Can you imagine looking back at bookmarks we have from decades ago?
The Web still feels fresh to me, but I've been using it for at least a decade. The computers I used back then have been replaced, but much of the data persists in backups and backups of backups. Occasionally I find a set of bookmarks that reflect my interests from a given set of time - be it a particular topic, hobby, or subject from school or work.
With social bookmarking sites and tools like Google Bookmarks, my bookmarks in 2009 may last... decades!
I sometimes wonder what my grandparents life was like as teens or at my age. I have a sense of what my parents' lives were like from their and my uncles' and aunts' stories. But some 50 years from now, if I'm lucky enough to have grandchildren, and even if not - the world can look back at us in our splendid 32-bit color 2-dimensional images, blogs, and videos.
Imagine decades from now, a generation getting a picture-perfect, pixel-preserved view of several generations back.
A blog on content management and digital experiences
Trends versus Life Stages
I sometimes ponder the difference between things that happen as part of an overall trend or global event that everyone is going through versus the things that happen because of the particular stage of life that I or someone else is in.
Most of us have a "my first car" story that's independent of the world at large and falls under the realm of the teenage (or college) years of a particular individual. The details and type of vehicle may of course vary, but the experience is unique to many new drivers.
However, remembering when gas prices were under $2.00 (for me it's under $1.00) is more of a global (or national, in this case) phenomenon - something that was experienced by everyone at a certain point in time.
For example, I remember when internet relay chat rooms (irc) were popular at my college ten years ago. AOL's instant messenger and chat rooms were popular as well and I spent a good deal of time connecting with friends and socializing in these "new" and interesting ways online.
In time though, I moved on and found other ways to connect with friends and family both in the "real world" and online. Most recently it's been blogs and social networking sites.
The question then is, was my experience with being enthralled with online chatting a phase that everyone went through at the time? Was it a trend that came and went and was eventually replaced with the latest and greatest hot new thing?
Or was it indicative of a process that many first-time internet users experience? Perhaps a good deal of new online users go through a series of steps such as (may not be typical of all users and can be experienced in a different order):
- Finding useful information
- Finding trivial and time wasting information
- At some point spending too much time online
- Getting an email account
- Using chat rooms or message boards
- Sending spam and chain letters*
- Creating content (personal sites, blogs, social networking sites, etc)
*Is it just me, or do the "send this to 5 people to prove you're a decent human being" chain letter spam come from the "newer" online users we know? I may have sent a few in my early days of email, but it became more work than it was worth.
Perhaps when the technology or event in question is new or world changing (whatever that means) it falls under the "trend" category. Many of us experienced the computing revolution regardless of what generation we're apart of. But eventually the first computer we each own, would fall under the "life stage" category.
Going crazy over Cabbage Patch Kids in the 80's was definitely a trend, but wanting that "got-to-have-hot-toy-of-this-season" in general may be a recurring theme specific to certain age groups or life stages (not necessarily the young ones, either).
My first child was born a few months ago. Mommy and I were noticing the number of celebrity babies born around this time. Was it really a trend, or perhaps we're at that life stage where we of course notice all things baby-related?!
Too Many Games!
With Fable 2, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and now Left 4 Dead all out at the same time, I have the console, the games, but no time to play!
Being a new parent, I've found the pick-up-and-play shooter games are easier to play and enjoy. Single player of course! "Hold on the baby's crying," is too embarrasing an excuse to leave or hold up a multiplayer group. Not because of age or parental status or anything like that, but because it smacks of neglect (whether or not it's true)!
Gone are the 18-hour marathon MMORPG sessions! Well at least until the kid's old enough to type.
Xbox 360 Repair
I really liked Microsoft's return procedures for the Xbox 360. This is my second return, the first being a bad disc drive and the second being, well a bad disc drive.
The refurbished one they sent me the first time had on and off problems with the disc drive. It would occasionally (1 in 10 gaming sessions) freeze up in the middle of a game and report a disc error. This happened infrequently but even with brand new games. My first 360 had problems recognizing 360 games - it was acting as if the console was a DVD player.
The worse moments was when it froze in the middle of a long gaming session far from a save point after a difficult boss battle (RPG, anyone?).
Anyways, the return process and Web site was clear. The unit was still under warranty (1 year warranty after I paid $100 for the last repair), so I sent it back. This is just as a bunch of cool games are coming out (Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2!).
They sent a fully paid return shipment box and even outlined the procedures of the return in icons on the Web site. It had a series of 5 or 6 icons, most of them grayed out, with one in full color showing what step in the process I was at. The instructions in the box were also clear and all I had to do was have it picked up by UPS ground (we have a mail room at work, so this was a breeze).
The disappointing part so far is that the icons of where my box is in the process disappeared when the replacement xbox was registered. So instead of seeing the repair status, I just see a new box registered under a 3 month (instead of a year) warranty with no updates on the repair, return, or anything else.
I'll give it a few more days, but I think everything is okay. Overall, it's much better than my experience with the baby's photographer.
The refurbished one they sent me the first time had on and off problems with the disc drive. It would occasionally (1 in 10 gaming sessions) freeze up in the middle of a game and report a disc error. This happened infrequently but even with brand new games. My first 360 had problems recognizing 360 games - it was acting as if the console was a DVD player.
The worse moments was when it froze in the middle of a long gaming session far from a save point after a difficult boss battle (RPG, anyone?).
Anyways, the return process and Web site was clear. The unit was still under warranty (1 year warranty after I paid $100 for the last repair), so I sent it back. This is just as a bunch of cool games are coming out (Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2!).
They sent a fully paid return shipment box and even outlined the procedures of the return in icons on the Web site. It had a series of 5 or 6 icons, most of them grayed out, with one in full color showing what step in the process I was at. The instructions in the box were also clear and all I had to do was have it picked up by UPS ground (we have a mail room at work, so this was a breeze).
The disappointing part so far is that the icons of where my box is in the process disappeared when the replacement xbox was registered. So instead of seeing the repair status, I just see a new box registered under a 3 month (instead of a year) warranty with no updates on the repair, return, or anything else.
I'll give it a few more days, but I think everything is okay. Overall, it's much better than my experience with the baby's photographer.
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