No Connection
I recently found myself internet-less for a few days. It wasn’t the end of the world. Actually at first it was great; I found myself doing chores and other useful things. I started watching television again. I started reading again. I had lunch by the river, and scribbled notes for articles at Get A Web Start.
By the end of day two, though, I missed the interaction so much I used what little bandwidth my ISP would afford me to check my twitter messages (waiting up to 10 minutes for a single page to load).
Without the internet, without the blogs, without the videos, without the podcasts, I felt so intellectually starved. I found myself driving to my local library thirty minutes before its closing time on a Friday night just to get some mental stimulation.
And on my return to internet access I felt compelled to seek out new blogs and bloggers. The truth is i don’t know many bloggers. Most of the people I know are youtubers. Some of them also have a blog, though it serves as little more than a forum to showcase their videos. (There are exceptions though: notably QiRanger, RiverBasil and RoboFillet.)
But more than that, I felt this need to seek out Australian bloggers. One of the things I have always appreciated about this medium is its ability to connect people with common interests and values, irrespective of their geographical location. When faced with Internet Connection Deprivation (ICD) I came to a realisation. My ability to connect with the people in my ‘extended network’ (yes, we have been reduced to MySpace parallels) is only as strong as my ability to connect to my Internet Service Provider.
Suddenly geographical location took on a whole new significance.
In my efforts to connect with Australian Bloggers I joined Aussie Bloggers – a community with a fairly self-explanatory title.
Within minutes of posting a short introduction I discovered there were bloggers living as close to me as Albion Park (about a 45 minute drive) and that there was going to be a “Blogging Event” there on Sunday! Clearly, it’s a small world after all. (Happy Birthday Snoskred!)
This made me feel really good.
Having a shared interest in something was cool, but having just heard the same song at the same time on the same radio station… that’s something else entirely.
After being online for the last 8 years I’m now starting to meet new people and find local blogs.
I like finding people close by on the internet. Some people say that geographical location is becoming insignificant but really that’s not true at all. It’s the reason why my videos are most popular (comparative to other videos, not in raw views) in Australia. It’s also the reason why the first four people I met online through my blog are Australian.
People are more willing to give you the time of day if you come from the same place they do. I don’t know why, but it’s true!
Thanks for the quote John :)
Matthew Hodgson gave a presentation at Web Directions South Government a few weeks back – I can’t remember if it was something he specifically mentioned or a thought I had during his presentation but when he was talking about social psychology and the need for social interaction; in the context of his presentation it was about working socially and collaboration in the workplace; although professional networks generally extend far beyond just your immediate team at work and as far as your particular professional interests might not even include people from your team.
My tweet last night (http://twitter.com/NathanaelB/statuses/834585169) is along those lines of how it can be hard to find people with similar interests in the “real world” hence the web has opened up opportunities to interact socially with others with similar interests.
For some people who relish in inane small talk … well good for them if their social needs are met by interacting with the neighbours and people at work. However for some that isn’t a very attractive or fulfilling option, so we look further afield.
Hope I don’t come across sounding like a snob :)
I’ve been to two Aussie Bloggers meets now and both of them have been wonderful. :) There are so few people out in the “real world” who understand blogging – it is nice to not have to explain everything.
Thanks for the birthday wishes! It was a very Happy Birthday indeed. :)
Cheers,
Snoskred