperfiction. It didn’t set up a dialogue—and this is why I ended it.

I went into blogging then too with a tentativeness that makes me question fear and consequent immobility in totality. My brain shuts off. My body aches. All effort culminates in dull pain. Among my few sources of relief is that Raoul Vaneigem once said his main shortcoming was his “lack of self-confidence.” I feel better already. But I am also aware that I may be cultivating some bad habits towards new experiences, or to experience in general. And possibly—albeit I am reluctant to admit it—an aversion to being visible.

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The Buzz Nearby: Why You May Never Be Much Of A Mayor On Foursquare

Submitted by jesse on Thu, 03/25/2010 - 11:40

via flickr.com

A rapid convergence is taking place between the web and reality. The artificial division between the virtual and the real is starting to dissolve, as various applications and technologies combine to stitch together interfaces and activities that together dissolve the barriers between the web and our material world.

Augmented Reality is a vivid depiction of how this may manifest a few months from now, however in the present, services like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Google Buzz are helping to make it a reality. In contrast to AR, which I suspect most people still find a bit terrifying, the current batch of location based services have basic interfaces, usually connected to maps, which we're all relatively familiar with.

In fact there's something kind of seductive to using maps as an interface to this emerging convergent world where our location and surroundings are rich with information and social ties.

Is it an indication that we're lost and looking to find our way? Or the inverse, that we know where we are, and we wish everyone else to know as well?

The motivations for using social media and sharing one's location are not always as obvious as they may seem. Critics often slip into absolute terms when assessing how location based services can and will be used, however to fully understand their impact and potential, it is important to immerse oneself in the experience.

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