Thanks to Veronica, who mentioned this to me, i read the following debate (HE) about whether or not it would be appropriate to announce a funeral via FaceBook(FB). The primary argument is around whether or not it is tasteless or not to invite people to a funeral using “events” on FB. On its face it is a ridiculous question and my guts reaction was “hell no!”. But as it also go me thinking…

When somebody dies in Israel, the closest relatives and friends are usually receive a phone call, and more distant acquaintances and colleagues are getting the message through the grapevine or through institutional channels such as an organizational memo. Recently, i hear more people using SMS to announce the tragedy to wider publics. To a great extent, these practices are dictated by the Jewish tradition, which requires the body to be buried as soon as possible. In many cases this means that the funeral is taking place on the same day of the death or the following one, but rarely later than that.

One particularly interesting practice of announcing a funeral is using the media. Frequently people would publish an announcement in a newspaper about a death of a person, the time of the funeral, and the location of shiva. Another common practice is to place notification with the same information in public places, particularly in the area where the person lived.

These latter practices prompted me thinking about the FB case from a different angle. What is the principle difference between placing an ad in a newspaper and placing an announcement on FB? The popular claim is that alternative media and social networking platforms replace mainstream media outlets, particularly for the younger generation. If people consume political, economic, cultural, and other news through personalized feeds, why would it be wrong to announce a personal tragedy using the same medium? If we are to talk about the “new” media, why (or where) is this newness limited to the not serious stuff only? In a way, this may be even more humane compared to a newspaper ad, because you know that the message goes only to the people who cared to one degree or another about the passed away person.

What do you think?

Erik shared with me a a pretty funny dance remix of Bill O’Reilly flipping out during filming of one of his shows. Checking out replies to the original video, i came across a YouTuber Josh. What differentiates Josh from the vast majority of YouTubers is that it takes to get used to the way he talks. Josh has Arthrogryposis, which keeps him in a wheel chair and gives him a look that causes people to ask if he is an anorexic. Yet, he sees himself a stand up, or since cannot really stand up, a sit-down comedian and actor.

He has a number of channels on YouTube and a Google page, and appears to be a rather active YouTuber doing all the other things that other YouTubers do. Apparently he is doing it well since when i was checking out his channel, it was #40 most viewed (that week) comedian. I think this is pretty amazing also because Josh is making an excellent point. First i felt uncomfortable watching some of his video but then i think i got it - his comedy is making fun of us making fun of him, which is a rather interesting mirror for the physically healthy part of the population. And he is making it step by step with over 550 subscribers and over 650 friends on YouTube.

According to his own words humor keeps him going, but it also seems that the communication he manages to build through these videos on YouTube is what keeps him going. There is a lot of talk about whether or not technology can be used to empower or make people’s lives better. But this is a concrete example of a guy for whom it seems to be an enormous empowering tool and i doubt he would have this opportunity in the regular physical world without having these platforms in place. I think this is pretty amazing and apparently Josh is not the only one who uses YouTube to help dealing with the physical realities.

Here is a video of Josh with his cousin performing a rather good lip-sync and i assume original words:

I read some exciting news today. OLPC project revealed its plans for the next generation of the “$100 laptop.” It looks really neat and i think has a number of really innovative ideas. For example, the double touch screen one part of which can also be used as a keyboard, sound really fascinating. Reading about it makes me really wanting one.

Then, as i continued reading, i got confused, particularly by looking at the feedback provided by people who own the current version of XO (read the comments here for example). It seems like while concentrating on technical innovation, the OLPC crew neglected mundane things such as production, service, and implementation. Although XO-1has been deployed, it seems too soon to conclude this phase as successful. Particularly with the recent changes in the project’s leadership and the ongoing debate about the identity of OLPC as a technological vs. educational project, there are still a lot of question marks. One of the more obvious ones is whether or not it will be relevant by the target date of 2010 with the recent exposure of low-cost laptops.

So, at the end of the day, i think the ideas in XO team are rather brilliant (looks like they can also design in an Apple style!) and i truly hope they will be also capable of translating this innovation into substantive change.

Now, this looks like an attempt to deal with questions of net-neutrality through legislation. John Conyers (D-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) are trying to promote a new bill aimed at making it “unlawful for any broadband network provider … to block, to impair, to discriminate against, or to interfere with the ability of any person to use a broadband network service”. Apparently it is already second attempt to assure net-neutrality through legislation and it will be interesting to see how things evolve. Interestingly, there was practically no mention of this in the mainstream media…

This is totally random, but ridiculously funny! Whether you like South Park, YouTubeian phenomena, or both, this one combines them in a rather creative manner (it was a matter of time until someone would do it with this episode :). It definitely made me smile and i hope it will have the same effect on you. Thank you Veronica for sharing this!