1) Internet tech doesn't necessarily discourage local, face-to-face friendships. Right -now- the Web isn't used for local connection but I think that's just because of the way it's -framed-, just a momentary lack of vision by the people/firms building it. And I think that's a temporary anomaly that's disappearing as wi-fi and locative tech takes hold.
Remember the net evolved from a set of LANs, and even as recently as the 80s, the folks who inhabited the dial-up BBS world were very locally-focused (you dialed BBS's in/near your town most often because those phone calls were cheapest) and many of these people got to know the other local BBSers through face-to-face get togethers. These "GTs" were an important part of BBS culture. More recent examples -- Google the study "Neighboring in Netville" to learn fascinating things that happened when researchers wired 1 out of every 3 homes in a typical suburban housing development outside Toronto w/ very simple terminals attached to a basic message forum system tied to a proprietary LAN. The people who moved in weren't techies, but nonetheless after a year this neighborhood was measurably more cohesive and local connections were much stronger than in neighboring unwired subdivisions that otherwise were almost identical in physical structure and demographics. In short: in the wired subdivision a lot more people knew their neighbors and other folks nearby, and the community as a whole was much more politically active in tracking and responding to issues that affected the good of the neighborhood. All because networked communication tech was -framed- as something that connects you to people nearby -- not just as something that connects you to the placeless Web, not -just- something that's for finding people on the other side of the planet who share precisely the same interests that you do.
2) Back to this "Internet to blame" study, note an important point the researchers themselves make: that the wording of the survey questions might have strongly affected the results and their interpretation. (i.e., 2004 respondents might have thought "discussing" doesn't include e-mail/IM.)
When people say "free" here they don't mean "something for nothing" -- they mean "something paid for in aggregate".
Like electric light. When you walk through Union Square at night you don't have to put quarters into little meter-boxes as you walk along, to make the streetlights turn on. When you go into a cafe you don't expect to be charged separately for the plumbing or the lights. These costs are built into the taxes (in public places) or the cost of the food/coffee/etc (in a private establishment).
The concept of charging people for electricity or wi-fi per-person and per-transaction is ridiculous, not just because it's an extra hassle for the users, not just because it's usually accompanied with absurd overcharges, but also because the extra transaction costs of tallying and collecting all those tiny line-item uses can be bypassed by charging in aggregate.
How to deal with the "one-coffee, 6-hours guy" - the guy who spends $1.50 and then takes up a table all day?
Yes there are technical ways to attack this problem. Time-limited access codes printed on receipts. Often-changing WEP keys or captive-portal passwords.
But at the heart of it this is NOT a technical problem, it's a social problem. A small percentage of any group are jerks, regardless of whether they're carrying laptops.
Cafe owners also have some few people come in who read a book or draw or write for hours, taking up a table w/ one coffee.
But that's called rudeness. We've evolved -social- means for dealing with rudeness. The barrista can ask "can I get you something else" a couple times and then finally say "sorry, if you're not buying anything you'll have to clear that table for our customers." Better yet, the regulars in the cafe can give the guy dirty looks or tell him to buy something. Social means are effective and they were business-as-usual in successful cafes long before laptops.
People, please try the simple, effective -social- methods before telling cafe owners to implement complicated -technical- methods for dealing with a social problem, methods that will annoy the majority of laptop-using cafe patrons who aren't jerks, and that will add new maintenance and transaction costs and hassles for the cafe staff and owners (who are usually overworked as it is and often not technically inclined).
I've heard this question a hundred times and it all boils down to how you -frame- the question.
Don't think of this as: "Should I offer free wi-fi." It's not a question of free or not free. It's a question of whether you charge people for the wi-fi through (1) the prices you charge for coffee and food, or (2) itemizing wi-fi access.
You don't ask "Should I offer free electric light?" because you realize that's an absurd question. You could install a coin-operated lightswitch at each table in the cafe, so that people have to pay 25 cents for each 10 minutes of light. But that would irritate your customers, it would damage your brand (make you seem stingy) and it would add tremendous transaction costs. You have to purchase and install, repair and maintain the coin machines, you have to collect and count the coins, etc. So you just figure the overall monthly cost of electricity and bundle that into the cost of the food and coffee.
For navigating between already-open windows, when you have more than, say, 4 apps open, I've not seen any keyboard-only technique (or any other technique) that comes anywhere close to the speed of navgation via Expose on OSX (which uses mouse-only or mouse+keystroke)
(Expose = mouseclick or keystroke reveals all open windows and lets you choose between them quickly)
if you know of a faster keyboard technique, please do tell.. and I'll use it.
(but.. before osx i was w/ you.)
But how many of the people you know in the tech field -quit- at least once in the last 4 years?
Let's not assume that shorter engagements = unhappiness, starvation, loss of prosperity. Shorter gigs come with looser, wider affiliations and smaller working groups.
Personally I think that's a lot more fun and exciting then working for 35 years doing the same dreary thing for the same gigantic predictable monster corporation. One person's terrifying statistic = another's great news, it all depends how you frame it.
Neurology professor and neuropsychiatrist Richard Restak, M.D. theorizes that "expressing one's opinion on a computer screen engages a different part of the brain than when writing or typing the same sentiment on a piece of paper."
Right, Microsoft "gifts" often come with ugly strings attached.
Case in point: in exchange for a grant of merely $2.3 million, U. Waterloo agreed to no longer teach C++ and to teach Microsoft's C# instead. Details from CNet: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-949945.html
I'm told that 2 San Francisco cafes (Samovar Tea Lounge and Canvas Cafe) now nix the wi-fi on weekends.
Jerry the manager at Canvas kicked out a guy who repeated the following routine for several days: he'd set up office, taking over a large table (even with a stapler), then he'd type and talk on the phone all day after buying 1 cup of coffee.
Lee at A Cuppa Tea in Berkeley kicked out a woman who came in with a coffee from another store, sat down and got going on her laptop w/ zero purchase.
But remember, these are extremes and exceptions. A minority of people will be pricks anywhere, using whatever technology is available.
Beyond wi-fi squatting -- this sounds like a clear case of the Zombie Effect: http://ze.notlong.com/
Now we'll refine social and technological techniques for discouraging antisocial behavior. Same old saga...
Critics of the new technology do not dispute its usefulness, but worry that it will become ubiquitous before legal guidelines are established.
This article examplifies the strong tendency in mainstream American media to convey a very dangerous assumption: that we should always legislate new technologies before we understand what they are and how people will use them.
(Yes, location-tracking tech has been around for years. But it's still very "new," especially in the U.S., because it hasn't been in widespread use among the general public long enough for society and the markets to define its applications.)
Slashdot Mirror
2 important points to note:
1) Internet tech doesn't necessarily discourage local, face-to-face friendships. Right -now- the Web isn't used for local connection but I think that's just because of the way it's -framed-, just a momentary lack of vision by the people/firms building it. And I think that's a temporary anomaly that's disappearing as wi-fi and locative tech takes hold.
Remember the net evolved from a set of LANs, and even as recently as the 80s, the folks who inhabited the dial-up BBS world were very locally-focused (you dialed BBS's in/near your town most often because those phone calls were cheapest) and many of these people got to know the other local BBSers through face-to-face get togethers. These "GTs" were an important part of BBS culture. More recent examples -- Google the study "Neighboring in Netville" to learn fascinating things that happened when researchers wired 1 out of every 3 homes in a typical suburban housing development outside Toronto w/ very simple terminals attached to a basic message forum system tied to a proprietary LAN. The people who moved in weren't techies, but nonetheless after a year this neighborhood was measurably more cohesive and local connections were much stronger than in neighboring unwired subdivisions that otherwise were almost identical in physical structure and demographics. In short: in the wired subdivision a lot more people knew their neighbors and other folks nearby, and the community as a whole was much more politically active in tracking and responding to issues that affected the good of the neighborhood. All because networked communication tech was -framed- as something that connects you to people nearby -- not just as something that connects you to the placeless Web, not -just- something that's for finding people on the other side of the planet who share precisely the same interests that you do.
2) Back to this "Internet to blame" study, note an important point the researchers themselves make: that the wording of the survey questions might have strongly affected the results and their interpretation. (i.e., 2004 respondents might have thought "discussing" doesn't include e-mail/IM.)
When people say "free" here they don't mean "something for nothing" -- they mean "something paid for in aggregate".
Like electric light. When you walk through Union Square at night you don't have to put quarters into little meter-boxes as you walk along, to make the streetlights turn on. When you go into a cafe you don't expect to be charged separately for the plumbing or the lights. These costs are built into the taxes (in public places) or the cost of the food/coffee/etc (in a private establishment).The concept of charging people for electricity or wi-fi per-person and per-transaction is ridiculous, not just because it's an extra hassle for the users, not just because it's usually accompanied with absurd overcharges, but also because the extra transaction costs of tallying and collecting all those tiny line-item uses can be bypassed by charging in aggregate.
you've missed the point. meetro is a -proximity- based social app, not a standard IM client
How to deal with the "one-coffee, 6-hours guy" - the guy who spends $1.50 and then takes up a table all day? Yes there are technical ways to attack this problem. Time-limited access codes printed on receipts. Often-changing WEP keys or captive-portal passwords. But at the heart of it this is NOT a technical problem, it's a social problem. A small percentage of any group are jerks, regardless of whether they're carrying laptops. Cafe owners also have some few people come in who read a book or draw or write for hours, taking up a table w/ one coffee. But that's called rudeness. We've evolved -social- means for dealing with rudeness. The barrista can ask "can I get you something else" a couple times and then finally say "sorry, if you're not buying anything you'll have to clear that table for our customers." Better yet, the regulars in the cafe can give the guy dirty looks or tell him to buy something. Social means are effective and they were business-as-usual in successful cafes long before laptops. People, please try the simple, effective -social- methods before telling cafe owners to implement complicated -technical- methods for dealing with a social problem, methods that will annoy the majority of laptop-using cafe patrons who aren't jerks, and that will add new maintenance and transaction costs and hassles for the cafe staff and owners (who are usually overworked as it is and often not technically inclined).
I've heard this question a hundred times and it all boils down to how you -frame- the question. Don't think of this as: "Should I offer free wi-fi." It's not a question of free or not free. It's a question of whether you charge people for the wi-fi through (1) the prices you charge for coffee and food, or (2) itemizing wi-fi access. You don't ask "Should I offer free electric light?" because you realize that's an absurd question. You could install a coin-operated lightswitch at each table in the cafe, so that people have to pay 25 cents for each 10 minutes of light. But that would irritate your customers, it would damage your brand (make you seem stingy) and it would add tremendous transaction costs. You have to purchase and install, repair and maintain the coin machines, you have to collect and count the coins, etc. So you just figure the overall monthly cost of electricity and bundle that into the cost of the food and coffee.
For navigating between already-open windows, when you have more than, say, 4 apps open, I've not seen any keyboard-only technique (or any other technique) that comes anywhere close to the speed of navgation via Expose on OSX (which uses mouse-only or mouse+keystroke) (Expose = mouseclick or keystroke reveals all open windows and lets you choose between them quickly) if you know of a faster keyboard technique, please do tell.. and I'll use it. (but.. before osx i was w/ you.)
But how many of the people you know in the tech field -quit- at least once in the last 4 years? Let's not assume that shorter engagements = unhappiness, starvation, loss of prosperity. Shorter gigs come with looser, wider affiliations and smaller working groups. Personally I think that's a lot more fun and exciting then working for 35 years doing the same dreary thing for the same gigantic predictable monster corporation. One person's terrifying statistic = another's great news, it all depends how you frame it.
Flat chips suck. These chips have flavor ridges(tm).
Plates don't liquify people. People liquify people.
My kingdom for decent reflective displays.
t ml
Neurology professor and neuropsychiatrist Richard Restak, M.D. theorizes that "expressing one's opinion on a computer screen engages a different part of the brain than when writing or typing the same sentiment on a piece of paper."
Details: http://www.cheesebikini.com/208/archives/001000.h
And here comes lip-reading tech to bypass the noise-canceling box: http://www.intel.com/research/mrl/research/avcsr.h tm
Right, Microsoft "gifts" often come with ugly strings attached.
Case in point: in exchange for a grant of merely $2.3 million, U. Waterloo agreed to no longer teach C++ and to teach Microsoft's C# instead. Details from CNet: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-949945.html
I pray such "gifts" aren't coming to Berkeley: http://www.cheesebikini.com/archives/001061.html
I -wanted- to link directly but The Onion took it offline (except for pay subscribers).
The most admirable way Microsoft is giving back: allowing us all to us the digits 1 and 0 royalty-free: http://www.huumor.com/joke_1118
I'm told that 2 San Francisco cafes (Samovar Tea Lounge and Canvas Cafe) now nix the wi-fi on weekends.
Jerry the manager at Canvas kicked out a guy who repeated the following routine for several days: he'd set up office, taking over a large table (even with a stapler), then he'd type and talk on the phone all day after buying 1 cup of coffee.
Lee at A Cuppa Tea in Berkeley kicked out a woman who came in with a coffee from another store, sat down and got going on her laptop w/ zero purchase.
But remember, these are extremes and exceptions. A minority of people will be pricks anywhere, using whatever technology is available.
Beyond wi-fi squatting -- this sounds like a clear case of the Zombie Effect:
http://ze.notlong.com/
Now we'll refine social and technological techniques for discouraging antisocial behavior. Same old saga...
-Sean
Beep beep beep, back the truck up.
From the original story post, through almost all the comments, you people have been talking about a nonexistent study of tech in schools.
Plain and simple: tech in schools is not the subject of this Berkeley/USC study.
Pls at least glance at the study announcement before commenting on it! sheesh
Critics of the new technology do not dispute its usefulness, but worry that it will become ubiquitous before legal guidelines are established.
This article examplifies the strong tendency in mainstream American media to convey a very dangerous assumption: that we should always legislate new technologies before we understand what they are and how people will use them.
(Yes, location-tracking tech has been around for years. But it's still very "new," especially in the U.S., because it hasn't been in widespread use among the general public long enough for society and the markets to define its applications.)