I already shared this slideshow on this blog once before. Unfortunately, I never bothered to write a proper blog post to follow it. Alas, I was young and foolish. And lazy.
Anyway, had I written a proper blog post with the slideshow, this is how it would have sounded:
"Van Gogh's museum in Second Life is a magical place. Imagine living inside one of Vincent's paintings - sitting in that cafe of his pretending to be a regular, posing in front of the fountain or under the starry sky. Imagine looking at the paintings that no longer exist. Van Gogh's Museum in Second Life is so beautiful that you will never want to leave."
Something like that. Except that Van Gogh's Museum in Second Life no longer exists. Alongside with a lot of other cool places elsewhere on the Web (for example, where is English Droid?!).
Nothing lasts for ever on the Internet. Take Twitter, for example. Sometimes I read a tweet that is really funny or really wise (or both at the same time). Unless I remember who has written it, I will never be able to find it again. And it is a pity.
Imagine what Shakespeare's tweets would have been like. And imagine losing them forever on the Internet.
Then, there are digital photos. They are all over the place - digital frames, Web albums, mobiles, emails... None of these things last for ever. And very few people still bother with hard copies.
I wonder how our culture will look to the next generation. Will there be enough of our culture for the next generation to study? And how do we preserve what we have?
This is such a great post Natasa, I love your melancholy which have noticed before.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is actually in using Delicious. When you follow something that's linked, click on the link and then tag it.
xxKarenne
Thank you , Karenne. I guess the melancholy is the result of my looking at some old childhood photos. You know, remembering what it used to be like.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for the tip. I will have to start using Delicious and Diigo really seriously. That way nothing will be "lost".
I enjoyed this piece and would have loved to visit the Van Gogh museum. I know how you feel about losing information on Twitter. Maybe that could be a follow-up blog post. I was doing a Twitter video tutorial for my students about trending topics. I had never really looked at the trending topics before and not sure I will again. I wanted to retweet but felt bad I could not give the person credit. I could not follow the trend because every second 30 more tweets would come. I left the computer for a second, came back, and after 15 minutes of searching decided I should probably get back on task. Other links I have been meaning to book from my fellow educators have also fallen to the wayside like this. I use Delicious and its been wonderful, but now I know even if I have no time I need to book the site then and there! Another great thing I do is subscribe to my tweets. Therefore, I can retweet the great site and it still shows up in my reader till I get a chance to book the site. I guess that is why I am getting to be known as the retweet queen! Great post! I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelley. I am glad you liked my post.
ReplyDeleteYes, Twitter is the product of modern times. Something is there one second, gone the next. Have you noticed how difficult it is to explain the magic of Twitter to someone who has never used it? They have to use it for a while to see for themselves. Just like you, I often retweet things so that I can find them later. I use Diigo, but Delicious is great too.
You are right, this could be a follow-up post. Thanks for the tip - I have been a lazy blogger lately.